Data-center law in Wyoming

Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 18-5-201 to 18-5-206

Applies to both

Vests each board of county commissioners with authority to regulate and restrict the location and use of buildings and structures through a planning and zoning commission, to hold public hearings on proposed zoning resolutions and amendments, and to require a zoning certificate before land in a zoned area is used or built on; a violation is punishable by a fine of not more than $750.00 per offense, with each day of continuing violation a separate offense. This chapter does not apply within an incorporated city or town, which zones under its own municipal authority.

Source: Full text of law

Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 35-12-101 to 35-12-119

Applies to both

Requires a state siting permit from the Industrial Siting Council, administered by the industrial siting division, before construction commences on an industrial facility. An industrial facility is defined generally as a facility with an estimated construction cost at or above an inflation-adjusted threshold (originally $96,900,000.00 as of May 30, 1987, adjusted annually by the council), plus several enumerated facility types regardless of cost.

The council reviews social, economic, and environmental impact, requires the applicant to demonstrate financial capability to decommission and reclaim the facility, and can condition or deny a permit. A sufficiently large data-center project would be reached by the general cost-based threshold; the statute's enumerated facility types do not separately name a data center.

State and local government units and agencies are exempt from the application and permit procedures but must still furnish specified information to the division.

Source: Full text of law

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 37-2-205

Applies to both

Requires a public utility to obtain a certificate of convenience and necessity from the Public Service Commission before beginning construction or completing the purchase of a line or plant, or an extension of a line or material addition to a plant; a utility serving a new large data-center load that requires new generation, transmission, or plant capacity proceeds under this certificate process.

A related, more recently added section, 37-2-205.1, requires a separate 'nonsitus' certificate before a utility includes an out-of-state capital investment in the rates it charges Wyoming customers, bearing on cost allocation for large new load generally; no dedicated data-center or large-load tariff statute was located in Title 37.

Source: Full text of law

Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 35-9-106, 35-9-108, 35-9-121, 35-9-163

Applies to both

Directs the fire prevention and electrical safety council to adopt minimum fire and building standards not exceeding the International Building, Fire, Mechanical, Existing Building, and Fuel Gas Codes, and gives the state fire marshal plan-review and inspection authority over new construction and remodeling; a county or municipality may request and be granted local enforcement authority, with certified local inspectors, subject to the state standard remaining the floor. Electrical installation is separately governed by the National Electrical Code standard under a companion section.

Source: Full text of law

Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 35-11-201, 35-11-801

Applies to both

Section 35-11-201 prohibits causing or allowing an air-contaminant discharge that violates Department of Environmental Quality air-quality standards; section 35-11-801(c) requires a permit to construct before construction or modification of any industrial facility capable of causing or increasing air or water pollution beyond department standards. A data center's backup and standby generator fleet permits under this framework, administered by DEQ's Air Quality Division.

Source: Full text of law

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 39-15-105(a)(viii)(S)

Applies to private

Exempts a data processing services center's purchase or rental of qualifying computer equipment (computers, servers, monitors, storage devices, racking, cabling, and similar peripherals) from sales and use tax where the aggregate qualifying purchase exceeds $2,000,000.00 in a calendar year and the operator has made or will make an initial capital investment of at least $5,000,000.00 in a Wyoming physical location; a second, separate exemption reaches qualifying uninterruptible power supplies, backup generators, and specialized heating, air conditioning, and air-quality-control equipment on the same $2,000,000.00 annual purchase threshold, gated on a higher $50,000,000.00 minimum capital investment.

Both exemptions require certification from the Wyoming Business Council that the operator has created or will create an appropriate number of jobs, and require the operator to accrue and remit the tax if the applicable threshold is not met in a given year. Where more than one entity occupies a shared data-center facility, the entities' purchases are aggregated to test the thresholds.

Wyoming's separate use-tax chapter (former Title 39, Chapter 16) was repealed by 2026 Wyoming Session Laws, chapter 19, so this exemption, and the tax it exempts from, now run through a single combined sales-and-use-tax chapter rather than through a second, parallel use-tax chapter; the statute ties the two purchase categories to distinct historical capital-investment lookback dates, March 5, 2010 for the equipment exemption and April 1, 2011 for the power-and-cooling exemption, without a separate commencement date for the exemption itself.

Source: Full text of law

Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 9-12-601 to 9-12-603

Applies to government

Directs the Wyoming Business Council to administer a grant and loan program for a city, town, county, or the Eastern Shoshone or Northern Arapaho tribe to fund infrastructure that promotes economic development, with planning grants and loans capped at 2% of the program's annual appropriation and $100,000.00 per project, subject to a 25% match requirement.

The recipient is a Wyoming local government or tribe, not a data-center operator directly; a community can apply for program funds to build infrastructure (such as water, road, or power extensions) supporting a qualifying private economic-development project, including a data center.

Source: Full text of law