Plans for huge man camp for thousands of data center construction workers enrage Wyoming locals

Wyoming residents are in an uproar over plans to build a “man camp” to house thousands of out-of-state workers flocking to the region to build massive, power-hungry data centers — the latest instance of Americans revolting against such projects.Local officials are weighing a pitch from project developer Iron Guard Housing for a “temporary workforce housing complex” for as many as 5,600 laborers and townspeople in the state capital Cheyenne, according to the Wall Street Journal.State data shows the new complex would be a small city in itself, larger than 84 of Wyoming’s incorporated cities and towns – and those who remember previous “man camps” erected during labor booms are sounding the alarm.“Men who are away from their families (assuming they have families) with no ties to this community,” one resident warned in a Cheyenne, Wyo., community Facebook page, where hundreds argued over the plans.America’s least-populous state has turned into the perfect breeding ground for tech firms racing to construct new data centers, thanks to its low taxes and plentiful energy supply.Ten of the massive centers are already up and running, five more are under construction and another nine have been announced, the Journal reported, citing Betsey Hale, chief executive of Cheyenne Leads, the city’s economic development group.“I’ve always been a believer in private-property rights,” Stan Higgins, 72, a retired civil-service technician with the Wyoming Army National Guard, told the Journal. But the three acres of shortgrass prairie behind Stan and his wife Tammy’s home have morphed from a view of cattle, antelope and coyotes into one of heavy trucks, construction workers and near-constant noise over the past two years as a new Meta data center is built.“There’s no end of it in sight.It is heartbreaking,” Stan told the Journal.To the east of their property, which the couple purchased 20 years ago, Microsoft is planning to triple the acreage of one...