Colorado Public Radio’s Sam Brasch reports on state air regulators pushing CoreSite to hold public meetings over its controversial north Denver data center project in Elyria-Swansea. The article says the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division asked the company to hold at least one public meeting after CoreSite signaled changes to its construction plan.
The project has drawn backlash over diesel backup generators, noise, light, and air quality concerns. CPR reports CoreSite is not legally required to follow the state’s recommendation, and the company says it is instead working through a “good neighbor agreement” process with Denver.
The Bullet Point Brief
- The state wants CoreSite to hold a public meeting. CoreSite does not have to. That is government-speak for “strongly worded suggestion with no teeth.”
- The project includes diesel backup generators, and residents are worried about air quality in a neighborhood already surrounded by heavy industry. Fair concern. Nobody wants their backyard treated like the state’s junk drawer.
- CoreSite now plans to use slightly smaller generators, which the article says would decrease emissions. The company says this was a technical decision, not a response to public pressure. Convenient timing is still timing.
- Critics say private negotiations are not enough and want a more open public process. I get that. Public trust does not grow well in back rooms.
- But let’s be honest: public hearings are not always public hearings anymore. Too often, they become political theater with professionally printed scripts, copy-paste emails, and activists treating local land use like a touring Broadway show with worse parking.
My Bottom Line
My comment here is not about CoreSite. It is not about Elyria-Swansea. Land use is local, and the people closest to the project should have the loudest, clearest voice. That is how it should work.
I am a huge believer in public comment. I spent 40 years making a living by bending and stretching the First Amendment, and I mean that in the best possible way. Free speech matters. Showing up matters. Looking elected officials in the eye and saying your piece matters.
But something has changed. Over the last several years, I have watched the public hearing process get weaponized. What used to be a conversation between local residents and local decision-makers has too often turned into a staged production. National nonprofits roll in with battle plans, trained speakers, email scripts, social media campaigns, and sometimes paid protestors or paid testifiers. Then they raise money off the fight while the actual local folks get used as stage props.
That cheapens the process. Local government should listen to real constituents, not cut-and-paste outrage manufactured three states away. When I get the same email for the twentieth time, right down to the typo, I know I am not hearing twenty neighbors. I am hearing one organizer with a mailing list.
Public comment should be protected. It should also be honest. Land use is about an application and whether it meets the code. It is not a popularity contest, a fundraiser, or a political cage match. I will always listen to real people with real concerns. But professional agitation dressed up as grassroots input? That dog won’t hunt.
Source: Colorado Public Radio
