lferrell@alamosanews.com 

SOUTH FORK- Residents and town officials from South Fork gathered last Wed., July 15 for the planning and zoning commission meeting to hear from Monroe Johnson the Chief Technology Officer for the San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative (SLV REC).  

The community building was packed to the brim with concerned citizens eager to hear what the town would discuss during the meeting. South Fork Town Administrator Hank Weber opened the meeting with a statement, “There is a whole lot of misinformation out there. The Town of South Fork, in June, passed a moratorium on data centers for one year. The reason why we passed that is because we wanted time to evaluate, speak to our public and find out exactly the feeling about it.” 

Weber further stated that the town trustees and planning and zoning members share the concerns of the public. Data centers became a hot topic in the Valley earlier this year after the Town of Saguache passed a similar moratorium to block the development of the centers in the county. South Fork was the next to follow suite but at the time of this article, there are no data centers in the San Luis Valley. 

Weber also stated that at this time, not a single company has approached the town wanting to build a data center. “Contrary to what is being said on social media, no one has come here wanting a data center.”  

South Fork officials have been clear in their determination to get ahead of any future potential for a data center and to look at all the facts before creating strict policies and regulations in order to be able to control the outcome should such a scenario take place in the future.  

Monroe Johnson with SLV REC addressed the audience, “From your rural electric standpoint, we are concerned about exactly what you’re concerned about. We are concerned about the water usage and the impacts on the environment, and we are also concerned about the fact that that over the last 20 to 25 years, the electrical load continues to decline. About 25 years ago, 60% of our load was agriculture related.” 

Johnson stated that the load on the power grid continues to decline and is now sitting at about 40%. He continued stating that there was a huge difference between the large-scale data centers on the front range or larger cities such as Albuquerque, New Mexico and those that are being considered here in the Valley. 

Johnson quickly drew a sharp line between the "hyperscale" behemoths seen in Denver or Albuquerque and the modular technology actually eyeing the valley. 

"There is a massive, massive difference between a hyperscale data center... that uses massive amounts of water, and a little conex container on a piece of land somewhere that has some computers," Johnson explained to the crowd, adding that the modular shipping container setups use absolutely zero water. "These people are highly concerned about the environment. Literally, they are not using a drop of water." 

South Fork residents who routinely watch their lights flicker—with some board members noting the town suffers two to four power outages a week—the idea of a tech company plugging into the local grid raised immediate red flags. 

Johnson pushed back on the idea that a modular data center would plunge the town into darkness, comparing the electrical draw of a 1-to-10-megawatt container to any other commercial addition. "It’s no different than the new gas station in town here. It's a new load," Johnson said. 

When pressed by Vice-Chairman Ashley Bratton during a rapid-fire questioning session, Johnson admitted that while a company named Strata has kicked the tires in Alamosa, Saguache, and Rio Grande counties, there is currently not a single Conex data container operating in the San Luis Valley. 

Furthermore, Johnson sought to dispel fears that everyday tech uses are strictly tied to sinister or complex Artificial Intelligence. Instead, he painted a picture of localized, practical computing. One developer looking at the north end of the valley wants to utilize a Conex container to run real-time pivot irrigation apps for local potato and alfalfa farmers. Others merely rent out blocks of computing time to regional institutions like Adams State University for complex research. 

Despite the reassurance, the sheer scale of the energy required gave some board members pause. Trustee Iris Devlin pressed Johnson on the math of a single Conex container, pointing out that one megawatt can power roughly 400 homes—coincidentally the approximate full-time population of South Fork. 

"So, one of those containers takes up as much power as South Fork?" Devlin asked. 

"Yeah, that could happen," Johnson conceded. 

If the worst should happen and the mountain grid fails, Johnson assured the public that tech operations would be the last piece of the puzzle the REC worries about. The cooperative's emergency protocols strictly dictate that power is restored first to anchor institutions like hospitals and police stations, as well as rural residents who are logged in the REC system as relying on electric medical devices. 

Ultimately, town officials and the REC agreed that the ongoing moratorium provides the perfect window to draft rigid protections. 

"We are not trying to bring something into the valley that you all don't want," Johnson said. "We're here to support you."