Fremont County CO emergency data center moratorium (2026)
Fremont County, Colorado — Commissioners Enact an EMERGENCY Six-Month Moratorium on Data Center Construction Despite Having Received No Inquiries At All (August 2026)
Fremont County, CO · Fremont County, Colo. — emergency six-month data center moratorium (enacted August 2026)
- Status
- In effect
- Expires
- February 25, 2027
- Applies to
- Developers seeking to construct data centers in Fremont County during the six-month emergency moratorium
- Enforced by
- Fremont County Board of Commissioners / county planning and zoning
Fremont County commissioners enacted an EMERGENCY moratorium on the construction of data centers, a six-month pause to allow policy and procedure to be put in place. What makes it notable is that nothing prompted it. County Attorney Eric Bellas said plainly: 'We have not had any inquiries with respect to placing data centers in Fremont County' — though, he added, it is not without discussion in other areas of the state. He also gave a balanced framing that is rarer in this dataset than the numbers suggest: 'The public is certainly very aware of data centers and all the challenges they bring with them, as well as all the substantial benefits.' The county resolution itself recites that continuous expansion of digital technologies has created demand for data centers throughout the nation. An EMERGENCY designation adopted with no pending application is worth pausing on. Emergency procedure exists to close a window before something arrives; here the county used it to be prepared rather than to react. That is a defensible posture — several jurisdictions in this dataset lost the project that motivated them because an application, annexation agreement or development agreement landed first — but it also means the emergency label is doing work the facts do not obviously require, which is the sort of thing a developer challenging the measure would raise. Fremont County is in central Colorado, and Colorado has seen a substantial local wave.
Who is protected: Fremont County, Colorado residents
Legal detail
Fremont County, Colo. — EMERGENCY MORATORIUM on the construction of data centers, enacted by resolution of the Board of County Commissioners on a Tuesday in August 2026, providing SIX MONTHS for policy and procedure to be implemented. POSTURE \u2014 NO TRIGGERING APPLICATION: County Attorney ERIC BELLAS stated 'We have not had any inquiries with respect to placing data centers in Fremont County', though noting discussion elsewhere in the state. RESOLUTION RECITAL: continuous expansion of digital technologies has created demand for data centers throughout the nation. BALANCED FRAMING, recorded because it is less common in this dataset than the volume of restrictive measures implies \u2014 Bellas: 'The public is certainly very aware of data centers and all the challenges they bring with them, AS WELL AS ALL THE SUBSTANTIAL BENEFITS.' THE EMERGENCY DESIGNATION WITH NO PENDING APPLICATION IS THE POINT OF ANALYSIS. Emergency or urgency procedure exists to make a measure effective immediately, closing the filing window a developer could otherwise use \u2014 and this dataset documents four jurisdictions that failed to do so and lost the project that motivated them: Salem OR 120-day data center moratorium (Res. 2026-40) (application filed days before the vote), Rockford IL six-month data center moratorium (2026) (pre-existing annexation agreement), Cle Elum WA emergency data center moratorium (2026) (2002 development agreement) and Lowell MA Markley data center diesel generator injunction (2026) (settlement preserving pre-moratorium plans). Using it prophylactically is therefore rational. BUT an emergency finding unsupported by any imminent application is exactly the ground a challenger would attack, and developer suits in this dataset already plead that officials exceeded their authority and acted arbitrarily (NJ developer litigation against municipal data center bans (2026), Raeden v. Gibraltar MI data center moratorium challenge (2026)). That exposure is FLAGGED, not asserted. COLORADO CONTEXT: local governments across Colorado enacted data center moratoriums during 2026; indexed Colorado measures include Lochbuie CO data center moratorium (2026), Aurora CO resolution directing data center regulations, moratorium rejected (2026) and Denver Data Center Moratorium.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Fremont County, CO |
|---|---|
| Level | County |
| Strength | Moderate |
| Enacted | August 25, 2026 |
| Citation | Fremont County, Colo. — emergency six-month data center moratorium (enacted August 2026) |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | Data center construction may not be approved during the six-month emergency moratorium |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · consumer protection · government use of AI |
| News report | Fremont County implements data center moratorium — Cañon City Daily Record |
Related data-center siting and energy rules elsewhere
- Superior WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Dane County WI Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- Madison WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Manitowoc County WI Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- WA SB 5982 (Data Center / Clean Energy) · In effect
- Dayton OH data center moratorium (180-day, Apr 2026) · In effect
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