Spencer Fane attorneys John L. Watson and Robin L. Nolan authored the article Data Centers In Colorado – Local Governments Take the Lead in Regulating Siting, recently published by Law Week Colorado.
In the article, originally a firm blog post, the team examines how Colorado local governments are taking the lead in regulating data center development after the state Legislature failed to enact statewide incentives or restrictions in 2026. They highlight regulations and moratoriums in Weld, Larimer, Denver, and Logan counties addressing concerns including energy use, water consumption, noise, environmental impacts and land use. The article discusses what these emerging local approaches could mean for data center developers as demand for AI infrastructure continues to grow.
“Data centers are essential to the efficient use of AI. But they come with what some describe as overpowering environmental and economic risks. With the Colorado legislature’s inability to adopt statewide regulations, local governments will continue to address the issues themselves,” the team wrote.
At the firm, John leverages his in-depth commercial trial and litigation knowledge to represent clients in a variety of complex commercial cases, including breach of contract actions; real estate and land development; special district litigation; construction disputes between contractors and subcontractors; securities litigation; public land and natural resources law; mining; oil and gas; wildlife; toxic tort; Superfund; and air, water, and waste environmental cases.
Robin assists her commercial real estate clients with negotiating and drafting documents for their projects from the ground up, including purchase and sale contracts, easements, title review, restrictive covenants, declarations and maintenance agreements, leases, financing documents, and construction contracts. Robin represents multi-family housing operators; shopping center, office, warehouse, multi-family, and single-family housing developers; purchasers and sellers of real estate; borrowers; and commercial landlords and tenants.
Read the team’s full article here.