Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Harriet Hageman (R-WY) is seeking answers on the contamination of Cheyenne’s water system by Meta’s data center.

In March, the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities revoked industrial discharge privileges for the data center’s contractor, Goat Systems, following the discovery of the bacterium Cupriavidus gilardii in the wastewater system. The discharge of this rare bacterium into water supplies has led to months of cleanup and taken Cheyenne’s reuse water system offline. Concerningly, Cheyenne residents were not made aware of the contamination until the end of June, nor was Meta identified as the polluter until July.

While local utility officials have stressed the bacteria presented no threat to residential drinking water, the contamination has raised serious concerns about data center construction throughout the region. Rep. Hageman sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding answers around the discharge of Cupriavidus gilardii into Cheyenne’s municipal reuse water system by the tech giant’s $800 million data center.

“Wyoming residents have the right to be informed as soon as contaminations occur to make informed decisions surrounding their own health and safety. Water is a precious resource in our state, so it is of immense concern to learn the system marketed to reduce a data center’s water consumption caused this contamination,” said Rep. Harriet Hageman. “Residents deserve to know

their water remains safe as the tech industry attempts to expand the data center footprint in Wyoming.”

Read Rep. Hageman’s letter to Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg here.