Does the AI boom threaten local air quality? A north Denver neighborhood is about to find out

Air Quality Concerns in North Denver

A new data center campus is being constructed in Elyria-Swansea, a neighborhood already struggling with pollution from major highways and Colorado's only oil and gas refinery.

Pam Valenza, chief health officer at Tepeyac Community Health Center, was initially unaware of the construction's purpose. Her office is part of a redevelopment project to create community spaces and affordable housing in the working-class, largely Latino neighborhood.

Until last summer, Valenza assumed the excavators were at work on the final phase of the project: a long-planned affordable senior living facility.

However, she discovered on social media that the construction was actually for a future data center, raising concerns about the potential impact on local air quality.

Author's summary: New data center construction raises air quality concerns in north Denver neighborhood.

more

Colorado Public Radio Colorado Public Radio — 2025-10-14

More News