Posted February 19, 2026

 

 

On February 13, residents of Globeville, Elyria–Swansea, and the 80216 ZIP code delivered a formal Good Neighbor Proposal to CoreSite regarding its DE3 data center campus, calling for a durable, binding, enforceable agreement that protects public health, public systems, and civil liberties in one of the most environmentally burdened and exploited ZIP codes in the country.

 

The residents’ proposal is direct: at the proposed scale, DE3 will function as round-the-clock industrial infrastructure, driving major electricity demand and backup generation, potential major water use and water pollution by discharge, constant noise and heat rejection, and long-term operational and emergency risk.

 

“This is not a ‘trust us’ situation and it cannot be handled in private,” the proposal states. “In a frontline community like ours, being a good neighbor must mean enforceable, measurable, publicly verifiable commitments, with real monitoring, public reporting, and real consequences.”

 

The proposal also demands that CoreSite provide a written response by 5pm on Feb. 24, 2026, and identify authorized decision-makers with authority over water (use & discharge), diesel/backup architecture, monitoring, and agreement terms.

 

Why this matters in 80216

 

DE3 is being built in a place with documented cumulative burdens rooted in colonial dispossession and extraction, followed by decades of zoning, redlining, highway construction, and industrial citing that concentrated pollution next to working-class homes, alongside the legacy of the Vasquez Boulevard/I-70 Superfund site, a 4.5-square-mile smelting contamination footprint affecting multiple neighborhoods.

 

Residents warn that policy and permitting, that accelerate data-center growth without ironclad, neighborhood-enforceable protections risks repeating a pattern: public systems retooled for private industry while frontline residents carry the risks.

 

Today is not the first time residents have had to answer the call to another development that will exacerbate the negative metrics of the health and wellbeing of the neighborhoods. In-fact, our neighborhoods have a long legacy of resistance that this new campaign follows in the long lineage of.

 

Whether it was fighting the ASARCO smelter, the racist segregation inside packinghouses, or fighting the displacement of eminent domain through various projects like the National Western Center, the expansion of I-70 or the displacement driven by market speculation and gentrification. Residents will continue to demonstrate that there is no fight too big to take on in their own backyards.

 

The community “floor”: what CoreSite must put in writing

 

The proposal we have sent to CoreSite calls for a binding Good Neighbor Agreement that implements a community-defined floor, campus-wide and end-state, built on transparency, enforceability, and protection of public systems:

 

• No NDAs; disclosure by default. Residents demand “no NDAs” and a public, continuously updated DE3 Disclosure Packet covering MW ramp timelines, interconnection status, cooling/water ranges, water withdrawal and discharge pathways, generator inventory/testing plans, emergency operations, and absolute volumes, not percent-only claims.
• No cost-shifting: ratepayers pay $0—build what’s needed up front. The proposal requires 100% cost causation (CoreSite/tenants pay all grid upgrades triggered by DE3) and states: if a new substation is required, CoreSite must fund and build it up front—before additional load is energized.
• Clean air: reject Tier 2 diesel; hard limits and public Minimum Tier 4 Final (or better), no “temporary/rental/mobile” loopholes, emergency-only means emergency-only, and binding runtime caps with independent fenceline monitoring (NOx/PM), a public dashboard, exceedance alerts, and penalties.
• Water accountability—including discharge. Residents demand binding caps with penalties, potable minimization and reuse-first design, and full accounting of water use and blowdown/discharge with monthly public reporting.
• No contracts that fuel surveillance and over-policing. The proposal requires tenant/use transparency, civil-liberties guardrails, and enforceable off-ramps to ensure

 

DE3 does not support mass surveillance, dragnet policing, deportation operations, or war/occupation decision systems.

• Binding enforcement and resident governance. Residents call for a binding agreement with penalties/clawbacks/third-party enforceability, resident-governed oversight with data access, and a funded, resident-selected legal/technical capacity so neighbors can enforce protections if agencies fail.

Timeline residents are demanding

 

 

The proposal sets a clear path forward:

• By 24: CoreSite responds in writing and at the scheduled public meeting; CoreSite identifies authorized decision-makers.
• Within 15 days: CoreSite publishes the DE3 Disclosure Packet; provides draft enforceable diesel monitoring/penalty terms; provides cooling design and water withdrawal + blowdown/discharge accounting with draft enforceable caps.
• Within 30 days: CoreSite meets with a neighborhood delegation and decision-makers to finalize operating limits, public reporting cadence, resident oversight structure, and the draft binding Good Neighbor Agreement.

 

Comments from the community and allies

Jason Angelo, Elyria Resident: “My family and I are the 3rd Generation living in Swansea-Elyria. My family, friends and I, have experienced all the poison, pollution, noise and awful stench, these corporations have brought to this small community we call home. The City/ County of Denver and State of Colorado, have allowed and encouraged this poison to ruin our community far too long. We are all enraged to hear they are incentivizing, yet another “Poison Plant!!” It’s time we band together and stand together to say ‘NO MORE POISON’ in our neighborhood!!” We say this to you so-called ‘leaders and politicians’–take this pollution to your own neighborhood and subject your family to this poison!!”

 

Jessica Herrera, Globeville resident: “I grew up and lived in Elyria, all my life and my family for decades and cared about our community. Quit polluting the neighborhoods where we live.”

 

Harmony Cummings, Greenhouse Connection Center: “Hyper scale data centers are going to have hyper scale impacts on our air, water, electrical grid, negative workforce implications and perpetuate the surveillance state. We need to be incredibly mindful and how we tread ahead in order to protect communities, the planet and the future.”

 

Call to public officials

 

In parallel, community leaders are sharing the proposal with the Mayor’s Office, Denver City Council, Denver Water, and state public health and utility decision-makers, urging them to reject any expedited treatment, backroom arrangements, or public incentives for DE3 unless enforceable protections and community-defined benefits are secured in writing, with public reporting and real consequences.

 

View the Full Proposal Here.

 

GES-Coalition is a membership-based organization building collective power through organizing, advocacy, and shared leadership.