After data center controversy, the Box Elder County Commission will get two new members
Two Box Elder County commissioners lost their reelection bids after voting to clear the way for the proposed Stratos hyperscale data center campus. The project, which could cover about 20,000 acres north of the Great Salt Lake, has drawn opposition over its potential water use and environmental effects.
Voters in Box Elder County, Utah, elected Vance Smith and Nathan Tueller to replace commissioners Boyd Bingham and Lee Perry, whose reelection bids failed amid controversy over the proposed Stratos data center campus. Perry attributed his primary defeat to the commission’s unanimous decision to approve creation of the project area, while Tueller won the Republican primary and later ran unopposed.
The proposed campus could span roughly 20,000 acres north of the Great Salt Lake and would be developed by investor Kevin O’Leary. The commission’s May vote allowed the Utah Military Installation Development Authority to establish the project area and bypass county zoning and land-use rules. Candidates expressed differing views, with Alan Williams campaigning as the only openly anti-data-center candidate and pledging to stop the project, while Tueller said the approval was justified but that county leaders should have communicated more clearly with residents.