Box Elder County commissioners face data center questions in their reelection bids
Two Box Elder County commissioners, Lee Perry and Boyd Bingham, are facing reelection challenges primarily due to their votes in favor of the controversial Stratos Area data center project in Hansel Valley. Opponents are actively campaigning against them and have filed a lawsuit to force a public vote on the resolutions that allowed the project to proceed.
Box Elder County Commissioners Lee Perry and Boyd Bingham are currently campaigning for reelection, with their bids significantly impacted by their May 4 votes approving resolutions for the controversial Stratos Area Project data center. The project, planned for the Hansel Valley area, involves developing up to 9 gigawatts of power capacity and has drawn considerable opposition over potential environmental impacts. Both commissioners have defended their votes, with Bingham suggesting that rejecting the resolutions could have led to a costly lawsuit against the county, while Perry emphasized his vote was to protect the county's interests given prior state-level approvals from Utah's Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA).
Opponents, including the Box Elder Accountability Referendum (BEAR) and the Majorities Matter Political Action Committee, are actively campaigning against Perry and Bingham, arguing that the commissioners did not listen to the public. BEAR representative Farrah Pliley stated the project has become a dominant political issue. Despite the initial approval of the resolutions, opponents have now filed a lawsuit to petition for a public vote on these same resolutions, aiming to halt the project. The developers have already scaled back the project's footprint from 40,000 to 20,000 acres, with only half slated for actual development. The electoral impact of the data center controversy on the ongoing Republican primary races for the two commission seats remains uncertain.