What’s Up With Mr. Wonderful’s Utah Data Center?
Box Elder County, Utah, commissioners controversially approved a massive 40,000-acre data center project, Stratos, backed by Kevin O'Leary, despite significant public opposition and environmental concerns over its immense power and water demands. Local advocates successfully challenged a water rights application, forcing its withdrawal, but developers plan to reapply. The project highlights growing tensions between rapid development and environmental protection in the region.
Box Elder County, Utah, commissioners have controversially fast-tracked the approval of the Stratos data center project, a massive 40,000-acre facility backed by 'Shark Tank' entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary's O'Leary Digital. The decision, made in a closed session after county commissioners threatened to remove hundreds of furious locals protesting at a public meeting, has sparked significant public outcry. The proposed hyperscale data center is projected to require 9 gigawatts of power and consume more electricity and water than the entire state of Utah currently uses, raising severe environmental concerns in a region already grappling with critical water shortages and climate change impacts.
Critics, including environmental advocate Caroline Gleich and university professors Patrick Belmont and Robert Davies, warn that the facility's heat and carbon emissions could devastate the fragile desert ecosystem, intensify the shrinking Great Salt Lake's toxic sediment exposure, and disrupt wildlife. O'Leary, however, dismisses these concerns, citing his environmental studies background and claiming the facility will utilize efficient air cooling and diverse energy sources. However, state officials note the project is currently slated to be powered entirely by a natural gas pipeline.
The Utah Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) has been instrumental in advancing the project, providing tax incentives and streamlining the approval process, which Governor Spencer Cox defended as crucial for national security and technological competitiveness. Opponents, including the Shoshone Nation concerned about sacred burial grounds near the site, accuse MIDA of circumventing environmental review. An online petition spearheaded by Gleich led to the withdrawal of a water rights application critical for the project, though developers intend to reapply. The ongoing dispute underscores a broader national debate on data center development's environmental and social costs, particularly in rural areas.