Utah Residents Protest Stratos Data Center Water Request
Hundreds of formal protests have been filed with the Utah Division of Water Rights following a second water rights change application for the proposed Stratos data center. Environmental advocates, including Friends of Great Salt Lake, are mobilizing public opposition due to concerns over water consumption, despite the developers' intent to proceed.
Hundreds of formal protests have been filed with the Utah Division of Water Rights in response to a second water rights change application for the proposed Stratos data center. The application, submitted by O'Leary Digital, opened for public comment on Wednesday, immediately drawing significant opposition. Rob Dubuc, general counsel for Friends of Great Salt Lake, an advocacy group, encouraged public participation, citing the importance of weighing in on such filings.
The initial application, which sought 1,900 acre-feet of water, was met with approximately 4,000 formal protests before being withdrawn by the developers. The latest filing requests a smaller volume of 11 square acre-feet, but environmental groups anticipate further requests, expressing concern over the project's overall resource consumption and a perceived lack of transparency in the current application's details.
Paul Palandjian, CEO of O'Leary Digital, stated the company intends to persist with the approval process and plans to provide more detailed information in future filings. He asserted that the final water requirement for the data center would be less than what is currently used for farming and ranching on the property. However, Dubuc criticized the latest application as a "cut-and-paste" of the first, lacking substantive details.
Friends of Great Salt Lake plans to continue alerting the public and encouraging them to file protests, emphasizing the need for meaningful engagement to demonstrate concern over the proposed data center's water demands.