New Utah law raises concerns for those who oppose Box Elder County data center plans

A new Utah law, House Bill 60 (HB60), which went into effect recently, is causing significant concern among residents opposing a proposed hyperscale data center in Box Elder County. The law is intended to expedite water delivery to the Great Salt Lake, but opponents worry it will make it easier for data center developers to secure water rights. Thousands of formal protests have been filed against the project's water rights transfer application, citing concerns about water usage, noise, and emissions. Residents, who felt a recent Box Elder Commission meeting was held with little warning, are determined to continue protesting. However, HB60 directs state water rights engineers not to consider "detriment to public welfare" when evaluating such applications, which is a major point of contention for those fighting the data center. Governor Spencer Cox has attempted to calm fears, stating he requested the project developer, O'Leary Digital, publish a publicly available water plan demonstrating no degradation to the Great Salt Lake. O'Leary Digital's CEO claims the data center will feature modern advances, resulting in less noise, fewer emissions, and significantly lower water usage than many other data centers. Governor Cox also added that the project will start small, at less than 2,000 acres, and use under 1.5 gigawatts of power. Despite these assurances, many residents remain distrustful of state leaders and developers, citing past unkept promises from data centers across the country.