Kevin O'Leary's AI Data Center Project Faces Opposition, Lawsuit in Utah
Kevin O'Leary's ambitious Stratos AI data center project in Box Elder County, Utah, is facing significant local opposition due to its massive energy and water demands. Despite county approval and O'Leary's agreement to halve the project's size, residents have partnered with Alliance for a Better Utah to sue the state, challenging the law that permitted the approval without local input. O'Leary has also controversially claimed the opposition is funded by "Chinese backed interests."
Multimillionaire investor Kevin O'Leary, known as "Mr. Wonderful" from "Shark Tank," is encountering substantial local resistance to his large-scale AI data center projects in both rural Utah and Alberta, Canada. O'Leary's planned Stratos project in northwestern Utah, initially envisioned as a 40,000-acre facility requiring nine gigawatts of power—more than the entire state currently consumes—has drawn widespread criticism over its energy and water demands.
After Box Elder County commissioners approved the Utah plan, local residents expressed outrage, leading to protests and nearly 3,000 written objections. In response, O'Leary agreed to reduce the project's footprint by half. However, local opposition remains strong, with residents, in collaboration with the progressive nonprofit Alliance for a Better Utah, filing a lawsuit against the state last week. The lawsuit aims to overturn the law that enabled the county to approve the project without adequate local input. O'Leary has also alleged, without presenting evidence, that the Utah opposition is funded by "Chinese backed interests."
Similar challenges are emerging in Canada, where O'Leary's 7.5-gigawatt Wonder Valley data center in Alberta is facing scrutiny over its water usage and environmental impacts. Hundreds of residents from the community of Grovedale attended a town-hall meeting to question the project, and the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has requested a federal environmental impact assessment. O'Leary, who admitted to "screwing up" the initial Utah plan, maintains that criticism is based on "outdated information" and intends to address concerns with facts.