In Utah, growing pushback over a city-sized data center
Kevin O'Leary, chairman of O'Leary Ventures, testifies during a House Financial Services Committee hearing titled "Priced Out of the American Dream: Understanding the Policies Behind Rising Costs of Housing and Borrowing," in Washington, Feb. 10, 2026.
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP
As data center disputes rage across the United States, with communities pushing back against mammoth facilities that require chunks of energy, water, and land to fuel the international artificial intelligence race, few places can compare with the debate happening in the northwestern corner of Utah.
Locals and scientists say the Stratos Project, backed by celebrity Canadian investor Kevin O鈥橪eary of 鈥淪hark Tank鈥� fame, stands out not just for the way in which it was approved, but also for its size. Initially planned to sprawl across 40,000 acres (the size of Washington, D.C.) in Box Elder County, the project would consume up to of electricity, which is what the state of Utah uses per year. Mr. O鈥橪eary has boasted that it would be one of the biggest data centers in the world.
Opposition has grown over the past few weeks, after the approval process was fast-tracked by a special state commission called MIDA (Utah鈥檚 Military Installation Development Authority) and unanimously approved by the three-person county commission in early May. Many locals say they have had no opportunity for input. In response, Republican officials in the state have softened their previous full-blown support for the project. Gov. Spencer Cox requiring 鈥渃areful consideration鈥� of data centers鈥� environmental impacts. Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, who chairs MIDA, called for a 75% reduction in Stratos鈥� acreage footprint in .
Why We Wrote This
The Stratos Project, near Utah鈥檚 Great Salt Lake, has scaled back its planned footprint. But scientists still see big risks for the local environment.
Despite initially calling Mr. Adams鈥� request for such a 鈥渉aircut鈥� of the project 鈥渙utrageous,鈥� Mr. O鈥橪eary announced Thursday that he would cut the footprint of the project in half, from his plans.
But thus far, this has done little to quell pushback. Scientists say a compromise over acreage does little to alleviate concerns over the environmental impacts that such a project would bring to the Great Salt Lake Basin, a nationally renowned site facing a megadrought.
鈥淚t鈥檚 performative,鈥� says Robert Davies, a physics professor at Utah State University, of the promised acreage reduction. He has concluded from his own calculations that the 9 gigawatt project would only require 5,000 to 7,000 acres. Even still, he says, the energy usage would be 20 times more than what is used by 鈥渉yperscale鈥� data centers.
Dr. Davies has also found that such a project could raise the nighttime temperature in the area by up to 12 degrees, which he says would be 鈥渢ransformative.鈥� Among other impacts, that sort of temperature rise would suppress nighttime condensation levels that the already water-stricken ecosystem relies on. 鈥淭his would be one of the largest single-site heat sources on the entire planet,鈥� he adds, 鈥淸and] that includes volcanoes.鈥�
Although he has only committed to a reduction in square acreage, and not energy consumption, Mr. O鈥橪eary that the project will no longer be the largest in the world. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 off the table,鈥� he said. In his letter to Mr. Adams, Mr. O鈥橪eary cited 鈥渋ncorrect assumptions鈥� for all the alarm around the project, and he has previously claimed that opposition groups were backed by the Chinese Communist Party. But at the same time, Mr. O鈥橪eary has acknowledged the real political pressures on the ground in Utah, where the Box Elder County project has become an issue even within .
鈥淸Mr. Adams] did this for political reasons,鈥� Mr. O鈥橪eary . 鈥淗e had to. What other choice did he have? He had to answer to all these people.鈥�