SALT LAKE CITY – Despite a local furor in Box Elder County, Gov. Spencer Cox has come out as generally in favor of a proposed controversial 40,000-acre data center in the remote Hansel Valley.
While acknowledging that data centers have to be built “in the right places in the right way,” Cox said in his monthly news conference on April 30 that “… every state has an obligation … to allow for these types of data centers to be built …
“We can’t just say ‘no’ and shut the doors and go home and let China win this technology race,” he argued. “That just can’t be an option.”
Many Box Elder residents don’t share the governor’s strategic view of the proposed project, however.
On April 27, concerned citizens packed a meeting room at the Box Elder Fairgrounds in Tremonton and their vocal opposition to the proposed data center caused the Box Elder County Commission to table a decision for one week.
Much of their opposition was based on the alleged rushed fashion in which the data center was being proposed, with the state appearing to put pressure on Box Elder County without allowing local officials or residents to perform any due diligence.
That concern was shared by Tyler Vincent, the chair of the Box Elder County Commission.
The crowd also raised unanswered questions about the proposed Data Center’s water usage and potential impact on air quality and other environmental factors.
Cox dismissed those concerns as being based on “models and technologies that have changed drastically over the past few years” and outright disinformation.
“We’ve let people against virtually everything destroy our country, destroy our industrial base, destroy our mining base,” he told reporters, “because we can’t build anything in this country anymore.
“Those days are over,” the governor added.
Backed by Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” fame, the so-called Stratos Data Center Project is expected to produce and consume up to 9 giga-watts of power at full capacity, which is more than double the entire state of Utah’s current average usage of roughly 4 giga-watts.
That power would be generated on-site using natural-gas-fired plants hooked into the Ruby Pipeline, which runs through the area.
The project’s advocates propose using a “closed-loop” water system to cool the data center’s components, with officials claiming it will be a net positive for the Great Salt Lake.
However, critics and some scientists have raised major concerns about the “heat island effect” and the impact on local water resources.
Here in Cache Valley, those critics include Physics professor Robert Davies and Watershed Science professor Patrick Belmont, both from Utah State University.
Davies said he and several of his colleagues have “a few dozen lingering questions” when it comes to the feasibility of the proposed mega data center.
“This is New York City scale level of power consumption,” Davies said. “In order to do that, you need quite a bit of water for the operation of the power plant.”
Belmont also voiced concern about the massive carbon footprint that he believes would be generated in producing that much power, which the USU professor says would be equal to the emissions of every car, truck, bus and motorcycle in Utah.
“This plant will be putting out more than that,” he emphasized.
For the project to move forward, the Box Elder County Commission must approve an interlocal agreement with the Utah Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA), a state entity that promotes economic development and military initiatives.
MIDA has already recommended approval of the proposed data center and offered tax incentives to O’Leary Digital.
The Box Elder County Commission will reconsider the data center at a public meeting scheduled for Monday, May 4, 2026, at 4 p.m. at the Box Elder County Fairgrounds in Tremonton.