Box Elder County Advances O'Leary Data Center Project

BRIGHAM CITY, Utah - Box Elder County commissioners approved a resolution Monday giving Utah's Military Installation Development Authority consent to create the Stratos project area, moving a Kevin O'Leary-backed data center proposal forward after public opposition over water, power and local control.

The county said the project area covers about 40,000 acres of privately held vacant land in western Box Elder County. In a May 4 statement, the county said the area could include a data center, large-scale energy generation and future development sites for manufacturing, retail, restaurants, hotels and public works infrastructure.

A public meeting clip reviewed by People's Voice Media showed an attendee objecting after the action moved forward.

"Then why won't they let people talk?" - An unidentified meeting attendee, according to the local transcript.

The same transcript captured the attendee saying, "This is not real information," and, "It's a charade."

What Happened

The Box Elder County Commission said Monday it approved a resolution giving consent to MIDA to create the Stratos project area. The county described the action as the start of a state-led process, not final construction approval for the full project.

The county's April 22 agenda listed an interlocal agreement between Box Elder County and MIDA relating to the Stratos project area and Resolution 26-10 consenting to MIDA's Stratos project area. A later special meeting agenda identified Resolution 26-11 as the county commission's consent to the MIDA Stratos project area, according to Box Elder County agenda materials.

County officials said commissioners reviewed more than 2,500 public comments before the vote, including 300 from Box Elder County residents. The county said commissioners also negotiated an interlocal agreement with noise limits, building-height restrictions tied to emergency response capacity, dark-sky compliance, a local landowner seat on the development review committee and leaseback provisions for agriculture.

Commissioner Tyler Vincent said the vote began a longer oversight process.

"Today's decision isn't the end of the oversight process, but just the beginning." - Tyler Vincent, Box Elder County commissioner, in the county's May 4 statement.

Vincent said the county appreciated residents who submitted comments and concerns. He said the agreement reflected "long-term economic opportunity, infrastructure planning, and responsible stewardship."

The Project

Box Elder County said Stratos would be split across three sites. The county said one site is intended to support energy generation and a data center, while two additional sites may support later manufacturing, retail, restaurants, hotels and public works infrastructure.

The county said MIDA anticipates more than 2,000 jobs associated with the project. The county also said the developer would be required to pay for construction and maintenance of public-service infrastructure needed for the project.

The project has been publicly tied to O'Leary Digital and Kevin O'Leary, the investor known from "Shark Tank," and to Utah-based West GenCo, according to project descriptions circulated by local officials and advocacy groups. Box Elder County's May 4 release did not name O'Leary Digital in the quoted project summary, but it identified MIDA as the state entity authorized to initiate the project area.

MIDA Executive Director Paul Morris framed Stratos as energy and defense infrastructure.

"The combination of site location and design make Stratos one of the most sustainable and effective data centers in the country." - Paul Morris, executive director of MIDA, in the county's May 4 statement.

Morris said the project would support Utah's military mission, energy resilience and long-term investment. The county said Stratos is designed to produce power directly at the site rather than placing additional demand on the regional electric grid.

Col. Andy Owens, director of Utah National Guard Joint Staff, said the project had military-readiness implications.

"From a military standpoint, projects like this matter because national security has to be built into our infrastructure from the start." - Col. Andy Owens, director of Utah National Guard Joint Staff, in the county's May 4 statement.

Owens said reliable energy and data infrastructure are becoming critical to military operations.

The Opposition

Environmental and local-control concerns have centered on water use, power demand and the speed of the approval process. Grow the Flow Utah, a Great Salt Lake advocacy group, said the project would sit in the Great Salt Lake basin and warned that a development at that scale could strain water and wildlife habitat.

Grow the Flow Utah said in an April 29 action notice that the Stratos project was expected to reach 9 gigawatts of power and that developers had cited about 3,000 acre-feet of on-site water and up to 10,000 acre-feet under contract. The group said key details remained unclear, including hydrologic analysis and support for claims of low or net-zero water use.

The county's May 4 statement addressed several of those concerns indirectly. It said the project would be phased, would coexist with agricultural uses through leasebacks and conservation buffers, and would include future state regulatory permitting processes.

The disagreement is over who carries the risk if the buildout proves larger than the safeguards. Supporters are pointing to jobs, tax base, off-grid power and defense infrastructure. Opponents are asking whether local residents and Great Salt Lake water users will be left with land-use, environmental and utility impacts after the project area is created.

What People Are Saying

"Then why won't they let people talk?"

An unidentified meeting attendee, according to the local transcript reviewed by People's Voice Media.

"Today's decision isn't the end of the oversight process, but just the beginning." - Tyler Vincent, Box Elder County commissioner, in the county's May 4 statement.

"The combination of site location and design make Stratos one of the most sustainable and effective data centers in the country." - Paul Morris, executive director of MIDA, in the county's May 4 statement.

"From a military standpoint, projects like this matter because national security has to be built into our infrastructure from the start." - Col. Andy Owens, director of Utah National Guard Joint Staff, in the county's May 4 statement.

The Big Picture

The vote gives MIDA and project backers a path to keep designing Stratos, but the county's own statement says additional phases, state regulatory permitting and development details still have to be considered.

The next tests are whether developers publish enough water, power, air-quality and infrastructure data to answer resident concerns, and whether the negotiated guardrails survive as the project moves from project-area approval to specific permits and construction plans.