Utah approves construction of a massive data center facility twice the size of Manhattan with extraordinary power consumption.
Box Elder County commission in Utah has approved construction of the Stratos artificial intelligence datacenter, an enormous facility that will occupy more than 40,000 acres (62 sq miles) in north-western Utah and consume 9GW of power. Upon completion, the datacenter will be twice the size of Manhattan and consume more electricity than the entire state currently does. The project is backed by venture capitalist and Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary.
Nearly 4,000 local residents and environmentalists have objected strongly to the proposed datacenter, pointing out that it will pull water and raise temperatures in an already drought-hit region. Many are particularly concerned about the Great Salt Lake ecosystem, which is already under threat from a recurrent drought and agricultural water diversions. The datacenter would likely divert more water from the lake, unless the developers plan to source cooling water from outside the county.
Speaking to Fox News, O'Leary said, "I don't think there's a bigger site in the world than this. It shows the Chinese and the rest of the world we are not messing around, we are going to get this done, move it forward and provide the compute power to our AI companies that defend the country." When addressing water concerns on X, he stated, "We're not gonna drain the Great Salt Lake. That's ridiculous. We are gonna create incremental jobs." Regarding energy, O'Leary said, "We are building power from scratch, from the pipeline. We are going to burn it with turbines, clean." However, natural gas is a fossil fuel, and burning it produces pollutants that have contributed to man-made climate change. Additionally, gas turbines operate like commercial jet engines, and with the datacenter's 9GW energy consumption, the campus will likely be as loud as a large airport; infrasound produced by datacenters has made local residents sick in several instances. O'Leary has also claimed that those opposed to the datacenter are "professional protestors" being paid to object to the project.
The Box Elder Accountability Referendum has applied for a referendum on the decision, and if signed by 5,422 registered voters in the county within 45 days, another vote will be held in November. Brenna Williams, lead sponsor of the referendum push, said, "Instead of speaking with us, Kevin O'Leary went on social media saying we were out-of-state, paid protesters, and we don't want people from out-of-state making decisions for us. The only thing he's right about is that we don't want him, an out-of-state billionaire, making decisions for us."