'Irresponsible': Backlash as Utah Approves Datacenter Twice the Size of Manhattan

A plan to create one of the world's largest datacenters, a gargantuan project spanning an area more than twice the size of Manhattan, has provoked a furious public backlash in Utah amid concerns over its vast energy use and impact upon the state's stressed water supplies.

The Stratos artificial intelligence datacenter footprint will cover more than 40,000 acres (62 sq miles) over three sites in Box Elder county in north-western Utah. The facility will require about 9GW of power — more than the entire state of Utah currently consumes — and suck up a significant amount of water in an area that has been hit by severe drought in recent years.

Last week, the project was approved by the county's commissioners, despite thousands of objections lodged by Utah residents. Environmentalists have warned that Stratos could imperil the Great Salt Lake ecosystem, including a critical migratory bird habitat, which is already under severe stress.

"At a time when the Great Salt Lake is already in crisis, approving a project that will consume water and energy at this scale is irresponsible and dangerous. Utahns want to see the Great Salt Lake restored, not stripped."
— Franque Bains, Sierra Club Utah

The proposed project is backed by Kevin O'Leary, the venture capitalist known from Shark Tank, who has claimed Stratos will deliver thousands of jobs and help the US compete with China in the burgeoning AI industry. Critics argue these jobs will not outweigh the longer-term impacts to Utah and beyond.

Stratos is expected to raise the state's planet-heating pollution by about 50% by consuming a huge amount of energy and water. The network of industrial-scale fans needed to cool the datacenter's hot pipes will result in so much waste heat that it could raise daytime temperatures in the surrounding Hansel valley by 2°F to 5°F and night-time temperatures by 8°F to 12°F, according to an analysis by Rob Davies, a physics professor at Utah State University.

"The thermal load from the proposed Stratos project is extreme," Davies said. "This facility imposes substantial drying on a watershed and ecosystem already in active collapse."

Nearly 4,000 people have lodged objections to the project, leading to contentious public meetings. O'Leary has claimed in social media posts that most protesters have been paid to object and bused in from out of state — accusations that opponents have firmly rejected.

In a further twist, the developers withdrew their application to divert 1,900 acre-feet of water from ranching to the project, but announced they fully intend to refile a new application — a move opponents claim is aimed at skirting public disapproval by invalidating existing objections and requiring each person to pay $15 to file a new complaint.

A group calling itself the Box Elder Accountability Referendum has filed an application for a public vote to reverse the commissioners' approval. If they can collect 5,422 signatures in the next 45 days, the project approval will go to a vote in November 2026.