Mastodawn

New filing stirs #GreatSaltLake fears as giant #Utah #DataCenter comes into view, eyes water needs

by Jennifer Green
Thu, May 21, 2026

"A new #WaterRights filing tied to a proposed #MegaDatacenter in northern Utah is renewing fears about the future of the Great Salt Lake, just as new renderings offer the clearest look yet at what the massive development could become.

"What's happening?

"A proposal connected to the #BoxElderCounty data center project seeks to transfer 11 acre-feet of water from an unnamed spring in #HanselValley, KSL reported.

"That marks a steep drop from a previous 1,900-acre-foot application that was withdrawn May 7 after prompting around 3,800 protests.

[...]

"The proposal is facing intense scrutiny because the Great Salt Lake is already under strain from long-term water shortages, and data centers can consume huge amounts of both electricity and water.

"Critics worry that even relatively small individual filings could add up over time if the development expands toward its full vision, which includes 7.5 to 9 gigawatts of power-producing capacity."

#WaterIsLife #ThermalPollution
#HeatGeneration #Drought #GreatSaltLake #Environment #EnvironmentalCatastrophe
#UtahPol #Datacenters
#DatacentersSuck #SharkTank
#AISucks

New filing stirs Great Salt Lake fears as giant Utah data center comes into view, eyes water needs

"What we think is going to happen is they're going to work to accrue these small water rights."

Yahoo News

DoomsdaysCW 1d ago

Tribune editorial: The voice of the people has pushed #Utah leaders to stop and think about massive #DataCenter. Keep it up.

This is an issue that has united people across the political spectrum.

By The Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board
| May 22, 2026

"The fear that a ginormous, water-guzzling, air-befouling, weather-modifying data center planned for Utah’s northwest corner was a done deal seems to be easing just a bit. It’s not hard to see why.

A handful of key state officials are now promising that, before the project actually gets built — if it ever does — the appropriate environmental reviews, with opportunities for public comment, will happen.

"That doesn’t mean that the people who have stood up to what appeared to be a pre-greased mega-project can rest easy. Vigilance and activism are what have worked so far, and will be necessary going forward. As long and exhausting as that process might be.

"It will take a lot of continual public outcry to counterbalance the monied interests pouring campaign contributions into the coffers of Utah Senate President #StuartAdams and other powerful worthies who have been pushing the plan.

"Few Utahns had any inkling that a little-known state agency called the Military Installation Development Authority (#MIDA), which Adams chairs, had put its weight behind the #StratosProject, a proposed data center that would, at full build-out, generate and consume twice as much electricity as the whole state of Utah.

"The Box Elder County Commission had to sign off on the project before the MIDA board could take over all land-use, water, energy, environmental and tax-abatement authority over the 40,000-acre project — immune from any democratic oversight.
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"Despite loud public objections, online and in person, commissioners did exactly that. Given that the land is privately owned, not part of any city and not zoned for any particular use, commissioners argued they really didn’t have the power to stop it.

"But others do."

#UtahPol #KevinOLeary #WaterConsumption #HeatPollution #ResistDatacenters #WaterIsLife #ThermalPollution #HeatGeneration
#Drought #GreatSaltLake
#Environment #EnvironmentalCatastrophe #Datacenters #DatacentersSuck
#SharkTank #AISucks

Tribune editorial: The voice of the people has pushed Utah leaders to stop and think about massive data center. Keep it up.

“Vigilance and activism are what have worked so far, and will be necessary going forward,” writes The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board. “As long and exhausting as that process might be.”

The Salt Lake Tribune

DoomsdaysCW 1d ago

The 23-Atomic-Bomb Valley: Why #Utah’s #AIDataCenter Is A #ClimateDisaster In The Making

by Rex Freiberger
Wed, May 20, 2026 at 11:18 AM EDT

"Your state might be next. Utah counties just approved a data center so massive it would consume more power than the entire state currently uses, dump the heat equivalent of 23 atomic bombs daily into high desert, and potentially increase local #carbon emissions by 55%. Welcome to the #StratosProject—#KevinOLeary’s 40,000-acre bet that #AI supremacy trumps everything else."

[...]

"Utah State University physicist Robert Davies calculated #Stratos would dump 16 gigawatts of #ThermalLoad into the surrounding valley—energy equivalent to 23 Hiroshima-scale atomic bombs worth of #heat every single day. You’re trying to cool massive server farms by blowing hot desert air over hot radiators, Davies notes, which doesn’t work well in high-altitude, arid conditions.

"His projections show daytime temperatures rising 2-5°F and nighttime temperatures jumping 8-12°F across the region. #Desert #ecosystems depend on #NighttimeCooling to generate life-sustaining #condensation. Lose that temperature drop, and you’ve fundamentally altered how plants and animals survive in an already stressed #GreatSaltLakeWatershed."

#Utah #WaterIsLife #ThermalPollution #HeatGeneration #Drought #GreatSaltLake #Environment #EnvironmentalCatastrophe #UtahPol #Datacenters #DatacentersSuck #SharkTank #AISucks

The 23-Atomic-Bomb Valley: Why Utah’s AI Data Center Is A Climate Disaster In The Making

Utah approved a 40,000-acre AI data center that would consume more power than the entire state uses and dump heat equivalent to 23 atomic bombs daily.

Yahoo News