DoomsdaysCWTribune 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."
Read more:
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/editorial/2026/05/22/tribune-editorial-public-outcry/
#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.”
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