The Military Installation Development Authority unveiled plans April 24 for hyperscale data centers in rural Utah, its largest project yet.
Some members of the public say the speed of the data center project’s approval, limited opportunities for public comment and potential environmental impacts are worrisome, as KPCW and The Salt Lake Tribune have reported.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox pushed back against those concerns during his monthly news conference April 30.
“There’s a lot of really bad information out there about data centers,” he said. “People are operating off of models and technologies that have changed drastically over the past few years, especially when it comes to water usage. That’s one where the numbers are just wrong.”
MIDA Executive Director Paul Morris has said the data centers will use less water than ranching and will thus be “a net positive to the Great Salt Lake,” an assertion Cox backed.
“It’s not taking additional water away from the Great Salt Lake,” he said. “It’s taking water that would be used for other things and using it for a different purpose now. And we have air quality standards that they have to abide by.”
When asked whether MIDA’s project had been rushed, Cox said residents have had their chance to provide feedback.
“I’m so tired of our country taking years to get stuff done,” he said. “It’s the dumbest thing ever. We think that taking time makes things better or safer – it absolutely does not.”
Cox said there’s a national security imperative to move the data centers forward, comparing the competition to the nuclear arms race during the Cold War.
The data centers, which are backed by celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary, will produce up to nine gigawatts of energy each year.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that’s more than double the power the entire state currently consumes in a year.
The Box Elder County Commission will vote on MIDA’s data center plans at a special meeting Monday, May 4.
MIDA is a state entity created to serve the military and promote economic development. In Wasatch County, it’s known for supporting Deer Valley East Village and other major projects in the Jordanelle Basin.
