The Utah News Dispatch reports Cox’s order May 29 directs state agencies making decisions about data centers to prioritize the lake and safeguard Utah's air and water quality.
He said the move was a response to public feedback from across the state and intense pushback from communities closest to a proposed data center in northern Utah.
Shortly after Cox’s order, Senate President J. Stuart Adams stated the center, backed by celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary, is too large and needs greater oversight.
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The Salt Lake Tribune reports Adams, who is also chair of the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) which approved the development of the data center, sent a statement June 1 stating he’d “sent a letter directly to Kevin O’Leary calling for a 75% reduction in the proposed data center project area.”
That reduction would take the proposed footprint from 40,000 acres to approximately 10,000 acres.
The public letter also comes weeks before Adams faces multiple Republican challengers in the GOP’s Senate District 7 primary election June 23.
