Kevin O’Leary cuts Utah Stratos data center plan in half after protests

In short: A huge planned data center project in Utah is being reduced in size after strong local opposition, mainly over water use.

What happened

A developer group led by venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary has agreed to shrink the proposed Stratos data center project in Box Elder County, Utah. A data center is a large building full of computers that run online services, like a warehouse for the internet.

The project was originally described as extremely large, spread across multiple Utah sites. After protests and public comments, O’Leary said the plan will be cut roughly in half, from about 40,000 acres to about 20,000 acres. The group also said 10,000 of those remaining acres will stay undeveloped, which would leave about 25 percent of the original land area for actual construction.

Local residents raised several concerns. The biggest was water, including an effort to block a transfer of 1,900 acre-feet of water, which is roughly enough to cover 1,900 acres with a foot of water. People also worried about electricity bills going up, and possible effects on air quality, wildlife, and land.

Utah Senate President Stuart Adams asked O’Leary to cut the project’s scope by 75 percent. O’Leary later said he had “no choice” but to agree and that the team “screwed it up” by not being more open earlier. He said he will personally handle communications going forward and promised more transparency.

Why it matters

Big data centers can bring jobs and investment, but they also use a lot of power and sometimes water, which can strain local resources. This dispute shows that even before construction starts, public trust and basic questions, like where the water comes from, can reshape or delay major AI-related infrastructure projects.

Source: Arstechnica