SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Engineer has received an overwhelming number of public protests over a proposed data center in Box Elder County.
"Right now, all of our staff is all-hands working on this, trying to get information on the record so it’s public and transparent," Teresa Wilhelmsen, the state engineer, said in an interview Wednesday with FOX 13 News.
By the time the deadline for objections hit on Wednesday, more than 3,800 formal protests had been submitted to the Utah Division of Water Rights. Wilhelmsen said there was another 2,000 "letters of concern" that had also been filed. It breaks the agency's previous record of public objections (about 1,200 for a water project about 15 years ago).
"Every protestant, every application we take very seriously," she said.
The Stratos Project, backed by Kevin O'Leary, currently has applied for only 1,900 acre-feet of water use. That's equivalent to a farm's water use. However, with a facility that is being built on 40,000 acres of land and expected to consume as much as nine gigawatts of electricity, it is anticipated the data center would be filing more applications with the state in the future.
Just how big is the proposed Box Elder County data center? This big:
In her interview with FOX 13 News, Wilhelmsen said she could not speak to the merits of this application. She said her role is to review what has been submitted, the objections and other information submitted before making a decision on whether to approve or reject it based on Utah water law.
"We start evaluating what information we have. We may schedule what’s called an administrative hearing. It’s not a public meeting. It’s an administrative hearing where the state engineer can gather additional information from the applicant and protestants that are parties to the application. That’s what we’ll be working on over the next 30 days," she said.
At the Friends of Great Salt Lake's issues forum, where some of Utah's policymakers engage with environmentalists, advocates and others passionate about the lake, the data center was on the minds of many who attended.
"There are many unknowns about the data center that are troubling," said Lynn de Freitas, Friends of Great Salt Lake's executive director and one who has filed a formal protest over the project.
The sheer volume of public protest against the project thrilled de Freitas, who said Utahns remain passionate about saving the Great Salt Lake.
"Clearly, the public is not happy with this decision," de Freitas told FOX 13 News. "I think it’s obvious people are getting the message about where we are, what we need to be doing with Great Salt Lake and how this is counterproductive to that effort."
Governor Spencer Cox has been a vocal supporter of the data center. But it may face numerous hurdles to being built. There are air quality issues, water quality issues and other environmental concerns that would loop in state agencies with their own rules and policies.
"Absolutely we’re watching the data center. We know that’s been a hot topic," said Hannah Freeze, the deputy Great Salt Lake Commissioner, an office created by the Utah State Legislature to save the lake.
Under Utah law, the commissioner's office has power to override some decisions by agencies if it means protecting the lake. Freeze said they have not explored whether that would be necessary with the data center project.
"There’s been a ton of information and a ton of misinformation. So we’re working with our partners, especially our Division of Water Rights, working with them to get accurate information on what the impacts of the data center will be before we make any big decisions," she told FOX 13 News.
Beyond state review, there is also the threat of environmental litigation. Some activists FOX 13 News spoke with on Wednesday were already huddling with lawyers to plan next steps.
Wilhelmsen said regardless of what the Utah State Engineer decides? It is not over.
"If a party doesn’t agree with the state engineer’s decision? They can seek administrative relief by asking the state engineer to reconsider that decision. If they’re still not satisfied? They can take it to district court," she said.
This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake—and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. Read all of our stories at greatsaltlakenews.org.
