BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah — The developers behind the proposed Box Elder County data center, which has stirred debate and backlash for over a month, have agreed to cut the size of the facility by half.
In a letter addressed to Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams, project chairman Kevin O'Leary said he will remove 19,430 acres from the data center's original footprint, which spanned 40,000 acres.
O'Leary's agreement comes after Adams called last week for the proposed facility to be shrunk by 75 percent.
The letter claims the adjustment will remove acres to the south of the data center "in recognition of the Locomotive Springs Waterfowl Management Area," a bird habitat overseen by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. O'Leary called the habitat "critical to the north shore of the Great Salt Lake, whose spring flows have declined significantly over recent decades."
O'Leary added that his O'Leary Digital developers will also remove a 620-acre parcel in the northeast portion of the plan.
"We're just trying to address the issue that was brought up by Adam's letter, and saying, ‘Look, we can do much of what you want, including the environmental issues. We can part with the land that is the bird sanctuary, we're obviously not going to put it—never were going to put a data center there," O'Leary told FOX 13 News reporter Nate Carlisle.
County commissioners had two meetings about Stratos data center before public was told:
A Utah DWS spokesperson told FOX 13 News on Thursday that potential impacts to wildlife and water in the area are not yet known, but added that the agency is willing to work with the developers to provide information to avoid negative impacts.
“With responsible water use, transparency and input from the people of Utah, we will show the nation how to build it right," Adams responded.
While agreeing to decrease the size of his proposal, O'Leary's letter claimed that the outcry over the Stratos Project "has been based on incorrect assumptions and facts about land use, water use, heat dispursion (sic), air quality, and project timeline that does not reflect reality."
The reality television star known as "Mr. Wonderful" said that his company has yet to break ground on the project or obtain the permits to do so, and continued to blame false statements as a reason for the outcry over the data center.
"We welcome the chance to work with your office and all relevant state agencies and elected officials to ensure the public has access to accurate information," he wrote to Adams, "which is the most effective antidote to misinformation."
"There'll be a lot of preserved land in there, and we may at some point, depending on the tenant, the hyperscaler may require battery and solar or wind, and so we have to leave some land for that," O'Leary told FOX 13 News. "You know, the actual footprint of the data center itself, although there's been so much misinformation and propaganda—it’s just not true—it’s relatively small.”
Despite his accusations of false information in his letter, O'Leary did not share how he would calm any concerns over the project.
