SALT LAKE CITY — Governor Spencer Cox said Thursday that he would push for legislation to reform the Military Installation Development Authority, the group that green-lit the controversial Stratos Project data center in Box Elder County.
The remarks came during his monthly news conference on PBS Utah.
"Stratos is the one that obviously got a tremendous amount of attention, and it should have," he told reporters. "The process was not good."
The governor said he has advocated for changes to MIDA, including more involvement from the governor's office. He said his previous overtures to the Utah State Legislature were rejected.
But with the immense public pushback on celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary's massive data center project and renewed scrutiny on MIDA's role in shepherding projects, things may have changed on Utah's Capitol Hill. The data center debate is believed to have led to Senate President J. Stuart Adams losing his primary election race (Sen. Adams serves on MIDA's board).
Gov. Cox, who was a vocal supporter of data center development, said he will now push for MIDA reforms and a better process when it comes to regulating data centers.
"We want to make sure that we get the process right on this," he told reporters. "People need an opportunity to, to weigh in, local communities need a better opportunity, and we'll continue to work on those changes."
House Speaker Mike Schultz on Wednesday told FOX 13 News in an interview to expect bills on data center regulation in the upcoming legislative session. Lawmakers have been holding hearings on data centers to learn what is and isn't allowed.
"One thing that I think we’re united on is we do not want a state full of data centers," the Speaker told FOX 13 News.
