SALT LAKE CITY — Bills regulating aspects of data centers are being drafted and will be introduced in the next legislative session, House Speaker Mike Schultz told FOX 13 News.
"I think the public’s asked fair questions around data centers," Speaker Schultz, R-Hooper, said in an interview on Thursday. "What are their impacts? What’s the good parts? What’s the bad parts? What are the environmental concerns?"
With public protest and significant controversy surrounding data center development in Utah, lawmakers have held a series of hearings about them. Speaker Schultz, who in the past has said he is not supportive of mass data center development in Utah, said Thursday it was his desire that decisions about whether data centers should be built be decided at a local level and not by the legislature.
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But he said the Utah State Legislature would continue to scrutinize some state-level aspects of data centers.
"Another thing we’re going to be looking at is the tax increment, he said. "What giveaways are they getting as far as tax increment?"
Speaker Schultz said he has already tasked some in the House Republican majority with bills on data centers, particularly focused on environmental regulation. Some public protest has focused on harms to the Great Salt Lake and the Colorado River from a data center's water usage.
Asked if Utah's current environmental regulations on data centers are enough, Speaker Schultz told FOX 13 News: "I don’t think they are."
"I think we need to go further in terms of water use and making sure the best technology is out there. We need to look at air quality impacts as well," he said. "When you hear stories about the noise, you hear stories about vibrations, things like that, let’s make decisions based on actual information and make sure concerns are addressed."
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Celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary's plans for a massive data center in Box Elder County near the Great Salt Lake has been a significant source of controversy that has reached all the way to Utah's Capitol Hill. The state's Military Installation Development Authority, which backed the project, has come under scrutiny from political leaders who have questioned the "mission creep" of the agency in not only backing a data center but a development tied to a ski resort.
Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, who is the board chair of MIDA, lost his re-election bid in what was seen by some as a referendum on data centers.
Speaker Schultz said he would support legislation to rein in MIDA.
"I don’t think MIDA should be doing data centers," he said. "I think it ought to be left up to the local communities to be doing data centers."