SALT LAKE CITY — House Speaker Mike Schultz said he would like to see independent studies conducted on the impact of a massive data center in Box Elder County.
"Those are fair questions to be asked," he said in a phone call to FOX 13 News of concerns raised by critics of the Stratos Project. "I want to know the answers, too."
Speaker Schultz, R-Hooper, was responding to questions from FOX 13 News on Thursday about an online post by the progressive-leaning political action committee Elevate Utah that showed he owned 640 acres of land near the data center site. The Speaker confirmed he did own some property there and has since 2024.
But Speaker Schultz said the farmland in question is miles away from the Stratos Project site and is not able to be developed because it has a lot of hills.
"Eight miles away as the crow flies and there's a mountain between," Speaker Schultz said, adding he was in the middle of swapping it with a farmer for land near the Utah-Idaho border.
Speaker Schultz said he did not even speak to celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary until mid-April of this year. Asked if he supported the project, the Speaker replied: "My feeling is first off, it’s up to Box Elder County." He added he would like to see some studies to address air and water concerns.
Utah political leaders' roles in pushing the data center project through have been heavily scrutinized and criticized by members of the public. Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and other lawmakers have faced questions over their roles on the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) which has been pushing the project.
Governor Spencer Cox, who has been a vocal supporter of the project, has faced social media speculation that his family would benefit from the project through CentraCom, a company his family founded decades ago. The Salt Lake Tribune reported last week that CentraCom said it had "no desire to be involved" with the Stratos Project. The Cox family sold CentraCom to New York-based LICT Corp. in 2001.
(Editor's note: FOX 13 News and The Salt Lake Tribune have a news-sharing partnership.)
