BOX ELDER COUNTY, UTAH — The Box Elder County Commission approved the Stratos artificial intelligence datacenter project despite receiving thousands of objections from Utah residents. The facility will cover more than 40,000 acres, or 62 square miles, across three sites in Box Elder County, Utah.

The datacenter will require approximately 9 gigawatts of power, which exceeds the current total power consumption of the state of Utah. The facility is also expected to consume water in an area that has experienced severe drought in recent years. According to one impact analysis, the project is expected to increase Utah's greenhouse gas emissions by about 50% due to its energy and water consumption. The developers will build the datacenter in phases, initially spanning 2,000 acres before scaling up subject to future reviews.

The project is backed by venture capitalist Kevin O'Leary, who has claimed Stratos will deliver thousands of jobs and help the United States compete with China in the AI industry. "I don't think there's a bigger site in the world than this," O'Leary said. "It shows the Chinese and the rest of the world we are not messing around, we are going to get this done, move it forward and provide the compute power to our AI companies that defend the country."

Environmentalists warned that Stratos could harm the Great Salt Lake ecosystem, including a migratory bird habitat already under stress. The lake is shrinking as water is diverted for agriculture and the climate crisis continues, and shrinking of the lake bed could expose toxic dust clouds, posing a risk to inhabitants of Salt Lake City. "At a time when the Great Salt Lake is already in crisis, approving a project that will consume water and energy at this scale is irresponsible and dangerous," said Franque Bains, director of the Sierra Club's Utah chapter.

Nearly 4,000 people have lodged objections to the project, leading to public meetings. In a video posted to X, O'Leary claimed most protesters do not live locally and are paid and bused in, an assertion opponents have rejected. "There are professional protesters that are paid by somebody, I don't know who," O'Leary said. "They're being bused in."

A group called the Box Elder Accountability Referendum filed an application for a referendum to reverse the commission's approval. If the group collects 5,422 signatures from registered voters in the next 45 days, the project approval will go to a vote in November.

Developers withdrew their application to divert 1,900 acre-feet of water from ranching to the project but said Stratos fully intends to move forward with a new application to state regulators. The new process will invalidate existing objections and require each person to pay $15 to file a new complaint. Opponents claim the change is aimed at avoiding public disapproval.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox said he will require that the project does not harm the Great Salt Lake or raise residents' power bills. "Industry is our state's motto," Cox said. "Utahns should expect clear standards and accountability."