The Massive Data Center Proposed Near the Great Salt Lake’s Shores Proves Utah Cannot Be Trusted to Save the Lake
In one of the many legislative backrooms infested by special interests, a decision was made in 2025 which exposes the hypocrisy of Utah’s Great Salt Lake propaganda campaign. The ridiculously rapid approval (just 10 days) of one of the planet’s largest data centers a stone’s throw from the shores of the Great Salt Lake was the culmination of months or more of secretive dealmaking common to the Utah Legislature when it comes to water.
The Stratos data center jeopardizes the health and financial well-being of all Wasatch Front residents and 12 million migratory birds. The hypocrisy of the decision has reverberated across the country and exposes the “GSL 2034” campaign Utah has been waging as state-sponsored misinformation. This data center demonstrates that state leaders cannot be trusted to save the Great Salt Lake at all, much less by the 2034 Olympics.
This data center will sprawl across 40,000 acres of land five miles from the Great Salt Lake’s North Arm, which several key legislators have already been trying to dry up. The pre-planned approval of this titanic facility raises basic questions about how long Utah legislators have been planning for this behemoth. Did they have it in mind when they were discussing and passing House Bill 60, the bill to dry up the Great Salt Lake?
HB 60 was first heard in committee back in November, and it paves a suspiciously nice path for this project. The new law weakens regulations on new water right applications, and the Stratos developers have already maneuvered to take advantage of the defanged regulatory environment. After 4,000 people submitted written protests against the data center’s water right application, the developers withdrew the application to sidestep these protests. They will refile it now that HB 60 has taken effect as of May 6th.
You can learn more about this calamitous data center, the corruption it exposes, and how you can help by watching the latest episode of Liquid Courage:
Beyond just being a monstrous environmental hazard, this project may well be a smoking gun of corruption in Utah government. We’ve been calling on Utahns to submit GRAMA requests (public information requests) to their state legislators to get to the bottom of it. Requests like this are essential public checks on who elected officials have been talking to and what they’ve been saying.
How Will the Data Center Affect You?
At full buildout, the Stratos data center will consume up to 9 gigawatts of power, tripling the energy demand of the entire state of Utah. Every single Utahn will almost certainly pay increased energy costs over time as a result. Despite the data center developers’ assurances that this project won't raise utility bills, it will require immense amounts of natural gas. This will increase demand and impact supply, which is likely to lead to increased utility costs for Utahns. Data centers across the country are driving up energy costs and until the full demand needs of these facilities are understood, consumers are likely to pay the costs of these increased energy footprints. The project’s carbon emissions will be similarly staggering, nearly doubling Utah’s CO2 emissions and exceeding the output of entire countries like Sweden and Ireland.
The gigantic Stratos data center will also deplete water out of the struggling Great Salt Lake Basin. This comes in stark contrast to claims that Utah “closed” the basin to new water diversions. This calamity has been advanced by Utah legislators who have spent years approving policies to allow more diversions out of the lake’s tributaries while hoodwinking residents into believing otherwise.
Despite bipartisan opposition to the data center, Utah politicians have lined up in enthusiastic support. It might be tempting to direct fury at the Box Elder County commissioners who voted yes to the interlocal agreement after just 10 days of public knowledge, but the more uncomfortable truth implicates the misleading rhetoric from state leaders and years of bad legislation passed by the Utah legislature to dry up the Great Salt Lake.
The project was approved by one of the many shadowy, undemocratic entities created by Utah legislators: the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA). MIDA holds significant political sway as their board is chaired by Utah Senate President Stuart Adams. This body worked extensively to ensure the public and local governments had no warning about this data center or understood its impacts. How long MIDA has been working on the data center is an important question which needs to be answered.
Utah Rivers Council has long fought against corruption at the Utah legislature, so we know that duplicity in government is nothing new. We must remember that the untapped power of an organized and persistent public far outweighs the power in the material wealth of our opponents. There is still hope for a future in which the Great Salt Lake continues to exist, 12 million migratory birds can rely on this essential ecosystem as they have for centuries, and Northern Utah is once again free of toxic dust storms. But we will only see that future if we come together and fight for transparency, good governance, and the sharing of water with the Great Salt Lake. Our lives depend on it.
Will you join us?