Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox favors the controversial data center proposal in Box Elder County and views such facilities as vital to national security.
"We have an obligation, I think every state has an obligation when it comes to this space, to allow for these types of data centers to be built in their states. We have to do this. We can't just say no and shut the doors and go home and let China win this technology race. That just can't be an option," he said Thursday.
Details of the proposal in the northern reaches of Box Elder County, dubbed the Stratos Project, publicly emerged last week, sparking questions, concerns and opposition from many. Over the long haul, the proposal calls for the creation of a network of data centers spread across some 40,000 acres of undeveloped Box Elder County land and the development of some 7.5 gigawatts of power-generating capacity, likely from natural gas-fired plants, to fuel them.
The data centers, coming amid a push in China and around the world for such facilities in part to bolster military capabilities, would be designed to support the U.S. military and defense contractors, according to project boosters. Some critics, however, worry in particular about the water the new development would require to cool the varied facilities and the potential adverse impact to the Great Salt Lake.
Foes demonstrated and crowded into a Box Elder County Commission meeting on the topic last Monday, but Cox downplayed such concerns amid technological advances.
"Unfortunately, there's a lot of really bad information out there about data centers. People are operating off of models and technologies that have changed drastically over the past few years, especially when it comes to water usage," he said. Misconceptions persist, he lamented, and "everybody just believes it now, that data centers use all the water and destroy everything around them, and that's just not true.
"Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary and a business he leads, O'Leary Digital, are the moving forces behind the project. Cox and other Utah officials have had conversations with project representatives, which Cox characterized as "very positive," and the Utah Military Installation Development Authority, or MIDA, threw its support behind the project late last week. The authority is a state entity that promotes economic development and military initiatives. Now, the Box Elder County Commission must approve an interlocal agreement wit
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