"We pissed off a lot of people": Giant data center plan cut 50% amid protests
Ars Technica AI · Ashley Belanger · 2026-06-05
Kevin O'Leary's Stratos hyperscale data center project in Utah's Box Elder County was reduced by 50% before construction after community protests over water use threatening the Great Salt Lake.
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Extraction
Topics: data-center-infrastructurewater-rightscommunity-oppositionhyperscale-computingenvironmental-impact
Claims
- The Stratos data center project, originally designed to cover an area nearly three times the size of Manhattan across multiple Utah sites, has been cut in half before construction began.
- Residents' primary objection was a planned transfer of 1,900 acre-feet of water from a ranch to the data center, threatening the already-stressed Great Salt Lake.
- Community members paid a $15 registration fee to formally submit comments opposing the water transfer.
- Developer Kevin O'Leary publicly acknowledged that failing to engage transparently with state officials and residents from the start was a mistake.
Key quotes
"We pissed off a lot of people"
Many locals paid a $15 fee to register comments to block the transfer of 1,900 acre-feet of water from a ranch to the hyperscale data center.
He told a local ABC affiliate that he regrets not working with state officials to be more transparent about the project from the beginning.