SALT LAKE CITY — Celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary's massive data center project in northern Utah has refiled an application for water, the Utah Division of Water Rights confirmed to FOX 13 News.
The application was filed on Oct. 15, seeking 1,712 acre-feet of water a year on the property purchased in Box Elder County. It will be reviewed, and the Utah State Engineer will determine if it can be granted the water based upon state statute.
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"Although this is a large-scale project that will be built over time, ODU [O'Leary Digital Utah] has commissioned extensive study to ensure that construction and operation of the Project will at no time impair downstream water interests. lndeed, the Project is almost certain to resurlt in a net increase of water lowing to downstream water rights and the Great Salt Lake," the application stated.
The last time the Stratos Project, as it's known, sought a water rights application, the state engineer was besieged with formal protests. Hundreds were lodged before the water rights application was withdrawn. Environmental and community groups opposed to the data center project are expected to lodge more formal protests again.
People who wish to file a protest will have up to 20 days to do so once the water rights application is formally advertised. But the Utah State Engineer's decision on the data center's water access is required to evaluate the application based on administrative standards set in state law.
That is unlikely to block the sheer volume of protests that will be filed. Community groups opposed to the data center have aggressively rallied members of the public, turning it into an election issue this year. Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, lost his seat in a primary and some attributed it to his support for the data center (he is also the chair of the Military Installation Development Authority, which green-lit the project). Box Elder County Commissioners who approved it also lost their seats in a primary.
Most recently, demonstrations have been staged, and people have shown up to speak against data center developments statewide, pressuring political leaders to block the projects over environmental, energy and consumer concerns.
