SALT LAKE CITY — A new analysis of the proposed Stratos data center campus in Box Elder County estimates its emissions could contribute to as many as 45 premature deaths annually and hundreds of millions of dollars in health-related costs, but a representative for celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary and the project reject the study's conclusions.
The report, released this week by EmPower Analytics Group, examines potential air quality impacts from the artificial intelligence-focused data center campus. Researchers said they wanted to evaluate possible public health consequences before major decisions about the facility are made.
"The Stratos data center, if completed, would be one of the largest data center complexes in the world and one of the largest to be powered fully by methane gas," said Dr. Michael Cork, CEO and founder of EmPower Analytics Group.
The analysis estimates emissions from the project could lead to between five and 45 additional premature deaths per year, along with illness, such as increased asthma cases, hospital admissions and heart attacks. Researchers also projected annual health-related costs ranging up to $690 million.
Dr. Logan Mitchell, a climate scientist with Utah Clean Energy who partnered with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which commissioned the report, said the research found impacts would extend well beyond Box Elder County.
"One of the things that really stood out to me is how far this pollution would travel," Mitchell said. "It's going to affect all of northern Utah and actually into Idaho and Wyoming and Colorado and states even further afield."
He said the study found there would be more pollution in the air than normal. He pointed to winter months when inversion traps the pollutants in our valleys.
"After we've done all of this work to reduce our pollution, it's really taking us several steps backwards," Mitchell said.
