Kevin O’Leary says opponents of his Utah data center are ‘professional protesters’ — and some are powered by AI
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Kevin O’Leary says paid activists and some AI-generated activists oppose the Utah data center.
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Despite protests, the 40,000-acre project was unanimously approved Monday.
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The finished data center is expected to produce and consume twice the energy used by the entire state.
“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary is defending Utah data center plans just approved by state officials despite community backlash.
O’Leary calls critics of the multibillion-dollar project “professional protesters” and suggests that some of the opposition has been amplified by artificial intelligence.
O’Leary, also known as Mr. Wonderful, said in a post about X and an accompanying video that concerns about the project — including its impact on air, water use, heat and noise — were well understood by his team.
“I’m actually the only data center developer in the world with a degree in environmental studies, so I’m very aware of what those concerns are,” he said in the clip released Tuesday.
Box Elder County data center faces backlash from those concerned about environmental pressure and resource use; This is a common flashpoint with the expansion of energy-hungry data centers across the US, fueling the growth of artificial intelligence.
Paul Morris, executive director of the Utah Military Installations Development Authority, which is overseeing the project, said in a statement April 24: board meeting Once completed, the data center is expected to produce and consume more than twice the amount of energy currently used in the state of Utah.
According to publicly available information of the project information noteThe entire structure will consume approximately 9 gigawatts of energy.
40,000 decare project attracted interest from local news source KSL The project, which will reportedly be built within the next 10 years, was unanimously approved Monday by the MIDA board of directors, attended by hundreds of booing and sign-waving protesters, according to local media reports.
O’Leary, whose firm O’Leary Digital is behind the project in partnership with local developer WestGen, said sustainability is “at the heart of what we do” in his post about
“We can also allocate a percentage of energy production to solar, wind and batteries because battery technology is 10 times more efficient than it was five years ago,” he said in his post, adding that improved battery efficiency helps reduce energy costs.
The “Stratos” project in Utah will be powered by natural gas from the nearby Ruby Pipeline, according to the data center’s publicly available data. information note.
