Suit filed against controversial planned Stratos datacenter project in Utah | Utah
Utah residents have teamed up with a progressive nonprofit backed by celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary to file a lawsuit over an underdeveloped AI data center, claiming the planned Stratos project facility “irreversibly” cuts into citizens’ rights by not allowing adequate public input.
The lawsuit, filed by the Alliance for a Better Utah and five unnamed residents of the Box Elder county area where the center is being developed, comes after Shark Tank co-host O’Leary agreed to shrink the project’s physical footprint.
The alliance and residents are challenging the constitutionality and approval of the project by the state’s military facilities development authority (Mida), a private entity overseeing the data center proposal, NBC News reported.
“Under the Stratos plan, Box Elder will have permanent and irrevocable control over tens of thousands of acres of land use in Elder County without any voter recourse over public health, safety, taxation and land use,” David Irvine, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
State and Mida officials said they were reviewing the case.
Initial proposals for the data center called for a 40,000-acre (16,200-hectare) campus in Utah’s Hansel Valley, but O’Leary said Wednesday he told NBC that he would have to weaken the project.
Utah State Senate President Stuart Adams he said later O’Leary had agreed to a reduction in size, a water commitment to the Great Salt Lake, and “the dedication of thousands of acres for open space, wildlife preservation, and continued agricultural use.”
Adams added that the Stratos project is in its “early stages” and a full permitting and environmental review process will be conducted.
O’Leary Published on X “It’s not taking away from the Utah project, but I understand why [state senate] “President Adams sent the letter demanding major changes.”
“A 75 percent reduction is unrealistic for a project of this scale, but that doesn’t mean concerns should be ignored,” the post added.
O’Leary nevertheless accused the project’s opponents of staging “coordinated misinformation campaigns” and said the public debate was “fueled by outdated information.”
He added: “Claims that we will drain the Great Salt Lake, drain Utah of its energy, or cause major environmental damage do not reflect the reality of what we are building.” He also noted the creation of construction jobs and other high-paying tech jobs and billions of dollars in investment.
O’Leary said he also investigated the financing of opposition groups at the AI data center and turned over evidence to federal authorities that he said showed links between the groups and “China-backed interests.”
The accusation came as four congressional Republicans, including Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, chairman of the House energy and commerce committee, asked the FBI for information about “foreign influence campaigns seeking to slow the progress of American artificial intelligence.”
Guthrie said in his statement:: “Data centers are the fundamental computing fabric that makes modern life possible.”
