Not sure if this has been posted earlier, but it looks like Kevin O'Leary's Utah Data Center will move forward.
"The commissioners voted tonight to pass a 180-day moratorium on new data centers in Box Elder County. A six-month pause. To research and develop regulations.
That sounds like a victory. It is not. Not completely. And the community knows it.
While the commissioners voted Wednesday to implement the moratorium, it does not cover the Stratos Project facility, which remains on the path to becoming a reality despite widespread opposition. According to the county, the data center is exempt “because Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) projects do not go through the standard local land use approval processes.” Under state law, the county said, MIDA now governs the project.
The moratorium stops every OTHER data center from being built in Box Elder County for 180 days. But not the one that started this entire fight. Not Kevin O’Leary’s Stratos Project. Not the 20,000-acre campus that doubles the state’s entire electricity consumption. Not the one that residents have been fighting since May 4 — when news of it first broke — with protests, petitions, two separate lawsuits, and applications to put it on the November ballot.
That one is exempt. Because of MIDA. Because the Military Installation Development Authority — a state-level body — has taken jurisdiction. Because a process designed for military development is now being used to build an AI data center. And local residents have no say in it.
They said the moratorium was needed after the Stratos project exposed issues that need attention."