Home/United States/Utah/Box Elder County
Data centers in Box Elder County, Utah: 1 project mapped
Box Elder County holds the largest data center ever approved in the United States, or at least the largest on paper. The Stratos Project, backed by "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary, would cover Hansel Valley at the northern tip of the Great Salt Lake. First planned at 40,000 acres, it has since been cut to about 20,000, still bigger than Manhattan. It would run on its own gas-fired power plants and draw 9 gigawatts at full build, more than twice what the rest of Utah uses. The county did not approve it through zoning. In May 2026 commissioners voted unanimously to consent to a project area under Utah's Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) and signed an agreement that hands MIDA land-use authority over the site for 50 years. County zoning does not apply there.
Hundreds of people filled the county fairgrounds for that vote, many with yellow "No Data Center" signs. After half an hour of shouting, the commissioners walked out and finished the meeting from a private room on a broadcast. Commissioner Tyler Vincent said no one on the commission would benefit, and that the site's own gas supply would "not put additional strain on the local grid or increase electricity prices." Commissioner Boyd Bingham said that if he voted no, "this project could still move forward using different means." The county negotiated a 55-decibel noise limit, height limits and dark-sky rules. It says the deal guarantees $5.4 million a year, rising to an estimated $108 million at full capacity. Utah State University physicist Robert Davies has estimated the waste heat could raise nighttime temperatures in the valley by as much as 12°F. The project first requested 13,000 acre-feet of water rights a year, more than 4 billion gallons. Brigham Young University ecologist Ben Abbott, who leads the Great Salt Lake campaign Grow the Flow, estimated it could need closer to 100,000 acre-feet, which he said "would more than erase all the work we have done to save [the] Great Salt Lake." The lake is under a third full.
Read more
Residents then tried to put the decision to a vote. The Box Elder Accountability Referendum group, known as BEAR, filed three referendum applications. County Attorney Stephen Hadfield rejected them in May, ruling that consenting to the MIDA project area and signing the agreement were administrative acts, not new laws, and so could not go to voters. "We are not going away," said co-sponsor Brenna Williams. BEAR appealed in the 1st District Court; in early August the county and O'Leary asked the judge to dismiss the appeal. Five anonymous residents joined Alliance for a Better Utah in a separate civil rights suit over the denied vote. A Stewardship Utah poll of more than 500 county voters found over 70% opposed.
On June 17, 2026, commissioners unanimously passed a 180-day moratorium on new data centers and data center power plants on unincorporated land. It does not touch Stratos. "You broke public trust," Brigette Cottam of Brigham City told them. "And now you are bringing up a moratorium on future data centers instead of before?" The politics shifted the same month. The two county commissioners up for re-election were voted out, as was state Senate President Stuart Adams, who chairs the state body that approved the project. Gov. Spencer Cox signed an order setting a "higher bar" for data centers but has not withdrawn his support for Stratos, though he later said "there's no question, the process was not good." Under MIDA's process, approval comes first and environmental review after; a MIDA board member said the permits were in a "holding pattern" while the referendum fight continued. MIDA had not yet filed for the air and water permits the project needs, and each draft permit will get a 30-day public comment period.
Data center projects on record in Box Elder County
Grouped by the town each site sits in. The report above may name projects that have no record here yet.
Snowville1
| Project | Company | Status | Power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Stratos EasternSnowville | Kevin O'Leary, Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) | Approved | 9,000 MW |
Where this comes from
The reporting above was written from these. Open one and check it yourself.
Moratoriums and bans in effect
Pauses on new data centers covering this area.
| Place | Type | Started | Ends | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Box Elder County | Moratorium | Jun 11, 2026 | Dec 8, 2026 | Record off site ↗ |
Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.