- Utah Senate President Stuart Adams has publicly asked Kevin O'Leary to shrink the proposed Stratos Project from 40,000 acres to 10,000 acres and adopt stricter environmental and transparency measures.
- Adams' requests include returning excess water to the Great Salt Lake, using water-efficient technology, protecting wildlife and agriculture and publicly disclosing permits and project approvals.
- The project has faced significant public scrutiny over environmental and transparency concerns, prompting additional state reviews and a new executive order from Gov. Spencer Cox establishing statewide guidelines for large data centers.
Utah Senate President Stuart Adams is asking for a 75% land reduction in the proposed Box Elder County data center project before it can move forward.
Adams, R-Layton, who chairs the Military Installation Development Authority, which oversees the project’s development area, said he sent a letter directly to the project’s main developer Kevin O’Leary, asking him to scale down the land used from 40,000 acres to 10,000 acres.
The letter doesn’t hold any legal weight, but Adams told the Deseret News he hopes it reaches O’Leary with “some credibility.”
“I would think a responsible person would respond to the letter and do the right thing,” he said.
O’Leary told “Fox and Friends" in late April that he had met with Adams and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox in January about the project.
The letter asks for greater transparency, stronger conservation commitments and that any excess water be treated and sent to the Great Salt Lake. Currently, no water from that area flows to the lake.
“If we can use this opportunity to take the water that doesn’t flow to the Great Salt Lake and actually move it to the Great Salt Lake, that’s a big win,” Adams told the Deseret News.
The Box Elder County data center, officially named the Stratos Project, generated intense public scrutiny after being unanimously approved by county commissioners in early May. After public comment had closed, many Utahns expressed concerns about the project’s potential environmental impact and alleged lack of transparency.
Following the blowup, a group of voters applied to add a referendum to the county’s November ballot to overturn the commission’s approval. However, last Thursday, county officials rejected the applications, saying they don’t believe the issue is “legally referable to voters.”
“I think there’s a natural anxiety that comes with anything new. You don’t know, the future causes anxiety and I think that is a natural process. But that’s why there are so many critical issues and regulatory processes that have been put in place,” Adams said.
Adams is currently seeking reelection for his Utah Senate seat in a Republican primary with multiple challengers.
He told the Deseret News he would “stay in the issue” regardless of the race.
“This is what we do every day, regardless of elections or regardless of anything else,” he said.
President Stuart Adams lists specific demands of O’Leary
Adams posed six new demands for Stratos Project developers to meet before beginning construction.
- Reduce the proposed project area from 40,000 acres to 10,000 acres to “limit impacts on the region and broader environment.”
- Commit to using the most water-efficient technology available and only the water “reasonably necessary” for operations. All excess water will return to the Great Salt Lake “at the developer’s expense.”
- Enter a Memorandum of Understanding with Utah’s Department of Natural Resources to disclose how the land within the reduced project area will preserve and protect wildlife and agricultural uses.
- Use heat-capture technologies and provide independent scientific and engineering analyses.
- Create a transparent, public-facing website that shows all approvals, including water and air quality permits.
- Work with state and federal agencies. The project should meet or exceed all environmental performance requirements.
How could the data center help the Great Salt Lake?
Cox and Adams have maintained that a data center with a closed-loop cooling system will likely use less water than current consumption. A data center would require a large up-front water cost, then taper off, while agriculture uses the same amount annually.
Josh Romney, the son of former Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and the founder of Great Salt Lake Rising, told the Deseret News that while he’s “not a big fan of data centers,” the project could “be beneficial to the lake, ultimately.”
“As long as they stick to what they say they’re going to do, this will be a net benefit,” Romney said, referencing promises of a water-efficient design, coupled by water-efficient energy production.
The federal Interior Department’s proposed budget for 2027 allocates $1 billion to restoring the Great Salt Lake. Romney nodded to the budget item and said, “I think ultimately this is probably a $3 billion to $5 billion issue. ... So getting a $1 billion potential commitment from the federal government would go a very long way in helping get the lake restoration started.
He described the amount of attention the lake has gotten from Utah’s Legislature in the last decade. “I don’t think any other state has ever had as much water law change as Utah has in the last 10 years,” he said. “So we’ve made massive strides in terms of like getting things on the right path. We still have a long way to go.”
Adams’ letter adds to the response from state leadership
Several days after the project was approved, Cox asked five departments within his administration to evaluate the project before it is allowed to move forward.
Analysis of the project will come from the Division of Drinking Water, the Division of Water Quality, the Division of Water Rights, the Division of Air Quality and the Division of Wildlife Resources.
In Cox’s May 8 statement, he reiterated his support for the project and, in addition to addressing public concerns, described potential benefits. He predicted the project would boost military readiness within the state and be an economic driver in Box Elder County.
Then last Friday, Cox issued an executive order establishing statewide guidelines for future large data center projects, which ensure transparency, air quality, responsible water use, energy generation and wildlife protection.
“Utahns have expressed legitimate concerns regarding the potential impacts of large data centers on water resources, air quality, utility rates, local communities and quality of life,” Cox wrote. “And those concerns must be carefully considered.”
The order referenced a state law passed in 2025, which requires any power development for data center projects to not increase electricity costs for Utahns.