Box Elder County data center opponents pursuing ballot initative to challenge plans

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Opponents of the Box Elder County data center proposal are taking steps to challenge one of the resolutions allowing the project to proceed.
• They've submitted a referendum application, still focus of review, aiming to let voters decide if the resolution should be repealed.
• Proponents say the project is vital for national security but foes worry about its potential environmental impacts.

BRIGHAM CITY — Opponents of the proposed Box Elder County data center have launched a bid to challenge one of the county resolutions allowing the plans to proceed, apparently hoping to halt the controversial initiative.

County officials are still reviewing the referendum application; however, it has not yet been determined whether it meets the varied requirements set out in state law, according to Box Elder County Clerk Marla Young. The application was submitted on Wednesday, she said Thursday, and it has been forwarded to the Box Elder County Attorney's Office and the Box Elder County Auditor's Office for review.

The referendum application targets Resolution 26-11, one of two measures Box Elder County Commissioners approved at a contentious meeting on Monday that allows the Stratos Project Area data center proposal to proceed.

Young said she's been told the opponents also plan to submit a referendum application to challenge the second measure, Resolution 26-12, approving an interlocal agreement on the plans between the county and Utah's Military Installation Development Authority. "If it's received, it will be forwarded also to the county attorney's office and the auditor's office," Young said.

As the initial referendum application targeting Resolution 26-11 is still under review, she hasn't released the names of the five people who submitted it. However, she said they are all Box Elder County residents.

The Stratos project, proposed by Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary and O'Leary Digital, calls for building a data center in Box Elder County to bolster the U.S. military's access to artificial intelligence and cloud computing capabilities. The plans also call for the development of up to 9 gigawatts of power-producing capacity in the project area, some 40,000 acres of undeveloped land, to serve the data center.

The Military Installation Development Authority, or MIDA, a state entity that promotes economic development in tandem with the military sector, is working with O'Leary Digital on the plans. MIDA has hammered out development terms with O'Leary Digital on the project and also promised to provide certain tax incentives.

The proposal has sparked strong backlash from many, though, who worry about the environmental impacts of such a massive development, particularly the amount of water it would use. They demonstrated ahead of last Monday's county commission meeting at the Box Elder County Fairgrounds complex in Tremonton, repeatedly interrupting proceedings and chanting, "Shame, shame, shame," after the officials unanimously approved the two resolutions.

Now, the opponents are taking another approach, using the process outlined in state code to try to force a public referendum on the two measures the county commissioners approved. If allowed to proceed, those behind the challenge would have to collect the signatures of 5,422 Box Elder County registered voters on petitions calling for a referendum.

If the 5,422 threshold were reached, a referendum question would be put on an election ballot asking Box Elder County voters if the resolution or resolutions should be repealed, settling the matter.

It's a complex process, however, with detailed requirements that have to be met at each step of the process.

Per state law, the auditor's office and county attorney's office are to prepare an estimate of "the fiscal and legal impact" of repealing any law challenged, where the proposed challenge to Resolution 26-11 currently stands. The officials also ensure the application complies with other provisions of state law that contain land-use exceptions. They have 20 days to complete the review.

Next, if the referendum application gets a green light, those behind it would have 45 days to collect the 5,422 signatures. The county clerk would have 30 days from receipt of petition packets to review the signatures and verify their legitimacy. Only if there are enough legitimate signatures would the referendum question be put on the ballot.

"We are working through the timeline right now, to be exact on what it is," Young said. She's not sure whether the timeline would allow for the placement of any referendum question on the Nov. 3 general election ballot, assuming the process proceeds and enough petition signatures are collected, though that's her hope.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Tim Vandenack

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Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.