Celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary wants to bankroll an artificial intelligence data centre in rural Utah that he says would be nearly identical to his proposed $70-billion, 7.5-gigawatt AI data centre campus in northern Alberta.
But the Utah project is already facing fierce opposition from some residents worried about the environmental impact of such a massive development in their backyard.
The Utah data centre is slated for Box Elder County, a rural district in the northwestern corner of the state.
Like the Wonder Valley AI data centre planned for the District of Greenview, near Grande Prairie, Alta., the Utah campus would deliver close to 7.5 gigawatts of computing power and cover between 10,000 to 13,000 acres once complete.
It would be part of a larger, 40,000-acre development on privately held vacant land that would include its own natural gas power plant capable of producing up to nine gigawatts, according to an FAQ prepared by Box Elder County.
The county commission approved two resolutions on May 4 allowing the project to move forward. The decision sparked vocal opposition from residents who worry the data center could worsen the effects of climate change in the area.
Backers, including O’Leary, say it will boost the local economy by bringing close to 2,000 permanent jobs and additional tax revenue to the county. O’Leary said the project could also significantly increase U.S. computing capacity and productivity.
“The country that has the best AI will have the best productivity, the best education, the best military ordinance, the best of everything,” O’Leary said in an interview with CBC News.
O’Leary said he hopes construction can begin by the end of next year if the project clears environmental assessments.
Asked what his message was to concerned Utah residents, O’Leary said they deserve answers and that his company is committed to developing the project transparently.
“We don’t get to do whatever we want. So everything we’re going to do will be transparent and public in these applications. If any of them are struck down, that’s fair,” he said.
Environmental concerns
Of particular concern for some residents is the Great Salt Lake, which has dropped to record-low levels in recent years.
“This is a lake system and an ecosystem that is already in a fairly advanced stage of collapse,” said Robert Davies, a physics professor at Utah State University and expert on environmental change.
Davies said the proposed development would be built in a desert valley that gets little precipitation, where plants and animals rely on daily condensation for moisture.
He worries the extra heat and emissions from a development capable of producing “more than double the amount of energy in the entire state” would further disrupt that fragile ecosystem.
“So it’s not a small thing, it’s a big thing.”
The AI data centre boom is coming to Canada and cooling the technology will require massive amounts of clean water. For The National, CBC’s Jonathan Montpetit dives into the consumption and uncovers a murky business with little oversight.
Brenna Williams says she is already living with the effects of Great Salt Lake’s deterioration and worsening air quality in her community — and is skeptical the development won’t make things worse.
“We’re already being told to ration our water,” Williams said.
“But all of a sudden we have all this excess water to provide the heat generation for that much power and cool down the data centre? I just don’t see where there’s the water to do that.”
O’Leary Digital says the centre would use on-site water and not draw new water from the basin. The project’s design would use a closed-loop cooling system that reuses water and would “sharply reduce water consumption,” according to a fact sheet from O’Leary Digital.
The campus is also being designed with heat-capture and reuse systems to repurpose waste heat, the fact sheet says.
Residents want a say
Some residents, including Brenna Williams and her son Tameron, also feel the county’s decision to advance the project was rushed and the public did not get enough chance to weigh in. Hundreds of people attended the contentious public meeting where the decision was made.
Brenna is now one of the leaders of a group of residents, the Box Elder Accountability Referendum, calling for the project’s future to be put to a vote.
“We want it to be fair. We don’t want the citizens to have to bear the entire risk. That’s a little insane,” she said.
“I think that’s, that’s not, you know, an unreasonable request, right? We want transparency, we want accountability,” said Tameron, who’s acting as the group’s secretary.
The referendum application is being reviewed by the county’s attorneys. The group expects to hear back by the end of the month.
If approved, the group will have 45 days to collect just over 5,400 signatures from registered voters across four areas of the county to get a question about the project’s approval on the ballot during the November midterm elections.
In a news release, Box Elder County Commissioner Tyler Vincent said the commission’s vote to advance the project “isn’t the end of the oversight process, but just the beginning.”
But Davies questioned whether the state’s existing environmental regulations were designed for a project of this scale.
“I’m concerned that they’re saying that environmental regulations will be followed, when it’s not at all clear to me that those regulations are even built for a project like this,” he said.
Where the Alberta project stands
As for the Alberta project, first announced in December 2024, O’Leary said it must still secure permits.
In April, Alberta’s government said it would not conduct an environmental impact assessment on the Wonder Valley AI Data Centre Park project because of its proposed use of standard power and water systems.
However, the province said Wonder Valley must provide detailed technical assessments on environmental impacts “and show the project can be built and operated safely” before construction can begin.
AI data centre in Alberta exempted from provincial environmental impact assessment
Ryan Ratzlaff, reeve for the Municipal District of Greenview, which is partnering with O’Leary Ventures on the project, said it is too early to say how residents feel, noting that O’Leary Ventures is about to hold open houses to gather feedback.
But in an interview with Edmonton AM in April, he said he believes the project will benefit the region, the province “and even the county.”
“I don’t think we can fully put our heads around it.”
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