New Utah law limits opposition to massive data center proposal
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Backers of a massive data center proposed in Box Elder County "fully intend" to submit a new water rights application — this time, under changes to state law that could give them an advantage.
Why it matters: As county officials approved the 60-square-mile project last week, opponents attacked its water application en masse in an attempt to block the proposal.
- The data center, proposed by "Shark Tank" star Kevin O' Leary, is eventually projected to generate and consume more than twice the electricity now used by the entire state.
State of play: The day before the water application for the project was withdrawn, a new GOP-backed state law took effect, limiting the types of objections state officials are allowed to consider when deciding on water rights.
- Meanwhile, the application withdrawal effectively nullified the nearly 4,000 formal objections filed against Stratos' water rights request at a nonrefundable cost of $15 per complaint.
Zoom in: HB 60, passed in February, removed language that previously allowed the state engineer to deny a water rights request based on whether it:
- Would interfere with a more beneficial use of the water, or;
- Would broadly harm the public welfare or unreasonably affect recreation or the natural stream environment.
Now, the state engineer may only consider certain water-specific impacts.
Between the lines: Public welfare was the focus of many of the written objections that flooded the state engineer's office.
- Residents questioned the impact on the dwindling Great Salt Lake, nearby wildlife and air quality and the level of transparency of the fast-moving project.
The other side: "The water rights are being adjusted to fit the project scope and phasing and will be re-submitted," Paul Palandjian, president of O'Leary Digital, said in a prepared statement in response to Axios' interview request.
- Axios didn't receive a reply from the bill's sponsor, Rep. David Shallenberger (R-Orem).
Caveat: It's not clear whether the state engineer would have been allowed to consider those objections against the initial Stratos water rights application.
- That office was set to make a decision after May 6, when the law took effect, though the application and written protests were submitted before that.
Yes, but: Now HB 60 will undoubtedly limit protests against any future water rights change.
- "It would certainly behoove the companies to file [water rights applications] today, because the state engineer has a much different standard to consider these applications than she did a couple months ago," said Kyle Roerink, head of the advocacy group Great Basin Water Network.
Zoom out: Utah water rights laws were among the most cautious of Western states regarding public welfare, Roerink told Axios.
- The new law changes that by design, Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, told Axios.
- "This was what Utah Water leaders had in mind: to make new water uses easier to approve," Frankel told Axios.
What's next: Opponents of Stratos' next water rights application will want to focus on property owners who could be directly affected, and can still weigh in under the new law, Roerink said.
- "Start making friends with farmers out there," he advised. "Without connections to private property … that could be impacted by an industrial development such as a major data center, [public] protest doesn't carry the weight that it once did."