Utah Governor Vows ‘Never’ to Allowing World’s Largest Data Center to Run Solely on Natural Gas
May 28, 2026
Utah Governor Vows ‘Never’ to Allowing World’s Largest Data Center to Run Solely on Natural Gas
A massive data center complex proposed for northern Utah has ignited a fierce political and environmental battle, culminating in a direct rebuke from the state’s Republican governor. Governor Spencer Cox has declared that the project, known as the Stratos Project, will “never” be powered entirely by natural gas, despite earlier plans touted by its developers and a state development authority.
The proposed facility, spanning 40,000 acres in a remote valley north of the Great Salt Lake, is backed by Kevin O’Leary, the Canadian television personality and former “Shark Tank” star. O’Leary has described the project as potentially one of the largest data centers in the world, with a footprint comparable to Washington, D.C. The controversy centers on its energy source: a planned 9-gigawatt power plant initially designed to run “100 percent off the Ruby Pipeline,” a natural gas pipeline that runs through the site, according to a MIDA official.
The quasi-governmental Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) approved the project and created tax incentives to spur its development, but the decision was made without direct input from the governor or the state legislature. “That was not a decision that was made by me or the Legislature,” Cox told reporters. “In the future, those are decisions that should be made by us.”
Opposition has been intense. A water right filing for the project drew nearly 4,000 letters of protest this month, and opponents held a rally at Utah’s Capitol last week, delivering a letter to Cox with more than 6,000 signatures urging “binding action” to protect the Great Salt Lake. Scientists and environmental advocates have raised alarms about the impact on air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and water supplies in a region already struggling with smog. According to climate scientist Logan Mitchell of Utah Clean Energy, a 9-gigawatt natural gas plant would produce around 35 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually, potentially raising Utah’s total emissions by 64 percent. “That’s massive,” Mitchell said, noting his estimate did not account for additional methane leakage from the pipeline.
The project’s developers have said they are working to secure 13,000 acre-feet of water in Hansel Valley and the surrounding area—enough to meet the needs of more than 20,000 Utah households. Governor Cox, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday announcing a geothermal partnership with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, acknowledged the rollout of the Stratos Project was flawed. “There’s no question, the process was not good,” he said. “It’s something I’ve worried about for a long time with that entity that made that decision.”
Cox’s stance marks a significant shift. In earlier comments, he had pushed for faster permitting for large energy projects, arguing that environmental reviews take too long. But as criticism mounted, he struck a more measured tone. “One of the things people are worried about, and rightfully so, is air quality,” he said. “That’s a yearlong [permitting] process. … We’re not speeding those up.”
The controversy comes amid a broader surge in demand for artificial intelligence computing and data centers, which is straining the electric grid across the United States. Western states are scrambling to build new energy supplies, while public skepticism toward large data center developments grows over concerns about water use, noise, energy costs, and pollution. O’Leary has suggested that renewables like solar, wind, and batteries could help power the Stratos Project, but has stopped short of fully committing to them. Cox has now made clear that the first phase may use natural gas, but future phases “should be nuclear, and they should be geothermal, and solar and other technology.”
Source: grist
