Box Elder County, UT

September 1, 2026

Utah's Stratos project, pitched at 9 GW on up to 20,000 acres in Box Elder County beside the Great Salt Lake, cleared an obscure commission path in May, then met bipartisan county revolt, fairgrounds-scale meetings, and electoral pushback after skipping normal environmental and community review.

August 28, 2026

Electoral cost is no longer theoretical. Data Center Knowledge's review found at least 18 incumbents lost completed elections between August 2025 and August 2026 after documented action on a data center fight, spanning Utah's Stratos path (State Senate President J. Stuart Adams and Box Elder County commissioners Lee Perry and Boyd Bingham), Festus and Independence councils in Missouri, and Edgecombe County in North Carolina.

May 22, 2026

Meanwhile in Utah, Box Elder commissioners approved Kevin O'Leary's 40,000-acre Stratos project, but Utah Clean Energy estimates it would burn 448 billion cubic feet of gas annually, roughly 1.5 times the state's combined consumption, and large campuses can draw up to 5 million gallons of water daily.

May 16, 2026

In Utah, Box Elder County's approval of Kevin O'Leary's 9-GW, 40,000-acre Stratos project triggered a 45-day referendum clock requiring 5,422 signatures.

May 12, 2026

Kevin O'Leary's 9 GW Stratos project cleared Box Elder County commissioners unanimously, with MIDA approving a development agreement April 24, 2026.

May 11, 2026

Box Elder County, Utah, approved the 40,000-acre Stratos Project over intense local opposition with state backing.

May 10, 2026

O'Leary Digital and Utah's MIDA got Box Elder County commission approval on May 4 for the 40,000-acre Stratos campus, slated for 9 GW of gas generation and an estimated 16.6 billion gallons of water annually from sources feeding a Great Salt Lake already at record lows.

May 5, 2026

In Box Elder County, Utah, the Stratos Project's 3,000 acre-feet purchase plus 10,000 acre-feet backup drew roughly 500 protests on a single application.