Utah Residents Sue Officials Over Kevin O'Leary Data Center Plan (nbcnews.com)
- Reference: 0183617028
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/06/06/0541244/utah-residents-sue-officials-over-kevin-oleary-data-center-plan
- Source link: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/utah-residents-sue-officials-kevin-oleary-data-center-plan-rcna348720
> The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Utah's 3rd District Court by the Alliance for a Better Utah and the group of anonymous residents. The plaintiffs hope to challenge the constitutionality of the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) -- a special entity that oversees the data center's proposal -- and its approval of the project, a spokesperson for the nonprofit said. Attorney David Irvine, who is representing the plaintiffs, alleges that MIDA is exercising powers as an unelected body that "the Utah Constitution never authorized." "Under the Stratos plan, it would hold permanent, irrevocable control over public health, safety, taxation, and land use across tens of thousands of acres of Box Elder County, with no voter recourse," he said in a statement.
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> The lawsuit alleges that allowing MIDA to oversee the data center's development "irrevocably" cuts off Box Elder County citizens' rights by not allowing sufficient public input in the project. "The Stratos Project Area Plan, and actions taken by MIDA and the Commission to enact the same, puts lawmaking power respecting questions of public health, safety, welfare, morals, taxation, zoning, land use, and the like, in relation to a significant swath of county territory in a non-elected MIDA Board," the complaint reads.
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> In addition to MIDA and the Box Elder County Commission, the lawsuit names Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams and state Sen. Jerry Stevenson, who also serve as MIDA board members. Irvine said Adams and Stevenson's presence on the MIDA board as active legislators "appears to violate the prohibition on holding more than one office of public trust simultaneously," and claimed this should render the data center's approval "null and void."
[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/utah-residents-sue-officials-kevin-oleary-data-center-plan-rcna348720
[2] https://www.sltrib.com/news/2026/06/04/box-elder-county-data-center/
Not too unlike the “inland Port Commission&r (Score:4, Insightful)
This disenfranchisement is very similar to the IPC that in effect annexed a huge swath of SLC at the express opposition on the city residents to spend tax dollars generated by SLC to build infrastructure while exempting said infrastructure from the tax rolls.
Utah government is the worst. And a glaring example of corruption through single party rule because they successfully convinced a small majority the opposition is evil. And as such they don’t deserve a seat a the table.
That saddest part is that it is completely within the power of Utahan to change their government. But they have beeen so successfully brainwashed, they just can’t bring themselves to do it.
I have lived in supermajority red state, a super majority blue state, and now live in purple state. It may take longer to get somethings done here, but the resulting laws and legislations is almost always better when policy is debated out in the open instead of negotiated in back rooms and presented as done deal for an up or down vote. The corruption is far less palpable.
Re:Not too unlike the “inland Port Commissio (Score:3)
This is why the federalist system is a good idea. If state #1 wants to do something smart and state #2 wants to shoot itself in the foot and then drill the other one for good measure, the other 48 states and the federal government can watch it play out and learn.
Personally, I think that the datacenter drama is way overblown. It’s clear that some places don’t have the electrical/water intrastructure to support them. Others are fine. I live in Ohio. We have plenty of electricity and our aquife
Corporate "good" is not local public good. (Score:4, Insightful)
Data centers squander increasingly valuable common resources and do not need to be located where they burden local communities or aquifers.
AI data centers are not a public good. NIMBY in this is legitimate.
Sacrificing resources to serve corporate masters is silly while general opposition is logical and wise.
Epstein class investors can put data centers distant from anything that matters. When the hardware then later the structures go obsolete that distance keeps them where they can (as many will be) left basically abandoned with nil community impact.
Reasons do not exist for the public to support the rich getting richer off community water supplies. Reasons do not exist to trust the Epstein class to be good stewards.
Democracy includes the right to oppose social parasites for any legal reason. There are no personal negative consequences for opposing AI data centers as fraud, waste and abuse they are. Just say no.
There are plenty of places to put them where they aren't serious public burdens. The US isn't short of unoccupied land (see night time satellite images if in doubt).
Re: (Score:2)
Box Elder County has a population of 60,000 people on 4.3 million acres. I don't think we have any unpopulated counties in the US, but this is as close as you are going to get to being distant from anything that matters.
Re: (Score:2)
There is plenty of Bureau of Land Management land in Nevada with a population of 0 per million acres. Build it there, where they'll need to pay employees out the ass to build and maintain it.
Box Elder County is 100% right here. Just look at how they're being treated by their elected officials, who are lying saying none of the protestors even live there:
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
In an earlier time period, these elected offices would be removed from their homes and their families would be made
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKnjCf9KTtg
Sounds great! (Score:2)
I'm sure that there are worse options, probably being actively considered since this is no longer getting them what they want; but an opaque 'public/private partnership' slush fund that spends its time slathering a thin layer of dubious military justification on random projects seems like a very, very, dodgy way of doing things.
MIDA (Score:2)
I was curious about MIDA and WTF "Stratos" was and they have a website that list their stated goals (numbers added for reference): [1]https://www.midaut.org/stratos [midaut.org]
> 1 Strengthen military readiness and national security by supporting energy resilience, compute power, and data storage for defense operations.
> 2 Advance major energy and technology investment in Northern Utah through the development of a large-scale data and energy campus.
> 3 Position Utah as a leader in next-generation infrastructure for artificial intelligence, cloud computing, secure data systems, and mission-critical national defense operations.
> 4 Support reliable, independent energy generation by including dedicated on-site power generation designed to meet the campus’s needs without placing additional demand on the existing electrical grid.
> 5 Generate long-term economic opportunity for Box Elder County through construction jobs, permanent careers, local hiring, and significant annual revenues.
> 6 Fund public infrastructure and municipal services without creating a burden on County taxpayers.
> 7 Support Hill Air Force Base and the Utah National Guard by generating revenues that can help fund critical infrastructure projects tied to military readiness.
Goal #3 is in conflict with #4, #5, #6, and #7.
* A data center consumes an obscene amount of power. Goal #4 is failed.
* A data center will not generate long-term economic opportunity. Goal #5 is failed.
* A data center will drive up energy prices. Goal #6 is failed.
* A data center will not generate much revenue. Goal #7 is failed.
[2]About 79% of these [wikipedia.org]
[1] https://www.midaut.org/stratos
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_Elder_County%2C_Utah
It was only a matter of time. (Score:4, Interesting)
This is going on in my home county with all the official stuff going on in my hometown. My position on it is the same. The design is pretty great, but the odds of the finished product matching the design aren't. I still have zero faith in Kevin. There's nothing short-term that will change that. Trust has to be earned.