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Residents urge commission to reconsider Project Stratos AI data center; water, air quality and privacy concerns dominate public comment
Summary
Multiple residents spoke during public comment urging the commission to reconsider support for Project Stratos, an AI data center project. Speakers raised concerns about water use, air and climate impacts, surveillance and the commissionprocess; commissioners said they have sought legal guidance and published answers to citizen questions.
A broad cross-section of residents urged the Box Elder County Commission to reconsider or halt support for a proposed AI data center (referred to in public comment as Project Stratos), citing concerns about water consumption, air pollution, surveillance implications and the county's public-engagement process.
During the meeting's public-comment period Deanna Hardy (Box Seller Committee for Liberty) said the project would "violate our 4th amendment by collecting our data" and asserted the center "will use twice as much power as the whole state of Utah." Tenille Taggart told commissioners, "We are in a severe drought in a desert, and I don't know why we're gonna bring something in that's going to use up all our water and heat the area around it." Walter Masterson proposed relocating the project and described Project Stratos as large in scale, saying it "will be 64 square miles." Other commenters raised similar themes: Sam Prentice warned of long-term environmental and surveillance risks, Julie Quinlan criticized the commission's outreach and treatment of protesters, and Warren MacGregor described the project as a climate and public-safety concern.
Commissioners responded in part by summarizing recent work: Commissioner Perry described multiple meetings, outside legal advice and publication of answers to roughly 86 citizen questions on the county website as part of efforts to gather information and establish protections. The chair also addressed allegations of being "bought off," calling that claim "absolutely untrue." Commissioners did not announce new regulatory restrictions or a reversal of prior positions during the meeting. Public commenters' factual claims about Project Stratossuch as projected water or power use and health impactswere presented as assertions and were not independently verified during the meeting.
