Shark Tank Investor’s Utah Data Center Project Pulls Water Permit After Thousands of Protests
Why It Matters
A massive data center proposed for Box Elder County, Utah — just north of the Idaho border and within the broader Great Basin water system that affects surrounding states — has drawn intense scrutiny over water rights, raising questions about how western states manage scarce water resources as demand from the tech industry surges.
The withdrawal of a controversial water permit application has temporarily halted one regulatory pathway for the project, but developers say they intend to push forward — leaving thousands of protesters in legal limbo and communities concerned about the long-term fate of the region’s water supply.
What Happened
Developers behind the so-called Stratos project withdrew a water permit change application on Wednesday after it attracted roughly 3,900 formal protests in just over a month. The withdrawal came days after Box Elder County commissioners voted unanimously to approve resolutions supporting the project.
The application had sought to convert water rights from agricultural to industrial use, redirecting flow from the Salt Wells Spring Stream to support a proposed natural gas power plant and a sprawling 40,000-acre data center campus. In correspondence to Utah’s Water Rights Division, a water consultant for Bar H. Ranch — the permit holder — said the company plans to refile with additional documentation to strengthen its case.
“Bar H. Ranch intends to resubmit in a timely manner with additional supporting information,” the consultant wrote, signaling that the pullback is tactical rather than a retreat from the project.
The project is backed by Kevin O’Leary, the celebrity investor known from the reality television program “Shark Tank,” and developed in partnership with the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA), a Utah state entity that oversees infrastructure projects tied to military missions. County commissioners described their approval of the resolutions as an early procedural step required before state environmental reviews could begin.
By the Numbers
- 3,900: formal protests filed against the water permit application
- $58,500: total fees collected by the Water Rights Division at 5 per filing
- 1,900 acre-feet of water from the Salt Wells Spring Stream was targeted for diversion under the application
- 7.5 to 9 gigawatts: reported capacity range for the associated natural gas power plant
- 40,000 acres: proposed footprint of the full data center campus
Community Pushback
The permit withdrawal effectively erases all filed protests, a move that critics say was deliberate. Deeda Seed, a senior campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity, called it a likely strategy to reset the process. “You can surmise that this was likely a cynical act by the developers to nullify all of the protests,” she said.
Seed argued the state engineer would have had no legal basis to approve the original application anyway, citing insufficient project details and the developers’ failure to demonstrate the change would not increase actual water consumption beyond historical use. Any increase, she said, could represent a significant loss of inflow to the already-shrinking Great Salt Lake.
Local residents are also pursuing a referendum against one of the commission resolutions. Brigham City resident Brigette Cottam, who helped organize the effort, said water scarcity is her core concern. “My concern is that with these data centers going in right on top of the edge of the Great Salt Lake, our water will dry up,” she said.
The county clerk initially rejected the referendum effort, arguing that the commissioners’ approval was an administrative rather than legislative act. However, residents were later told they could contest a separate resolution involving land use, and they planned to file a new referendum application.
Zoom Out
The Stratos project is part of a broader national surge in data center development, driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure demand. As Idaho tech companies also increasingly enter the data and technology space, questions about water use, energy demand, and local land-use authority are becoming central issues across the Mountain West. Utah’s Great Salt Lake region faces some of the most acute water stress in the country, with record drought conditions intensifying the stakes of any large-scale industrial water diversion.
What’s Next
Developers have pledged to refile the water permit application with supplementary documentation. Meanwhile, residents are pursuing a referendum and awaiting further clarity from county officials on which commission actions are legally eligible for public challenge. State environmental reviews cannot advance until the permitting process clears regulatory hurdles — a timeline that now remains open-ended.
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