Box Elder County poll finds that large majority, 71% of respondents, oppose data center plans

BRIGHAM CITY — A poll of Box Elder County residents finds that large majorities oppose the data center proposal in the county and think the public should have more say on the initiative's future.

The poll was commissioned by Stewardship Utah in partnership with Box Elder Accountability Referendum, or BEAR, which opposes the data center plans. However, it was carried out by an independent firm, Change Research.

The results "speak for themselves. Frankly I was surprised," David Garbett, the Stewardship Utah co-director, said Tuesday, when the findings were released. He had suspected most in Box Elder County opposed the project but wasn't expecting the level of opposition shown by the numbers:

• 71% of respondents said they oppose the plans while 23% said they support them.
• 74% of those polled said they disapprove of the means of approval of the measures allowing the plans to go forward, by Box Elder County commissioners without a vote of the public, while 22% said they approve.
• 69% said they would sign a petition to create a ballot question asking voters if the County Commission actions allowing the plans to proceed should be upheld or repealed while 21% said they wouldn't.

"Box Elder County residents are paying attention, they are deeply concerned about the project, and they believe voters — not county commissioners alone — should have the final say. Their opposition is overwhelming," Garbett said in a statement.

The polling of 513 registered voters took place from May 28-30, before Kevin O'Leary, the Canadian businessman spearheading the plans, revealed he'd scale back the size of the project area in response to pressure from Senate President Stuart Adams.

Garbett, though, doesn't think the smaller footprint would change the poll results. Large majorities of respondents indicated concern with the process followed in allowing the project to proceed and with the tax incentives O'Leary Digital, the business behind the plans, would benefit from, he noted.

The long-range proposal calls for development of a data center and up to 9 gigawatts of power-generating capacity to serve the operation. Plans originally called for a project area spread over 40,000 acres, but that has been scaled back to 20,000 acres, with actual development only to occur on about half of that.

The board of the Military Installation Development Authority, a state entity, approved a partnership with O'Leary Digital on April 24 to pursue the initiative. Box Elder County commissioners subsequently approved two resolutions on May 4 that allow the project to proceed, though the officials stress that they feel they had limited say in the matter given the April 24 action. As they have described it, the best they could do was insert provisions into the accords through their May 4 votes protecting the county and establishing guidelines for development.

Whatever the case, Box Elder County residents by and large don't support the plans due in part to worries about the project's impact on water availability and air quality, said Brenna Williams, part of BEAR. The group has sued Box Elder County, seeking reversal of the county's June 3 determination that the two May 4 resolutions can't be targeted for repeal in a referendum, as BEAR seeks.

"We've known, speaking with our friends and neighbors, that Box Elder County does not support this data center or how it came to be approved," she said.

Some 57% of poll respondents said they'd vote against any commissioner who voted for the measure. Two of the three commissioners, Lee Perry and Boyd Bingham, face reelection this year.

Six-month moratorium

In response to the uproar caused by the project, Box Elder County commissioners on Wednesday are to consider possible implementation of a six-month moratorium on consideration of additional data center proposals. The time would be used to research, develop and implement regulations governing data center creation.

"While Box Elder County did not approve the Stratos data center itself, this circumstance helped identify gaps in the existing land use code and the need for more defined standards moving forward," the county said in a press release Tuesday. "Box Elder County officials will use this temporary moratorium to determine if or where future developments would be permitted. If a decision is made to allow for future projects, the county would draft strict, objective development standards to guide future applications."

Any new guidelines would not apply to the O'Leary Digital proposal, called the Stratos Area Project.

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