Forum highlights debate over data centers, public input in Utah County

SALEM, Utah County — A packed room at the Salem Community Center on Monday night heard from a panel of policymakers, technology leaders, conservation advocates and data center developers as Utahns wrestle with a growing question: Can data centers be developed responsibly?

The discussion focused on transparency, community involvement and accountability as large-scale data center projects continue to move forward across despite mounting public concerns.

Kieren McCord, civil and construction engineering professor at Brigham Young University, said communities should understand the various technologies available when evaluating proposed projects.

"There's a lot of nuance in the types of mechanical cooling systems that you can use; there's a lot of nuance in the types of power generation, and those decisions are often made early on in the process," McCord said. "Knowing the options in each of those categories makes you able to ask for things, because maybe, maybe you just think 'No data center whatsoever.' But maybe you think, 'Yes, under the right conditions.'"

One project at the center of the discussion was Volition, a data center development initially proposed near the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. The project is now planned for a site across I-15.

Volition CEO Jeff Chavez said the new location is farther from existing homes. He said there are no plans for future residential development nearby.

Chavez defended the project against concerns about pollution and resource consumption, arguing that Volition's model differs from many traditional data centers.

"We have no electricity from the grid, no wasted water (and) a really strong economic return to the community," Chavez said. "We have no request for incentives. We meet all air emissions requirements."

Grow the Flow executive director Ben Abbott said it should be required that all data centers are built with clean energy.

"We can't sacrifice our air quality," Abbott said. "It used to be when the wind blew, that's when the inversion would clear out. Now, when the wind blows, we get pollution from Great Salt Lake because there are 1,200 square miles of exposed lakebed. So we also have to make sure that we aren't moving backwards when it comes to water conservation and security."

Chavez also said data center operators should do more to reduce the visual impact of their facilities and make commitments to local communities.

"Companies like ours can also volunteer and say, 'Here's our commitment,'" Chavez said. "'We will not work with nefarious companies. We do not work with surveillance, we do not work with the Department of War (and) we do not work with the Chinese.'"

Members of the grassroots organization Speak Up Utah attended the event and said they are leading an effort to overturn Spanish Fork's recently approved data center ordinance through a referendum.

The group has raised concerns about public input, air quality impacts and data privacy, among other issues.

Chavez said Volition does not currently have a response to the referendum effort, adding that city leaders were well informed throughout the approval process and that many concerns had been addressed.

"We really don't have a response to the referendum, because I think everything we did in the city, open hearings, the open houses that brought in several hundred people (and) website that details all of this site, we feel like the city is pretty well informed," he said.

Carol-Lyn Jardine with grassroots organization Conserve Utah Valley said one of the main goals of the forum was informing residents about key issues with data centers before the Utah County Commission votes on a new policy.

A previous planning commission meeting received a lot of attention after a physical altercation between an audience member and law enforcement.

"While we're considering what the impacts are on people, on the environment, on the land (and) on water, and if we don't invite all voices to the table to have those kinds of conversations, we find that the rhetoric just gets dialed up on both sides," Jardine said. "When we can bring people together and have real dialogue where folks get to ask their hard questions and people who are looking at these projects get to hear the real concerns of residents, we can find more positive outcomes."

Silicon Slopes CEO Clint Betts argued that industry and political leaders have not adequately explained the benefits data centers bring to Utah communities.

"I can tell you who benefits from having a data center in your community: Elon Musk, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Meta and the Department of War," Betts said. "Why do we need them?"

Chavez countered that data centers support many technologies people use every day, from streaming services and videoconferencing platforms to emerging artificial intelligence tools.

"There is an infinite number of systems that we rely on today because of data processing through a computer in a data center," Chavez said. "There's a lot of things that superintelligence and high-density computing is doing that is changing. Medicine is changing. Industry is making things much more efficient."

Speak Up Utah organizers said they are seeking roughly 7,000 signatures to qualify their referendum effort. The group is hosting informational and signature-gathering events at the Spanish Fork Public Library.

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