Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz said the state's Military Installation Development Authority should never have been involved in the Stratos data center project in Box Elder County.

"MIDA should never be doing data centers," Schultz said during an editorial board meeting with the Deseret News. He called the agency's role "a huge mistake" and said it was important "to recognize it and make sure that that doesn't happen again."

The comments from the state's top House lawmaker land as data center opposition surges across the country and closer to home in Utah County, where a proposed ordinance would impose strict new rules on data center development in unincorporated areas.

Voters send a message

On Nov. 3, 40 of 41 local ballot measures tightening restrictions on data centers passed nationwide, according to the Deseret News. Ohio, Illinois, Kansas and Maine were home to most of them. Some Ohio towns banned data center construction outright. Others capped power use at 25 megawatts.

A pro-data-center measure in Boulder City, Nevada, received only 29% support.

Schultz said the process of siting a data center matters, especially in rural Utah. "Ultimately, it comes down to the locally elected officials, whether or not they want that in their community," he said.

He also criticized investor Kevin O'Leary for suggesting opponents of the Stratos project were funded by China. Schultz called the state's decision-making before the county had a say an "awry process" that broke the project down.

Stratos fallout still reverberating

The $100 billion Stratos project would cover about 40,000 acres and require up to 9 gigawatts of power at full buildout, according to the Deseret News. Box Elder County residents began vocal opposition starting in April, based in part on the premise that they never had a say.

Former Senate President Stuart Adams, who championed the project and chaired MIDA, lost his Republican primary in June. The Stratos backlash is widely credited as a major cause of that defeat, with two-thirds of his Republican constituents voting to oust him.

Senate President Evan Vickers, who succeeded Adams, said Utah leaders should take rural residents' perspectives seriously on AI infrastructure. "I do want to restore that trust that the public has in us, and that means that we're going to have to deal with some issues that the public cares about," Vickers said.

Utah County drafts its own rules

Closer to home, the Utah County Planning Commission voted unanimously on Oct. 20 to recommend a new data center zoning ordinance. The proposal would add data centers as a permitted use in Mining and Grazing and Industrial zones while creating a Data Center Overlay Zone, according to the Lehi Free Press.

The framework would cap individual data centers at 1 million square feet and 500 megawatts, limit annual water use to 300,000 gallons and require noise and traffic studies. Developers would also have to hold two public meetings and mail postcards to every property owner within a mile before applying for a permit.

More than 100 residents packed the chambers in Provo to oppose the proposal. The meeting ended in a physical confrontation and the arrest of a protester. The ordinance applies only to unincorporated Utah County. The full County Commission holds final authority and had not yet voted as of the Oct. 30 Lehi Free Press report.

Utah County Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner said the county wants to ensure businesses pay for infrastructure impacts and that residents are protected, according to a county news release.

Cox, lawmakers eye new legislation

Gov. Spencer Cox said at a Nov. 9 press conference that the state is working on a bill with the Legislature to codify restrictions from his May 29 executive order on data centers. That order focused on protecting the Great Salt Lake, air quality and utility ratepayers.

House Minority Leader Angela Romero said the lack of policy to hold data center facilities accountable made the process failure almost inevitable. Vickers said the Senate is working with the House to evaluate data centers as a whole.

Utah State University researcher Stacia Ryder said her team found that while only 25% of Utah residents opposed data centers broadly, 68% opposed one within 3 miles of their homes. The bill number and timeline for the new legislation have not been disclosed.