Overview
- In a letter to Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams, Kevin O'Leary said he would remove 19,430 acres from the proposed roughly 40,000-acre Stratos site, cutting the campus to about half its original footprint.
- Adams had asked for a roughly 75% reduction and is reviewing O'Leary's response, which also pledges to avoid land near the Locomotive Springs Waterfowl Management Area.
- The Stratos plan, as described in state filings, still envisions multi‑gigawatt power and large data facilities and has not obtained permits or broken ground.
- Local residents, scientists and environmental groups have raised thousands of water-rights objections and warned that on-site power and cooling choices could increase groundwater draw, air emissions and waste heat near the Great Salt Lake.
- Final outcomes now hinge on the governor's higher technical review standards, pending agency permit decisions, active lawsuits and referendum efforts that will shape whether and how Phase 1 can move forward.