Overview
- Kevin O'Leary agreed Thursday to remove roughly 19,430–20,050 acres from the proposed Stratos site, shrinking the originally described ~40,000‑acre campus to about 20,000 acres.
- In a letter to Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams O'Leary pledged industry‑leading water‑use technology, to dedicate excess treated water to the Great Salt Lake, to sign memoranda on land and wildlife protection, and to preserve much of the remaining land as open space.
- The agreement does not end the process because the project still needs phased state technical reviews, environmental permits, resolution of thousands of water‑rights objections and possible local referendum votes before construction can begin.
- Scientists and critics warn the acreage cut does not address core risks tied to the project's projected 7.5–9 gigawatt power demand and modeled waste‑heat effects that could raise nighttime temperatures and alter local moisture cycles.
- The dispute has highlighted fast‑track zoning by Utah's MIDA in April, driven large local protests and bipartisan political pushback, and is shaping broader debate over where and how massive AI data centers should be sited.