Overview
- The Utah Senate president sent a public letter Monday asking developer Kevin O’Leary to cut the proposed Hansel Valley site from 40,000 acres to about 10,000 acres and to add transparency and conservation measures.
- Governor Spencer Cox has ordered five state divisions — Drinking Water, Water Quality, Water Rights, Air Quality and Wildlife Resources — to conduct phased technical reviews that must clear before Phase 1 can proceed.
- Box Elder County officials say they are reviewing the governor’s executive order, have denied two referendum petitions, and emphasize they have not approved, permitted, or authorized construction for the project.
- Local residents, environmental groups and independent analysts have raised specific concerns about consumptive groundwater use, risks to the Great Salt Lake, air quality and regional heat effects, driving thousands of water‑right filings and public protests.
- The next steps are state permit reviews, possible water‑rights hearings and developer responses to calls for a reduced footprint and formal conservation agreements, with the case likely to shape how water‑intensive AI campuses are sited in the arid West.