Overview
- Box Elder County granted an initial approval of the Stratos proposal on May 4, 2026 while opponents immediately organized protests and legal challenges to try to reverse that vote.
- On May 29 the governor issued an executive order that requires phased, agency-level technical reviews of air permits, water rights and drinking-water protections before any construction begins.
- Thousands of Utah residents filed objections to water-right transfers and backers of a citizen referendum seek to force a public vote to undo the county’s approval.
- Independent modeling and academic analysis warn of large impacts if built as proposed, estimating roughly 50,000 acre-feet of annual water needs for certain turbine choices, big increases in CO2 and NOx for low-water alternatives, and about 16 gigawatts of waste heat that could raise nighttime temperatures in Hansel Valley.
- Developers say the project will be phased, self-supplied for power and not draw from the Great Salt Lake or the state grid while state agencies prepare the air, water and wildlife reviews that will decide whether and how Phase 1 can proceed.