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Kevin OLearys AI Data Center Plans Face Local and Indigenous Opposition in Utah and Alberta
When a tech mogul’s grand vision collides with local stewardship, the clash ripples across two countries.
Kevin O’Leary, the Canadian entrepreneur famous for his Shark Tank appearances, has unveiled two sprawling artificial‑intelligence data‑center projects that have drawn sharp criticism from residents and Indigenous groups. The first, dubbed the Stratos Project, is slated for Box Elder County in northwestern Utah. O’Leary’s original design called for a 40,000‑acre campus that would demand roughly nine gigawatts of power—about the output of nine nuclear reactors—and would consume more electricity than the entire state of Utah currently uses. The Department of Energy estimates the facility would raise the state’s annual carbon emissions by nearly two‑thirds.
County officials approved the plan in April, but the decision sparked protests. Roughly 3,000 of the county’s 66,000 residents wrote letters questioning the project’s water and energy demands. In response, O’Leary agreed to cut the campus size in half, reducing it to an area roughly the size of Manhattan. The compromise has not won local approval. Last week, a coalition of Box Elder residents joined the progressive nonprofit Alliance for a Better Utah to sue the state, seeking to overturn the law that enabled the county to green‑light the project without broader local input.
O’Leary’s second venture, Wonder Valley, is planned for a site about 300 miles northwest of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. The facility would use 7.5 gigawatts of power and would become the largest AI data center in the country. A town‑hall meeting on June 4 drew hundreds of residents from the small community of Grovedale, who voiced concerns about water usage and environmental impacts. One attendee told Bloomberg that the developers “seem like lovely people, but nothing in there has made me believe that this is a good thing for our community.”
The Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has also raised objections, requesting that the federal government conduct an environmental impact assessment of the Wonder Valley project.
After agreeing to reduce the Utah site, O’Leary wrote a letter to state officials in which he admitted that he had “screwed up” the initial plan. He also claimed that criticism of the project in Utah was being funded by “Chinese‑backed interests.” The investor posted on X that he had alerted “federal authorities” about the alleged funding. On June 4, he said his focus was to “address the concerns honestly, provide the facts, and show the people of Utah exactly what this project is and what it isn’t.”
Data centers are a major driver of electricity consumption worldwide. In 2024, global data‑center electricity use reached about 415 terawatt‑hours, roughly 1.5 % of global electricity demand. The rapid growth of AI workloads has accelerated the construction of specialized AI data centers, which require large amounts of power and cooling. In the United States, the sector accounts for a substantial share of the economy, with data‑center activity contributing more than consumer spending to the U.S. gross domestic product last year.
The projects in Utah and Alberta illustrate the tension that can arise when large infrastructure developments are proposed in rural areas. Local communities often raise concerns about water usage, energy consumption, and environmental impacts, while developers emphasize the economic benefits and the need to support the expanding AI industry.
The outcome of the legal challenge in Box Elder County remains uncertain. In Alberta, the project’s future will depend on the outcome of the federal government’s review requested by the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation. O’Leary has not yet announced a revised timeline for either project.
These developments underscore the growing scrutiny of data‑center projects in the United States and Canada, as governments and communities seek to balance economic growth with environmental and social considerations.
Kevin O’Leary, the Canadian entrepreneur famous for his Shark Tank appearances, has unveiled two sprawling artificial‑intelligence data‑center projects that have drawn sharp criticism from residents and Indigenous groups. The first, dubbed the Stratos Project, is slated for Box Elder County in northwestern Utah. O’Leary’s original design called for a 40,000‑acre campus that would demand roughly nine gigawatts of power—about the output of nine nuclear reactors—and would consume more electricity than the entire state of Utah currently uses. The Department of Energy estimates the facility would raise the state’s annual carbon emissions by nearly two‑thirds.
County officials approved the plan in April, but the decision sparked protests. Roughly 3,000 of the county’s 66,000 residents wrote letters questioning the project’s water and energy demands. In response, O’Leary agreed to cut the campus size in half, reducing it to an area roughly the size of Manhattan. The compromise has not won local approval. Last week, a coalition of Box Elder residents joined the progressive nonprofit Alliance for a Better Utah to sue the state, seeking to overturn the law that enabled the county to green‑light the project without broader local input.
O’Leary’s second venture, Wonder Valley, is planned for a site about 300 miles northwest of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. The facility would use 7.5 gigawatts of power and would become the largest AI data center in the country. A town‑hall meeting on June 4 drew hundreds of residents from the small community of Grovedale, who voiced concerns about water usage and environmental impacts. One attendee told Bloomberg that the developers “seem like lovely people, but nothing in there has made me believe that this is a good thing for our community.”
The Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has also raised objections, requesting that the federal government conduct an environmental impact assessment of the Wonder Valley project.
After agreeing to reduce the Utah site, O’Leary wrote a letter to state officials in which he admitted that he had “screwed up” the initial plan. He also claimed that criticism of the project in Utah was being funded by “Chinese‑backed interests.” The investor posted on X that he had alerted “federal authorities” about the alleged funding. On June 4, he said his focus was to “address the concerns honestly, provide the facts, and show the people of Utah exactly what this project is and what it isn’t.”
Data centers are a major driver of electricity consumption worldwide. In 2024, global data‑center electricity use reached about 415 terawatt‑hours, roughly 1.5 % of global electricity demand. The rapid growth of AI workloads has accelerated the construction of specialized AI data centers, which require large amounts of power and cooling. In the United States, the sector accounts for a substantial share of the economy, with data‑center activity contributing more than consumer spending to the U.S. gross domestic product last year.
The projects in Utah and Alberta illustrate the tension that can arise when large infrastructure developments are proposed in rural areas. Local communities often raise concerns about water usage, energy consumption, and environmental impacts, while developers emphasize the economic benefits and the need to support the expanding AI industry.
The outcome of the legal challenge in Box Elder County remains uncertain. In Alberta, the project’s future will depend on the outcome of the federal government’s review requested by the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation. O’Leary has not yet announced a revised timeline for either project.
These developments underscore the growing scrutiny of data‑center projects in the United States and Canada, as governments and communities seek to balance economic growth with environmental and social considerations.
