Jason Chaffetz@jasoninthehouse
Data Center in Box Elder County
I am fully supportive of the data center project in Box Elder County. When I first learned of the project, I had some of the same questions you might have. I, too, worry about people, water, power, the health of the Great Salt Lake, and why it would be good for Utah.
I had an opportunity to meet with the people bringing the project here and to get those questions addressed. I was impressed by their answers so I introduced them to my friend, Kevin O’Leary, who later decided to move forward with the project.
I believe it is going to a be huge net positive for the State of Utah. Here’s what was shared with me and why I’m excited about it:
Energy
· This project is not taking anything out of the existing power grid.
· The price Utahns pay for power should not go up because of this development.
· More than a decade ago, a 42” pipeline from Wyoming called the Ruby Pipeline, with Natural Gas, was constructed. It’s already there - permitted and installed underground. Regulatory standards are already in place at the state and federal level.
· The data center may even feed surplus power back into the grid and other renewable power sources may be deployed.
Water
· When the developers put the private land under contract, they agreed to paying a premium price, multiple times greater than market rate for the area. They were candid about the potential. The project uses the existing private water rights that were in use by the previous landowners.
· It doesn’t need additional water beyond what already belongs to that property.
· The water they’ll be using currently does not feed into the Great Salt Lake.
· There might be a net increase of water going into the Great Salt Lake by using the water supply and flowing it down to the Great Salt Lake rather than being used for agriculture.
· The water available to that property is currently low quality and brackish.
· Water put into the Great Salt Lake would need to be higher quality and treated.
Those are the concerns. But what is most exciting are the opportunities.
Tax revenue
· The 40,000 acres was generating roughly $250,000 annually in taxes for Box Elder County.
· When fully implemented, it’s anticipated the county will receive more than $100 million annually in tax revenue from those 40,000 acres. Today the Box Elder total budget is less than $80 million.
· The state, via sales tax, will receive hundreds of millions of dollars annually when fully developed. All Utahns benefit from that. This is all new revenue to the state.
HAFB
· The proximity of the data center makes Hill Air Force Base (HAFB) a more attractive asset for the Pentagon.
· That accessibility may protect Hill from future BRAC closure threats. In a rapidly changing world, data centers in the USA are safer for Americans. Having them in Utah helps with jobs, viability long-term for Hill, and providing a national security asset.
· The data center supports the mission of both HAFB and the Utah Test & Training Range (UTTR).
· ”Top of Utah” is heavily dependent on Hill for a whole ecosystem of jobs and businesses. Keeping our economy vibrant in northern Utah is an imperative.
That’s good for Utah jobs (thousands of new jobs in Top of Utah), our economy, and national defense. We have to be able to process data. This facility will do so with minimal disruption to the taxpayers who benefit from it. It’s off the beaten path in an area that is hard to make productive. It will also bring additional private sector companies and advanced manufacturing our state can not support because our current energy supplies are not big enough. It can be done cleanly, supporting our state with jobs, revenue, and making Utah a leading place to do business while supporting our quality of life.
