Hansel Valley is far enough from civilization that most of it doesn’t have cell service.
Right now it is mostly farmland for cattle grazing. It is also the proposed location for the Stratos Project data center.
A group of reporters stand in the valley under the July sun, joined by a local business that pulls minerals from Great Salt Lake. The surrounding area is filled with grass and sand. We’re looking at Monument Point.
People like Ronda Anderson-Lauritzen’s father used to swim here roughly 20 years ago, but now, it’s all dried up.
“The reason why this spot is relevant to our tour is this is our dad in the mid — early mid-90s standing in the water right here,” says Lauritzen, one of the executive vice presidents of Mineral Resources International.
Monument Point is a rock formation that juts out into what used to be a beach on the north arm of Great Salt Lake.
The lake front has receded as far as four miles away from the formation due to the amount of water not flowing like it once did into the lake.
Lauritzen says the farmland that the data center would be built on does not appear to be using the full extent of water that is currently allotted.
She says it’s likely the data center will use more of that allotted water, meaning it’s possible that even less water will flow into Great Salt Lake.
“The lake connects all of us. It's just so close in terms of the ecosystem for all of us. So even though I don't personally live right here, it affects everybody in Utah,” says Val Anderson, another executive vice president of Mineral Resources International.
He explains that the lake is a huge reason why it snows in the surrounding areas during winter.
“One of the issues is the lake itself recharges the battery for the water in the mountains, so you get the lake effect,” Anderson says.
The lake effect is when water from the lake evaporates and puts water back into the watershed through precipitation. That can look like rain or snow. He also explains that heat that’s put off by the data center could be another issue.
“It’s not just water; it's heat," he says. "You know, you talk about using double the electricity of the entire state of Utah. I'm not aware of any energy production of that magnitude that doesn't put off heat."
He says that the increased heat will affect the surrounding area's snowfall by causing it to rain instead. That means the moisture from the snowpack, which normally melts slowly throughout the year, will come down as rain all at once.
Heat isn’t the only concern. Ben Abbott is worried about the water quality that will come out of the data center. He’s the executive director of Grow the Flow Utah. They’re an organization that focuses on preserving Great Salt Lake.
“The project needs to do due diligence and prove that it's not going to harm our water supply, it's not going to contaminate our food supply, and it's not going to disrupt our climate," Abbott says.
For now we’re looking, as far as the eye can see, at sage brush and rocky hill. But this landscape and its water supply may change once the data center is built.
