On Tuesday night, an organization working to save Great Salt Lake held a public forum discussing Box Elder’s recently-approved data center.
Grow the Flow, along with other forum organizers Box Elder Accountability Referendum and Stewardship Utah, intended to spotlight local voices and experts, discuss public oversight of the project, and educate Utahns about the future of the project.
The forum came three weeks after Box Elder County commissioners voted in favor of a 40,000-acre data center — one that forum panelist and Utah State University physics professor Rob Davies called one of the largest single-point heat sources on the planet.
Earlier this month, Davies authored a preliminary analysis of the project and estimated temperature elevations up to 5 degrees Fahrenheit in Hansel Valley during the day and 10-12 degrees at night.
“A 10 or 12 degree Fahrenheit rise certainly has the likelihood of suppressing the daily condensation cycle," Davies said. "This is a major source of moisture for the things that live in that valley.”
To best explain the impact, Davies compared the data center to 23 atomic bombs dropped on Hansel Valley every day, “for decades upon end."
Brenna Williams is a Box Elder resident and lead sponsor of the Box Elder Accountability Referendum, which wants to put the data center decision onto the ballot.
“We have a governor who’s saying we’re in an environmental drought and we’re in a state of emergency, and then they’re turning around and doing something like this," Williams said. "Why are we giving these guys so many concessions?”
Williams said she expects to hear soon whether the referendums will be approved.
“Thursday we should get an answer, and we'll know whether we're going out and gathering signatures next week or if we're going to be involved in a lawsuit next week," she said.
During a question and answer portion, audience members expressed concerns about water resources, wildlife impact, and noise pollution caused by construction.
Ben Abbott, an ecologist at Brigham Young University and executive director of Grow the Flow encouraged audience members that were against the data center to band together and join with the organizations present.
“The most important thing we can do as individuals is not act individually," Abbott said. "We’ve got to act together so we can get answers to all of these questions.”
