Second lawsuit takes aim at Box Elder County data center project

SALT LAKE CITY — The data center proposal in Box Elder County is target of a second lawsuit charging that the actions by officials allowing the project to proceed run afoul of the Utah Constitution.

Alliance for a Better Utah, a Salt Lake City-based nonprofit group, and five unnamed Box Elder County plaintiffs ask that actions by the Military Installation Development Authority and Box Elder County commissioners approving the data center plans be nullified, thus halting the project. They filed the suit Wednesday in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City.

Alliance supporters in Box Elder County worry the plan will "impact their quality of life through such factors as air quality, water scarcity and other aspects of public health, safety and welfare," the lawsuit reads. It says the five plaintiffs, involved in a parallel lawsuit also filed last Wednesday that takes aim at the data center project, share similar concerns.

Spokeswomen for MIDA, a state entity, and Box Elder County had no comment at this early stage. Likewise, a rep for Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, also named in the suit along with Utah Sen. Jerry Stevenson, said his representatives were still reviewing the lawsuit and had no comment. Stevenson didn't immediately respond to a query seeking comment.

Celebrity businessman Kevin O'Leary is spearheading the data center proposal, which calls for development of a data center and accompanying power-generating facilities to serve it in Hansel Valley in Box Elder County. Supporters tout the facility as key to national security and an economic development driver.

Foes, though, worry about its potential environmental impacts, particularly to the Great Salt Lake. They also say the Stratos Area Project, as it's known, was rushed and didn't get proper scrutiny.

The plans have sparked plenty of protesting and debate. On Wednesday, foes of the plans filed suit to challenge an earlier decision rejecting their efforts to force a vote on the future of two measures approved by Box Elder County commissioners on May 4 allowing the proposal to proceed. Members of Box Elder Accountability Referendum, or BEAR, are behind that suit, filed in 1st District Court in Brigham City.

'Disgorge these funds"

In the second lawsuit, Alliance for a Better Utah, which advocates for progressive policies, says insufficient evidence was submitted at an April 24 MIDA board hearing on the data center plans related to landowner consent for the project, its potential impact on public health and more, as required. The MIDA board approved several resolutions on April 24 needed to allow the project to proceed as a partnership between the state entity and O'Leary Digital, an O'Leary-led business.

Moreover, the lawsuit charges that the MIDA action and subsequent action on May 4 by the Box Elder County Commission giving MIDA and a special commission authority in a range of areas in the project zone "'irrevocably' cuts off" the rights of county residents to challenge their actions. The varied actions run afoul of the Utah Constitution, the lawsuit argues, and should be nullified, thereby halting the data center project.

The moves by MIDA officials and county commissioners put "constitutional requirements respecting representative democracy at nought," reads the lawsuit. "A huge swath of Box Elder County is turned over to private development, development which may have considerable impact on the quality of life of every citizen in northern Utah, particularly as it may reduce further the water level of the Great Salt Lake."

The lawsuit further argues that Adams and Stevenson, members of the MIDA board, can't hold those posts and simultaneously serve as Utah senators, and that both should be removed from their MIDA positions.

The lawsuit takes particular aim at Adams in connection with $135,000 in donations it says he received after the April 24 MIDA board meeting "from individuals or businesses which support MIDA for financial reasons." He should have to "disgorge these funds," the lawsuit reads.

While not commenting on the lawsuit, Adams' office re-released a prior statement he issued when news of the $135,000 emerged, rebuffing the suggestion the funds, political contributions, relate to the data center project.

None of the donations he's received "are connected to the data center, and it is all publicly and properly disclosed," Adams said in the statement. "Campaign and (political action committee) contributions are disclosed and are entirely separate from any policy decisions."

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