Drag the data center onto any Utah town. Every impact figure below is sourced — open “About the data.”
The Big Issue
Yes, the land was cut in half — from 40,000 acres (three parcels) to about 20,000 (one parcel in Hansel Valley). But the dropped parcels were mostly empty buffer and a wildlife area near Locomotive Springs, and about half of what's left is set aside as open space. The part actually developed — roughly 10,000 acres on 9 gigawatts — hasn't changed, and neither has its water, heat, or pollution. A smaller property doesn't mean a smaller impact.
Project area
Footprint view
Drop it on…
Layers
—
Gas tech (drives emissions)
At full build · 9 gigawatts
Electricity needed9 GWabout 2× the whole state's normal power use
Carbon dioxide (CO₂)—
Water used—
Smog pollution (NOx)—
Heat dumped locally~16 GWwaste heat from the computers + gas plant
Local temperature+8–12°F night+2–5°F by day · Davies' analysis, reviewed by BYU's Ben Abbott
What happens to the land
Drier nights. Warmer nights stop the dew that desert plants and soil rely on, so the ground dries out.
More evaporation. The whole basin loses more water — hard on a watershed already in trouble.
Living soil dies off. The natural crust that holds desert ground together can disappear.
Wildlife loses habitat. Sage-grouse lose winter range and native sagebrush struggles to grow back.
Weeds and wildfire. Invasive cheatgrass spreads, which means more fires.
More dust. As the valley and the shrinking Great Salt Lake dry out, more dust blows into the air.
From Dr. Davies' thermal analysis (the drying effects) and Ben Abbott's warning about dust from exposed Great Salt Lake lakebed.
About the data ▸
Exact: footprint area is pure geometry (1 ac = 4,046.86 m²). Shapes are area-accurate but illustrative. Switch to Real parcels for the actual three-parcel layout: the central one is Hansel Valley (kept); the two outliers — Locomotive Springs (~19,430 ac, north) and a small strip by I-84 (~620 ac, west) — were dropped in the June 2026 cut. Parcel sizes are to scale; their spacing and exact shape are approximate.
Acreage: the project area was ~40,000 acres across three parcels; on June 4, 2026 the developer agreed to cut it to ~20,000 (one parcel). Of that, about 10,000 acres would actually be developed and ~10,000 set aside; Phase 1 buildings are under 2,000 acres.
Sourced estimates: water, CO₂ and NOx are Utah Clean Energy modeling (May 2026) across two possible gas technologies. Power-generation only — excludes data-center cooling water and methane leakage. The developer hasn't confirmed which technology.
Heat & temperature: from Dr. Rob Davies' preliminary thermal analysis, published by Grow the Flow (May 7, 2026). Assuming a 55%-efficient gas plant with industrial "dry cooling," he estimates a ~16 GW thermal load (9 GW computing + 7–8 GW waste heat) and, for Hansel Valley's bowl-shaped basin, daytime warming of +2–5°F and nighttime warming of +8–12°F (heat trapped at night by temperature inversions). BYU ecologist Ben Abbott — executive director of Grow the Flow — independently reviewed the work. It is still preliminary and not formally peer-reviewed; Abbott says the full facility details are needed to confirm it. Some early coverage cited a higher +28°F worst-case night figure that is not in the analysts' summary, so this tool uses their +8–12°F range. The impact zone is illustrative — heat and air quality fall off with distance — and does not change between the 40k and 20k plans because the 9 GW doesn't.
Note: CO₂ warms globally, not in a ring; NOx disperses on wind. City-size comparisons are approximate.
Sources: Utah Clean Energy · R. Davies thermal analysis via Grow the Flow (May 2026) · B. Abbott, BYU · Salt Lake Tribune · KSL · Box Elder County · MIDA · Sen. Pres. Adams letter (Jun 2026).
Glossary ▸
Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
A gas made whenever you burn fuel like natural gas. It isn't the part that makes local air hard to breathe — instead it spreads around the whole planet and traps heat, which warms the Earth.
NOx (nitrogen oxides)
Gases made when fuel burns very hot. They create smog and tiny bits of soot that are bad for your lungs and heart. Measured here in tons per year.
Professor Robert Davies
A physicist at Utah State University who studies climate and energy. He prepared the preliminary estimate of how much the plant's waste heat could warm Hansel Valley. It's still a first estimate (not formally peer-reviewed), but a second scientist has reviewed it.
Professor Ben Abbott
An ecologist at Brigham Young University and head of Grow the Flow, a nonpartisan group working to save the Great Salt Lake. He reviewed Davies' analysis and explained what the heat and drying could do to the land, plants, and wildlife.
GW (gigawatt)
A way to measure electric power — how much electricity is being used at once. One gigawatt is about what a big power plant makes. All of Utah usually uses about 4 GW; this project wants 9 GW.
Project area vs. developed area
The "project area" is all the land set aside (originally 40,000 acres in three parcels; now about 20,000 in one). The "developed area" is the part actually built on — roughly 10,000 acres of data center and power plant. The June 2026 cut shrank the project area, not the developed part.
Turbines vs. engines (the gas tech)
Two machines that burn natural gas to make electricity. Combined-cycle turbines are cleaner but take 5–7 years to build. Reciprocating engines can be built right away but pollute more. The developer hasn't said which they'll pick, so the pollution numbers depend on that choice.
Waste-heat load
No machine turns all its energy into useful work — the leftover escapes as heat. Computers turn almost all their power into heat, and the gas plant adds more. Together that's about 16 GW of heat flowing into the valley, which could push local temperatures up.
Independent project — not affiliated with Stratos, O'Leary Digital, MIDA, or any government agency. The real site is in Hansel Valley, Box Elder County. All figures are sourced estimates; see “About the data.”