1 data center project in Unincorporated Box Elder County
Who decides here: the Box Elder County Commissioners decides on zoning for land outside city and town limits.
In Unincorporated Box Elder County
Local votes and rules
⏸️ Pause on new data centers · Box Elder County
County commissioners unanimously paused new applications for data centers and data center power plants on unincorporated county land for 180 days (Ordinance 654). The pause does not cover the Stratos project, because the state's MIDA controls that land.
⚖️ Court case · Box Elder County
Residents (Box Elder Accountability Referendum, BEAR) asked for a public vote on the county's Stratos approvals. In May 2026 they filed two referendum applications. The county attorney said no: he called the votes 'administrative', which cannot go to a vote of the people. BEAR appealed to the 1st District Court. The county and O'Leary Digital asked the judge to throw the case out. As of mid-September 2026 the judge had not ruled, so there was no vote in November.
⚖️ Court case · Box Elder County
The group Alliance for a Better Utah and five unnamed residents sued MIDA, the Box Elder County Commission and two state senators who sit on the MIDA board. They say the MIDA law is unconstitutional because once a county agrees to a MIDA area, voters cannot undo it by referendum. They ask the court to stop the Stratos project.
✅ Approved · Box Elder County
County commissioners voted 3-0 to let the state's Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) set up the Stratos project area, about 40,000 acres in western Box Elder County, for a huge data center and power campus. They also approved a 50-year deal (interlocal agreement) with MIDA. After this vote, MIDA, not the county, controls land use there.
What you can do
- Get told first.
We'll email you if anything changes in Unincorporated Box Elder County. - Go to county meetings.
Anyone can speak. Big projects usually need a public hearing. - Ask questions in writing.
Use our checklist.
🔔 Get told first
⚡ Your electric company
Depending on where you live in Unincorporated Box Elder County: Pacificorp (company) or Raft Rural Electric Co-op Inc. (co-op (owned by its members)).
Big data centers need a lot of power. Who pays for new power lines depends on state rules. See the rules in Utah.
🙋 Open tasks here
- Will the state approve the water rights the project needs?
- Did any referendum sponsor appeal the county attorney's rejection to court?
- Which company will use the data centers?