Box Elder County

Moratoriums and bans

1. June 10, 2026 Box Elder County: Moratorium. The commission unanimously adopted Ordinance 654, a 180-day halt on new applications for data centers, data center power plants and supporting digital infrastructure in unincorporated areas; the Stratos project is not covered because the county gave land-use authority over its area to MIDA (Resolution 26-11, May 4). As of Oct. 9 the county aimed to bring draft rules to its planning commission Nov. 19 and the county commission in December; the pause runs about to Dec. 7, 2026. No extension was found. (Box Elder County, June 9, 2026; Box Elder County, June 10, 2026; KSL, June 10, 2026; KUER 90.1, Oct. 9, 2026)

Updates, newest first

1. Oct. 15, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · An O'Leary Digital affiliate filed a new water-rights change application with the Division of Water Rights describing 11 data center clusters and 7.5 GW of generation; close to 200 protests were logged within days. (KSL.com (republished by Deseret News), Oct. 16, 2026; The Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 20, 2026)
2. Oct. 2, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · The company said the project was in pre-development, with Phase 1 generation limited to 1.5 GW; three related lawsuits remained unresolved. (KSL.com (republished by Deseret News), Oct. 2, 2026)
3. Aug. 3, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · The county and O'Leary's side asked the 1st District Court to dismiss the referendum lawsuit. (FOX 13 News, Aug. 3, 2026)
4. July 29, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · MIDA said its work was paused with no action before it and while the referendum appeal proceeds; O'Leary said design work continued and about 10,000 acres would be developed. (The Salt Lake Tribune, July 29, 2026)
5. June 10, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · The county adopted Ordinance 654, a 180-day pause on new data center applications that does not apply to the Stratos area, where MIDA holds land-use authority. (Box Elder County, June 10, 2026)
6. June 10, 2026 Box Elder County: Moratorium · The commission unanimously adopted Ordinance 654, a 180-day halt on new applications for data centers, data center power plants and supporting digital infrastructure in unincorporated areas; the Stratos project is not covered because the county gave land-use authority over its area to MIDA (Resolution 26-11, May 4). As of Oct. 9 the county aimed to bring draft rules to its planning commission Nov. 19 and the county commission in December; the pause runs about to Dec. 7, 2026. No extension was found. (Box Elder County, June 9, 2026; Box Elder County, June 10, 2026; KSL, June 10, 2026; KUER 90.1, Oct. 9, 2026)
7. May 29, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · Gov. Spencer Cox signed an executive order setting a statewide data center framework; earlier in May he had said five state agencies must approve parts of the Stratos project before Phase 1 construction. (Deseret News, May 29, 2026)
8. May 28, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · The county attorney rejected three referendum applications aimed at the two May 4 resolutions, finding them administrative acts that cannot be referred to voters. (Utah News Dispatch, May 28, 2026)
9. May 20, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · O'Leary Digital released early renderings: a cluster of ten 100 MW data center buildings plus another 100 MW building, about 1 GW of gas generation with batteries, and a 3,000-acre, 500 MW solar array; the project area is split into three sites and permits could take years. (Utah News Dispatch (republished by KPCW), May 20, 2026)
10. May 4, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · On 3-0 roll-call votes, commissioners adopted Resolution 26-12 approving the interlocal agreement and Resolution 26-11 consenting to the inclusion of private land in the Stratos project area; minutes estimate about 1,000 people attended. (Box Elder County Commission, May 4, 2026; Utah News Dispatch (republished by Idaho Capital Sun), May 4, 2026; The Logic, May 5, 2026)
11. April 30, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · KUTV reported resident concerns about water, noise, emissions and wildlife; MIDA projected about 2,000 permanent jobs. (KUTV, April 30, 2026)
12. April 27, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · At a special meeting, Box Elder County commissioners tabled the interlocal agreement (#26-15) and the consent resolution, citing new information, and moved the decision to a May 4 meeting at the county fairgrounds. (Box Elder County Board of County Commissioners, April 27, 2026; Box Elder County Commission, April 27, 2026; Utah News Dispatch (republished by Idaho Capital Sun), May 4, 2026)
13. April 24, 2026 Wonder Valley Utah (Stratos Project) · MIDA's board packet included the Stratos Project Area Plan (about 40,692 private acres plus about 1,279 acres of military and state land), development standards, a master development agreement with O'Leary Digital Utah Development Company, an energy sales and use tax ordinance and an interlocal agreement with Box Elder County. (Military Installation Development Authority (Utah Public Notice Website), April 24, 2026)

Statewide

Utah exempts purchases of machinery and equipment by qualifying data centers (new operations built since July 2016 with 150,000 sq ft or more) from sales and use tax under Utah Code 59-12-104(84); the qualifying data center definition in 59-12-102 was last amended by S.B. 114 (2020). (Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, Aug. 12, 2026) S.B. 132 (2025), Electric Utility Amendments, effective May 7, 2025, created Title 54, Chapter 26 for customers expecting 100 MW or more: utility large-load contracts that the PSC must approve or reject within 60 days, or private generation, with the large customer paying its incremental costs; it covers service starting by Dec. 31, 2034. (Utah Legislature, 2025; Public Service Commission of Utah, May 9, 2025) The PSC opened rulemaking docket 25-R318-01 in May 2025 to write rules for S.B. 132's large-load service requirements. (Public Service Commission of Utah, May 9, 2025) In docket 26-035-05 the PSC on April 10, 2026, approved a settlement and a Rocky Mountain Power large-load service contract with an unnamed customer of more than 100 MW, finding other customers would not bear its costs. (Public Service Commission of Utah (Rocky Mountain Power filing), Feb. 10, 2026; Public Service Commission of Utah, April 10, 2026) H.B. 76 (2026), Data Center Water Transparency Amendments, effective May 6, 2026, requires new data centers withdrawing 75 acre-feet a year or more to report expected and actual water withdrawals to the Division of Water Rights, which must publish the data. (Utah Legislature, 2026) H.B. 507 (2026), effective May 6, 2026, bars political subdivisions from giving incentives to large-load data centers (100 MW or more) from May 6, 2027, unless they sit in a regionally significant development zone, and creates an optional county energy excise tax. (Utah Legislature, 2026; Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, Aug. 12, 2026) Operation Gigawatt, launched by Gov. Cox in 2024, aims to double Utah's power generation capacity within a decade. (Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, Aug. 12, 2026) Executive Order 2026-03 (May 29, 2026) set a state Data Center Framework covering water, air, wildlife, ratepayers, rural growth and public comment, which agencies must apply. (Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, Aug. 12, 2026; Deseret News, May 29, 2026) H.B. 325 (2013) lets the MIDA board levy an energy tax of up to 6% of the delivered value of energy in MIDA project areas; Data Center Knowledge reported it would apply to the NSA Utah Data Center at Camp Williams. (Utah State Legislature, March 2013; Data Center Knowledge, May 20, 2013) Utah data centers →