Decoder with Nilay Patel · Thursday, October 1, 2026
A wide array of local residents, including conservative groups, progressives, and environmental activists, united to oppose the Stratos data center project in Utah. This broad opposition was fueled by concerns over the project's process, environmental impact, water usage, and a general lack of perceived benefits for the local community.
“And so you have people who are upset for environmental reasons. You have people who are upset about the tax breaks, who are, have people who are upset about just kind of like surveillance spheres with AI.”
“Normally these groups just counter protest each other, but here they've all come together for the same purpose, that they hate this data center.”
“A lot of people are upset about the process, feeling cut out, like this is something that has really... is really offensive to them that this happened in their county with their county government and that they weren't told they weren't brought into it they had no say I think that Galvin is a lot of people.”