Kevin O’Leary wants to build one of the largest data centers in the United States. A significant number of Utah residents would prefer he didn’t.

The project, dubbed Stratos or Wonder Valley, is a natural-gas-powered data center campus planned for Box Elder County, Utah, designed to serve the rapidly accelerating demand for AI compute power. At full build-out, the facility would span 40,000 acres and generate up to 9 GW of power capacity.

A project scaled for AI dominance, met with grassroots resistance

O’Leary, best known as “Mr. Wonderful” from Shark Tank, has framed the data center as essential to US national security and competitiveness with China.

Local residents see things differently. More than 3,000 public comments were submitted during protest proceedings, and 53% of Utah residents oppose the project according to polling data. The concerns center on potential environmental damage to the Great Salt Lake and surrounding natural resources.

A lawsuit has been filed by local residents challenging the project.

O’Leary has publicly dismissed much of the opposition as driven by “misinformation” and alleged that some protest groups have received funding from Chinese interests. That claim has been contested by local organizers and community members, who argue their concerns are rooted in legitimate environmental and quality-of-life issues.

County gives the green light, but the road ahead is long

Despite the opposition, Box Elder County officials approved the initial stage of the project in May 2026. That first phase would deliver 1.5 GW of power capacity, which O’Leary expects to bring online within approximately two years.

The lawsuit from local residents remains unresolved, and legislative attention suggests the project could face additional regulatory hurdles as it scales beyond the initial phase.

O’Leary has also been pursuing similar data center initiatives in Alberta, Canada, suggesting he’s building a broader portfolio of energy-intensive compute infrastructure rather than betting everything on a single site.

What this means for investors in AI and energy infrastructure

For investors watching the AI infrastructure boom, the Utah project highlights a risk that doesn’t show up on most balance sheets: community opposition. Data centers require land, water for cooling, and massive power draws. The 53% opposition rate among Utah residents is not a number that developers can simply ignore, especially when lawsuits are involved.

The natural gas power source adds another dimension. While gas-powered facilities are faster to bring online than renewable alternatives, they carry regulatory and reputational risk as climate concerns intensify.

O’Leary has indicated the synergy between blockchain technologies and AI, given that both domains require substantial energy and infrastructure investments. A 9 GW campus, if fully realized, would represent one of the largest privately developed power installations in the country.