News Grower

Independent coverage of AI, startups, and technology.

Ars Technica Jun 5, 2026 at 18:23 Big Tech Rising Hot

"We pissed off a lot of people": Giant data center plan cut 50% amid protests

Developer felt "beaten up," with "no choice" but to shrink data center.

Signal weather

Rising

Momentum is building quickly, so this card is a good early entry point into the topic.

By Ashley Belanger Original source
"We pissed off a lot of people": Giant data center plan cut 50% amid protests

One of the world's biggest data center projects was designed to be nearly three times the size of Manhattan, stretching across multiple Utah sites. But intense local backlash in Box Elder County has now pushed the developer to cut the project plans in half before construction starts. Residents' top concern was the Stratos data center project draining local waters, and they were willing to pay to protect them, most especially the vulnerable Great Salt Lake. Many locals paid a $15 fee to register comments to block the transfer of 1,900 acre-feet of water from a ranch to the hyperscale data center. Other concerns include electricity bills rising and potential risks to air quality, local wildlife, and land. Venture capitalist Kevin O'Leary, chair of O'Leary Digital and Shark Tank investor, is behind the construction of the project. He told a local ABC affiliate that he regrets not working with state officials to be more transparent about the project from the beginning. Read full article Comments

Stay on the signal

Follow "We pissed off a lot of people": Giant data center plan cut 50% amid protests

Follow this story beyond a single article: new follow-ups, adjacent sources, and the evolving storyline.

We send a confirmation link first, then only meaningful digests.

Story map

Understand this topic fast

A quick entry into the story: why it matters now, who is involved, and where to go next for context.

Why it matters now

Fresh coverage with immediate momentum.
There are already 6 connected articles in the same storyline to continue from here.
The story keeps orbiting around Ars Technica, Center, and Center Plan, so the entity pages are the fastest way to build context.
Ars Technica already has 4 follow-up stories on the same theme.

Topic constellation

Open the live map for this story

See which entities, story threads, sources, and follow-up articles shape this story right now.

Click nodes to continue

Entity Cluster Article Hub Source

Story timeline

Continue with this story

A short sequence of events and follow-up stories to understand the arc quickly.

Jun 8, 2026 at 14:02 Ars Technica

Michigan politicians want to ban Chinese-badged cars from even visiting the US

The latest bill would ban day trips from Canada or Mexico in Chinese cars.

Jun 8, 2026 at 13:26 TechCrunch

Massachusetts votes to pass new privacy rights bill that bans sale of precise location data

The bill is expected to blanket-ban companies and startups from selling people's precise location data across the state.

Jun 8, 2026 at 11:00 Ars Technica

The weather and climate science AI revolution isn’t revolutionary

Machine learning has its limits—how is it being used?

Jun 8, 2026 at 08:11 Hacker News

OneDrive data now has an expiry date

Comments

Jun 7, 2026 at 21:41 Hacker News

Data centers consumed 264B gallons of water as drought hits nearly 63% of US

Comments

Jun 5, 2026 at 18:23 Ars Technica

"We pissed off a lot of people": Giant data center plan cut 50% amid protests

Developer felt "beaten up," with "no choice" but to shrink data center.

How reliable this looks

Signal and trust for Ars Technica

This source works at a steady pace: 100% of recent stories land in the hot window, and 0% carry visible search signal.

Trusted

Reliability

92

Freshness

100

Sources in storyline

3

Related articles

More stories that share tags, source, or category context.

More from Ars Technica

Fresh reporting and follow-up coverage from the same newsroom.

Open source page