Data Centers Should Pay Their Own Way

Why this matters

In a few short years, Utah has become one of the front lines of America’s artificial intelligence boom. The state already has 48 data centers using about 920 megawatts of power. Another 2,600 megawatts are under construction, enough to more than triple that load. And the biggest proposals dwarf all of it: a 40,000-acre campus in Box Elder County, which its backers later agreed to cut in half under public pressure, and two giant power-and-data campuses in Millard County, each planning its own gas-fired power plants.

Utahns noticed. Thousands filed protests over water. More than a thousand people packed a single county meeting. In June’s primaries, voters ousted the president of the Utah Senate and several county commissioners who had backed data center deals.

This isn’t a left-or-right issue. It’s a question of who pays, who decides, and whether the people who live here get a say.

920 MWused by Utah's 48 data centers today, with 2,600 MW more under construction

60%of Utah voters oppose the Box Elder "Stratos" project

7 in 10say the jobs and taxes don't outweigh the cost to our water and energy

68%oppose a data center within 3 miles of their home

Source: Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, 2026, as reported by KSL and the Deseret News. Does not include proposed campuses like Stratos or the Millard County projects.

The promise is real

Data centers are the factories of artificial intelligence, and AI is already making life better for Utah families.

Better health care. At Intermountain Health, AI that keeps watch over patients with COPD and asthma between doctor visits cut their hospitalizations in half and their total cost of care by 57%. At University of Utah Health, a surgeon used an AI tool to spot a buried detail in a young patient’s long medical history, and the patient was treated for a heart rhythm problem that could have killed them. For rural Utah, where doctors are scarce, tools like these can mean catching a problem early instead of driving hours to an emergency room.
Finding our ancestors. FamilySearch, the family history service run from right here in Salt Lake City, now uses AI to read old handwriting and make nearly 2 billion pages of historical records searchable, records that would have taken volunteers generations to index by hand. Utah families are finding grandparents and great-grandparents they never knew they had.

That’s worth building. The question isn’t whether Utah should be part of the AI future. It’s whether Utah families get a fair deal in it.

Where I stand

I’m not against data centers, and I’m not against AI. These facilities power the apps, phone calls, and online banking we all use. Some data centers can be good neighbors and bring real tax revenue to rural counties that have lost their coal jobs.

But the companies behind them are some of the richest on earth. They don’t need a handout from Utah families. If a business creates a cost, the business should pay it. That’s not anti-business. It’s how a free market is supposed to work.

So my rule is simple: data centers can build in Utah, but they pay their own way. For their power, their water, their roads, and their cleanup. And the people who live next door get a real say.

1. Your power bill is not their piggy bank

At full build-out, the data centers planned in Utah could use as much as four times the electricity that all of Utah’s homes and businesses use today. Someone has to build the power plants and transmission lines to serve it. That someone should never be a family in Ogden or a small business in Cedar City.

Utah took a good first step in 2025 with a law meant to keep the cost of serving data centers off regular customers. So far, Utah families haven’t seen big data center increases on their bills. But economists warn that the huge new campuses could start pushing up power prices, and a state law can’t control what happens across the regional grid. We need a federal backstop:

Pay your own way, in federal law. Data centers pay the full cost of the power plants, transmission lines, and grid upgrades built to serve them. A bipartisan “pay your own way” bill was introduced in Congress this fall. I’d vote for it and push to make it stronger.
No hidden cost shifts. Utility regulators must show, in public, that household and small business rates aren’t covering data center costs.
Families keep the lights on first. When the grid is strained on the hottest summer days and coldest winter nights, large data centers cut back before anyone’s air conditioner or furnace does.

2. Utah’s water is not for sale to the highest bidder

Utah is one of the driest states in the country, the Great Salt Lake is in trouble, and nearly every data center in the state sits on the Wasatch Front, which researchers rate as high water stress. Data centers use water two ways: to cool their computers, and indirectly through the power plants that run them.

Newer data centers can cool themselves with closed-loop systems that reuse the same water. Older ones and the gas plants that power them can use enormous amounts. When developers tried to move farm water rights to power the Box Elder campus, nearly 4,000 protests were filed, and the application was withdrawn.

Utah now requires large data centers to report their water use, but the public only sees the statewide total. I’d go further:

Publish every facility’s water use, including the water used to make its power, so communities can see exactly what they’re giving up.
No drinking water for cooling. New large data centers should use closed-loop systems or reclaimed water.
A full public review before any farm or ranch water right is moved to cool a data center or run its power plant.

3. No handouts for the richest companies on earth

Utah has been handing out tax breaks to lure data centers. A study for Eagle Mountain found Meta’s campus there could earn about $750 million in tax relief over the life of its deal. The Box Elder project came with state tax incentives through a state development agency.

Meanwhile, data centers don’t create many jobs once they’re built. State officials project about 106 full-time jobs for one of the giant Millard County projects. And because most of a data center’s value is computer equipment that loses value quickly, the property taxes it pays can shrink fast, leaving counties with budget swings they didn’t plan for.

The most profitable companies in the world don’t need Utah taxpayers to cover their bills. I’d:

End special tax breaks for data centers. They should pay the same taxes as any other business.
Claw back any incentive if promised jobs, investment, or local hiring don’t show up.
Oppose new federal subsidies for data center construction.

4. A real local voice, and no one stuck with the cleanup

The Box Elder campus didn’t go through normal county zoning. It went through a state development agency, originally created to support projects near military bases, which took over land-use control for the project area. Residents found out late and felt shut out. Even Utah’s governor has said the agency needs major reform, and the Speaker of the Utah House said it should never be doing data centers.

When a project is going to change a community for generations, the people who live there should decide. I’d:

No end-runs around local government. Large data centers go through public hearings and a vote of local elected officials, the same as any other major development.
Clean air rules apply. On-site gas plants, some with hundreds of engines, must meet the same Clean Air Act permits as any other power plant. Utah’s air is already struggling.
Cleanup bonds up front. Developers post a bond before they build, so if a campus is abandoned or the AI boom goes bust, taxpayers and counties aren’t stuck tearing it down.

What I won’t do

Ban data centers or turn our backs on new technology.
Let Utah families pay higher power bills so a tech company can save money.
Give away Utah’s water without a full public accounting.
Hand billion-dollar companies tax breaks they don’t need.

The bottom line

The AI boom can be good for Utah, but only on Utah’s terms. The companies that want to build here have more money than almost anyone in the world. They can afford to pay for their own power, conserve our water, pay their full share of taxes, and listen to the people who live next door. If they won’t, they can build somewhere else.