and suffer the consequences.

In blue states too. But yes, Republicans definitely don’t care about the environment or their constituents.

DURec

and short sighted given our hotter, drier climate.
We are looking at a bleak future when our politicians sell us out for corporate greed on such a large scale.

And there's video of the commissioners angrily shutting down commenters in public commission meetings and even adjourning the public meetings and going private to take votes.

There's been so little transparency in the process that there must be something we don't know about what is motivating the commissioners. They know something the citizens don't. A good journalist needs to dig this up.

Also, it's infuriating for O'Leary to claim the protesters are paid, out-of-town plants when O'Leary, Stratos and the data center itself are out-of-town entities intervening on local concerns. They can get fucked.

Good luck with your power and water, and do not expect a single fuck from me when you all go down in a blaze of 'You got what you wanted' glory.

The state will get basically nothing in return for their water and electricity. Data centers require very little in onsite presence. And 100% of AI is accessed remotely. It is a technology that is designed for "the cloud" . While the people of Utah are rationing their water, the data center will be serving people in Toronto, Bangkok, Sydney. This will not attract hi-tech workers. They can be anywhere in the world.

If they build this monster, then when it's purpose is served, the building is razed and environment is restored.
This alone must be undisputable and the cost may deter building.
The restoration monies sit in an escrow account so bankruptcy is no excuse.

These data centers are like the probes mesquitos drive into your skin to suck your blood.

They began by sucking money directly from the treasury through irresponsible tax cuts over decades, and when that worked so well, they sent Elon with his DOGE hackers directly into the treasury to strip the government of people so that the tax cuts could be sustained AND there would also be plenty of grift in the form of sweetheart government contracts.

NOW...

They are inserting their probes directly into the earth to suck away and CONSUME scarce water.

Their probes also go into the power grid and suck away the energy people need for daily life.

Parasites, leeches sucking the life out of the planet itself!