Kevin O'Leary has agreed to halve the size of his planned 40,000-acre data center in Utah following mounting pressure from residents and environmental activists, as reported by local affiliate ABC4. The Shark Tank star sent a letter to Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams on Thursday, stating that he will remove 19,430 acres from the project, which is located in and around the Locomotive Springs Waterfowl Management Area. This decision comes just days after Adams called on O'Leary to reduce the size of his Stratos Project data center by 75 percent, which would have brought it down to approximately 10,000 acres. Adams also requested that O'Leary implement technology to minimize water consumption and divert excess water to the shrinking Great Salt Lake. In his letter, O'Leary added that he will cut another 620 acres from the northeast portion of the project near the highway, and that he will preserve a majority of the remaining acreage as open space. Even with a reduced footprint of around 20,000 acres, the Stratos Project will still cover an area larger than Manhattan. Data centers of this size continue to raise significant concerns regarding energy usage, environmental impact, and pollution.
