PARK CITY, Utah (KUTV) — EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin appeared before hundreds of energy leaders at the governor’s Operation Gigawatt Summit in Deer Valley, but he declined a direct answer on whether data centers conflict with President Trump's pledge to save the Great Salt Lake.
“I’m not coming here today to opine and place judgment like that,” Zeldin said in response to a 2News question. “I've had the opportunities to go across the country where they're [data centers] doing an awesome job of water reuse.”
Zeldin added that the centers are doing “an awesome job with the energy supply,†and are a benefit for local communities.
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“Oh, they are absolutely in conflict,†said Deeda Seed, senior field campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, a national environmental non-profit based in Tucson.
Seed led protesters at the Capitol against the Stratos data center planned for Box Elder County, which she noted has drawn bipartisan concerns.
“People are worried about our public resources being used for things that harm us,†she said.
A legislative committee voted just a couple of days ago to study data center impacts, a Box Elder group wants to put the fate of the center on the ballot, and state regulators will review the project before state permits are issued.
The federal government, however, may allow some data center construction to begin before approving a federal permit.
“If finalized as proposed, Americans will be able to start building non-emitting components or structures for essential power generation, data centers, and manufacturing prior to obtaining a major New Source Review (NSR) permit,” said an EPA news release nearly two weeks ago.
The EPA casts it as “cutting unnecessary permitting red tape.”
NSR requires industrial users to install “modern pollution control” equipment.
This weekend, the EPA administrator will take a boat tour of the Great Salt Lake with Senator John Curtis at roughly the same time as the demonstration at the Capitol.
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