Help STOP another data center proposal – Tooele
A private developer is using the Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA), a state authority created by the Utah Legislature: to build a massive data center and industrial complex on the shoreline of Great Salt Lake, one of the most ecologically sensitive and water-stressed sites in the West. The water comes from a closed basin declared over-appropriated in 1996 that is already failing nearby towns. The subsidies come from Utah taxpayers. And a state permit now proposes to let the facility dump concentrated brine directly into the wetlands the GSL ecosystem depends on.
A Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA) backed industrial development in Tooele Valley, enabled by more than $240 million in taxpayer-backed infrastructure financing, has applied for a state permit to discharge concentrated brine from a reverse osmosis water treatment plant into wetlands just 1.6 miles from Great Salt Lake. The discharge would flow directly into Gilbert Bay with no enforceable limits on salt, chloride, or arsenic.
“There has never been an environmental issue that has galvanized opposition from people across the country and across the political spectrum like AI data centers have. Recognizing that, Gov. Cox vaguely suggested the state would take action to protect Utahns. But the pending approval of this permit indicates nothing has changed. Utah citizens should be outraged and demand that the state stop sacrificing our air, water, and quality of life to the demands of Big Tech billionaires.”
– Brian Moench, UPHE in KSL
UPHE and partners helped force a public hearing July 27, 2026 on Permit UT0026409.
Our full comments from that meeting can be found here.
News Coverage of the July 27 Division of Water Quality hearing:
Fox13
Utah News Dispatch
Full guide to the issue below ↓
UPHE & Partners Comments on Permit UT0026409
Re: Request for Public Hearing, Draft UPDES Permit UT0026409, Tooele Valley Public Infrastructure District
Dear Director Hasenyager:
We write to formally request a public hearing on draft UPDES Permit UT0026409, which would authorize the Tooele Valley Public Infrastructure District (TVPID) to discharge concentrated reverse osmosis brine into drainage channels flowing directly into Great Salt Lake transitional wetlands.
The TVPID facility is located 1.6 miles from Class 5E GSL transitional wetlands at the Burmester Road and Interstate 80 interchange in Tooele County. It is being made possible by over $240 million in public financing from the Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA). The water treatment plant serves a 1,200-acre industrial development that the permit application identifies as including data centers, warehouses, light manufacturing, and a truck stop. Construction is already underway under a separately issued DEQ LUWDS Construction Permit (No. 2025004013). Well No. 1 was constructed and flow-tested in September 2025; RO treatment skids were under construction at the time of the permit application filing in March 2026; the truck stop broke ground in spring 2026; and full build-out construction of the RO water treatment plant began March 31, 2026. TVPID’s stated target is for discharge to begin January 15, 2027, with full operations by March 15, 2027.
The draft permit authorizes discharge of up to 260,000 gallons per day of concentrated brine, at zero dilution, into a seasonally dry receiving channel with no pre-existing water quality baseline. The draft permit sets no enforceable limits on total dissolved solids, chloride, sodium, or arsenic, and contains no analysis of impacts on Class 5E wetland habitat or Wilson’s phalarope, a shorebird species with a pending positive ESA finding.
We also note that Governor Cox’s Executive Order 2026-03, signed May 29, 2026, requires all state agencies to adhere to a Data Center Framework that explicitly directs protection of Great Salt Lake water resources, mitigation of wildlife impacts, and provision of transparent, meaningful, and thorough opportunities for public comment. Section 5(d) of that order specifically requires agencies to coordinate with UIPA to ensure consistent Framework implementation. This permit, issued for a UIPA-backed data center project, is precisely the kind of decision the order contemplates.
We respectfully request that the Division hold a public hearing. The permit raises significant unresolved questions of public concern regarding water quality in Great Salt Lake, groundwater impacts in an already over-appropriated closed basin, wetland and wildlife protections, and the adequacy of the antidegradation review. These questions warrant the opportunity for full public participation and a formal record.
We appreciate the Division’s consideration and are ready to participate constructively in a public hearing process.
Sincerely,
Franque Bains
Executive Director
Utah Sierra Club
Georgie Corkery
Board President
Great Salt Lake Audubon
Deeda Seed
Senior Utah Campaigner
Center for Biological Diversity
Savannah Pearson
Executive Director
Making Waves Artist Collaborative
Brain Moench, MD
Board Chair
Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment
Teri Durfee and Joan Gregory
Stop the Polluting Ports
Cc: Jordan Bentley, UPDES Individual Permits Section