Coalition Calls For End To Data Center Subsidies Threatening Great Salt Lake And Local Water Supplies
Groups to highlight more than $680 million in planned UIPA subsidies fast-tracking industrial development in the Great Salt Lake Basin
WHAT: A coalition press conference calling for an end to Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA) subsidies for data center and industrial development that threatens Great Salt Lake and its wetlands. Speakers will highlight the Tooele Valley UIPA project as Exhibit A: a 1,200-acre industrial campus on the shores of Great Salt Lake proposing a 500-megawatt natural gas power plant, a 200-acre data center complex, and a wastewater discharge pipe pointed directly at Gilbert Bay, all enabled by public financing exceeding $240 million.
The press conference will be followed by public comment at the 1 pm UIPA Board meeting, where the Board will take up the Tooele Valley Project Area Amendment #2.
WHEN: Thursday, June 25, 2026 — Press Conference at 12:30 PM MT
WHERE: Utah State Capitol Presentation Room, Utah State Capitol, 350 N State St, Salt Lake City
WHO:
Speakers representing:
• Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment
• Center for Biological Diversity
• Utah Sierra Club
• Stop the Polluting Ports Coalition
BACKGROUND
Utah currently has the worst air quality in the nation. Over 98,000 acres are burning in wildfires across Tooele, Juab, Utah, Millard, and Iron Counties, the same drought stressed counties where UIPA is fast-tracking gas-powered industrial and data center development.
UIPA uses tax increment financing and related public subsidy mechanisms to fast-track large industrial developments. According to UIPA’s own project area plans public financing in UIPA project areas within the Great Salt Lake Basin exceeds $680 million. The agency’s project areas have faced sustained criticism for bypassing meaningful environmental review, particularly for projects sited near Great Salt Lake and its ecologically critical wetlands.
The Tooele Valley project area, developed by Chuck Akerlow’s Zenith Development, is planned to include a Love’s truck stop, a hotel, a data center farm and other industrial uses. Water for the project will be drawn from an aquifer connected to Great Salt Lake and its wetlands. Because water in the area is so brackish, the developer plans to build a reverse osmosis water treatment plant and proposes to discharge 252,000 gallons per day of concentrated wastewater into a drainage channel through Class 5E transitional wetlands adjacent to Great Salt Lake. A state water quality permit for the discharge (UPDES Permit UT0026409) is currently under public review, with a public hearing set for July 27, 2026.
Governor Cox’s Executive Order 2026-03 established a Data Center Framework requiring state agencies, including UIPA, to protect Great Salt Lake water quality and mitigate wildlife impacts. Thursday’s speakers will argue that UIPA’s current approach is incompatible with that mandate.