Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, talks to media during a press conference at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
As elected officials push for permitting reform and more energy production across the country amid the rise of new technologies, Utah Republican Sen. John Curtis is also eyeing an issue that has shaken his home state: distrust around data center projects.
Hypothetically, if Congress approves a law allowing for faster permitting and projects start to unleash, the challenge of earning people’s trust would remain, Curtis said on Monday during a panel about energy infrastructure hosted by the Rainey Center, a public policy think tank.
“We do have some real uncertainty about these data centers. What’s behind the meter? What’s not? I think it’s fair to say we’ve seen this here in Utah,” Curtis said. “The information, many people don’t trust. You could tell them all you want that it’s behind the meter, but they don’t trust that.”
He referred to the Stratos Project, a massive data center campus celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary proposed in Box Elder County. The project sparked stunning opposition in the state because of its magnitude and quick approval process through the Military Installation Development Authority.
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“Something that I want to work on at the federal level is bringing some reliable, predictable measuring techniques,” Curtis said, so the public can have access to certain standard metrics to determine whether projects similar to Stratos are sustainable. “There’s got to be more credibility with the claims that are made.”
He’s not pursuing an oversight role for the government, Curtis clarified, but he wants to provide reliable standards for data centers.
“I think those of us in Washington understand why these data centers are coming. I don’t think people of Box Elder know why the data centers are coming,” he said. “The industry has to do a much better job of articulating why these are needed. Why we want them here in the United States, why we don’t want them overseas, and I think they, quite frankly, failed at that.”
With the proliferation of data centers in the country, many Utahns have questioned the long-term environmental impacts of such buildings, especially when they have had a history of using exceptional amounts of water and energy.
“I think that would be the next phase to me, after permitting reform, or hopefully simultaneously, is bringing a better awareness of why we’re growing, why these data centers are needed,” Curtis said.
