Morning Briefing: Data Centers

Utah's Stratos proposal remained the clearest pressure point. A Morning Consult poll found 53% of Utah voters oppose the Box Elder County project, and Gov. Spencer Cox said the rollout was not good after the unusually fast push for approvals triggered backlash over water, power and process. With a water-rights request already pulled after protests, the project now looks less like a straightforward campus build and more like a prolonged permitting and political fight.

Cities are also putting more conditions in writing. El Paso staff proposed ending incentives for new in-city data centers and requiring special-use permits, City Council review, community benefit agreements, and detailed disclosures on water, energy, emissions and noise. In Illinois, local concern around Elk Grove Village fed a wider state debate over water reporting, environmental permits, power sourcing, and even a two-year pause on new tax incentives.

The underlying buildout pressure did not ease. Georgia Power's fight over a 35-mile transmission corridor in Coweta and Fayette counties shows how data center demand is now colliding with land-use politics deeper in the grid, with the utility saying about 80% of planned new power from a broader expansion will serve data centers. A newly disclosed Memphis compute agreement would have Anthropic pay $1.25 billion a month through May 2029 for access to Colossus capacity, a reminder that large AI tenants are still willing to sign enormous commitments to secure supply.