Pocatello Upholds AI Data Center Denial

The story is largely unchanged, but the current version sharpens the project’s framing and adds more concrete details on the hearing opposition and water strategy. It also clarifies that further appeals remain possible, with the main unresolved issues still centered on utilities and environmental impacts.

The biggest change is that the dispute is no longer just at the hearing-examiner stage: Pocatello’s City Council has now upheld the denial, making the project effectively blocked for the moment and pushing the fight into further appeal territory. The current version also adds sharper detail on unresolved power, utility, and environmental concerns, plus stronger opposition from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.

• City Council upheld the denial in a 4-1 vote.
• Idaho Power said no final service plan or executed agreement existed.
• Shoshone-Bannock Tribes opposed the project over environmental and rate concerns.
• The proposal is now described as a potential $2.6 billion facility.
• Lex Developments says further appeals are possible.

The story has sharpened from a general permit dispute into a more procedural conflict: the city is now explicitly treating the AI campus as a conditional-use question, and the denied permit has been formally appealed. The new framing also makes clear that code ambiguity over whether data centers are even listed uses is now central to the case.

The biggest change is that the project has now been formally denied once, turning the story from an active review into a more concrete setback that will require a stronger technical and code-compliance case to advance. The latest version also sharpens the city’s concerns around wastewater and permit compliance while preserving the broader power and opposition issues.

• One hearing examiner denial has already been issued.
• The project failed to meet code standards in that denial.
• The site is described as about 59 acres.
• City reviewers are still requesting wastewater and discharge details.

The story is largely stable, but the current version slightly reframes the proposal as a multi-building campus and makes the hearing stage sound more developed, with opposition and utility questions still unresolved.

The story has advanced from a conditional-use review into an actively contested public hearing, with stronger evidence that the project faces opposition and unresolved technical questions before approval. Idaho Power’s role is now clearer: service may proceed if approved, but major upgrade costs likely remain with the developer.

• The project has entered a public hearing phase.
• There is significant public opposition to the proposal.
• Idaho Power may have service obligations if the permit is approved.
• Grid upgrade costs would likely be the developer’s responsibility.

The story is largely unchanged, but the current version sharpens the permit-review framing and adds more specificity around site size, hearing-stage oversight, and current timing. It also newly names the former site operator and the hearing examiner.

Pocatello is reviewing a proposal to convert the long-idle former Hoku polysilicon plant into a large AI data center campus. The plan hinges on a conditional use permit and raises major questions about electricity supply, wastewater handling, and site access, while supporters frame it as a major economic reuse of a troubled industrial property.