Cindy O’Neil, a longtime resident of Carbon County, Utah, intimately understands the cyclical nature of industrial economies, having witnessed her husband’s career in the region’s namesake coal mines. For generations, energy production has been inextricably linked to the economic fortunes of this central Utah pocket, often at a significant cost to its inhabitants, who have endured health issues like black lung, explosions, and fires. Now, a new wave of industrial development and energy generation is poised to reshape her rural community, sparking anxieties that, for some, exceed the concerns previously associated with coal. "It’s all descending, these data centers," O’Neil observed, noting how these massive computing facilities are being sited within mere miles of residential areas, a prospect that has galvanized her and her neighbors.

Recent discussions in Carbon County are heavily focused on Valar Atomics, a nuclear startup with ambitious plans to construct a sprawling complex of 456 small modular reactors (SMRs) on vast tracts of Bureau of Land Management land. This represents a significant foray into SMR technology, which remains largely untested and unproven for commercial deployment in the United States. The proposed "Project Beehive," as it’s known, is slated to include the storage of radioactive waste and will power a suite of industrial operations, including data centers. The project has garnered support from the state of Utah, with plans encompassing a full square mile of state-owned trust lands.

In parallel, another substantial data center development, Altigen Energy’s "Jurassic Spark," is planned for the county, spanning hundreds of acres and incorporating a large-scale natural gas power plant. This represents a stark departure from the region’s past; in 2006, Carbon County’s coal mines yielded nearly 10 million tons of coal, but a confluence of factors, including the economic advantages of cheaper energy sources like renewables and natural gas, coupled with the depletion of local coal seams, led to the precipitous decline of the county’s primary economic engine within a few decades. By 2023, coal mining in Carbon County had ceased entirely. "They say everything’s left us, and if we don’t grab these table scraps we’re not going to get anything," O’Neil lamented, expressing a sentiment shared by many who believe their county deserves more than residual opportunities.

The new data center initiatives, including those proposed by Valar Atomics and Altigen Energy, explicitly eschew coal as an energy source. The Utah Trust Lands Administration has agreed to lease a square mile of its state-owned property to Valar Atomics for up to a century. This lease is intended to facilitate the operation of some of Valar’s SMRs, enabling uranium fuel processing, water desalination, steel manufacturing, and critical mineral refinement, all in service of powering data centers. According to information presented to the Trust Lands Administration board, the Valar project is projected to generate approximately $35 million in lease rents over 50 years, with these revenues earmarked for Utah’s public schools.

During a September board meeting, three Carbon County residents employed or anticipating employment with Valar spoke in favor of the project, and all three Carbon County commissioners also voiced their support. Commissioner Larry Jensen acknowledged the contentious nature of both data centers and nuclear energy but emphasized the commission’s commitment to advancing these projects, stating that they represent the "silent majority" of the community. However, Cheryl Lupo, a lifelong county resident and candidate for the county commission, challenged this assertion, recounting overwhelming opposition to data centers and nuclear plants encountered while gathering signatures for her independent candidacy. "People are up in arms," Lupo declared, "Torches and pitchforks. Because they’re not being heard."

The embrace of nuclear technology by Utah officials is not entirely new; Governor Spencer Cox, U.S. Senator John Curtis, and other state leaders welcomed Valar earlier this year, permitting the testing of its "Ward250" microreactor at the San Rafael Energy Lab in neighboring Emery County. Valar announced in June that it had achieved "self-sustaining criticality," a milestone in reactor operation, and has further plans to power a 30-megawatt nuclear-equipped AI data center in Emery County, in collaboration with the semiconductor giant Nvidia.

Despite these advancements, SMRs have yet to see widespread commercial deployment in the United States. Mike Nelson, chair of the Trust Lands Administration board, candidly admitted during a recent meeting that the agreement with Valar involved navigating uncharted territory. "We weren’t always sure what to ask about," Nelson stated, while still commending Valar, adding, "and probably still aren’t sure of everything to ask about because this is a first, right?" This uncertainty is amplified by Utah’s historical association with nuclear activities; Lupo attributes the premature death of her mother and grandfather to the lingering effects of radioactive fallout from U.S. weapons testing in Nevada during the 1950s, a legacy that fuels her deep-seated opposition to nuclear development. "I will never, ever be a proponent of nuclear," Lupo stated emphatically.

Even before the Valar proposal generated significant public discourse, speculation about another data center campus in Carbon County was circulating. Altigen, a company specializing in building natural gas power plants for data centers, has designated an area east of Wellington for its "Jurassic Spark" project, a 1,200-acre complex that is nearly double the size of the proposed Valar campus. Initial plans include a 250-megawatt gas plant, with the potential to expand to 3 gigawatts, a capacity that rivals the entire electricity demand of the state of Utah. This surge in demand for natural gas is driven by the challenges utilities face in meeting the immense power requirements of artificial intelligence servers, leading data center developers to increasingly seek dedicated energy solutions.

In response to these pressures, the Utah Legislature passed Senate Bill 132 last year, empowering private companies with energy demands exceeding 100 megawatts to construct their own self-contained power generation facilities. This legislation aimed to foster business development, including data centers, without overburdening the existing public utility grid. However, the bill has inadvertently led to a proliferation of plans for natural gas-fired power plants, a source of potent greenhouse gas emissions, primarily methane, that contributes to climate change and local air pollution, while also generating significant waste heat.

The issue of heat generation is particularly concerning given the geography of the proposed developments. Nuclear plants, according to Robert Davies, a physics professor at Utah State University, are inherently less efficient than natural gas plants and thus produce even more heat. "If you’re in a contained valley, it concentrates the problem," Davies explained, a situation that applies to the Wellington area, which is nestled within a valley flanked by the Wasatch Range to the west and the Book Cliffs to the north and east. Aspen Westenskow, a lifelong resident of Carbon and Emery counties, expressed her anxieties about the "heat island" effect created by data centers, noting the environmental impact of clearing land and vegetation. "They go clear all this land, the brush, the trees. What helps cool the planet down? Not flat dirt," she remarked.

Water scarcity remains another significant concern for residents like Westenskow, given that the region already faces tight water allocations. Both Valar and Altigen have asserted that their proposed facilities will utilize closed-loop cooling systems with minimal water requirements, with Valar specifically citing its reactors’ closed-loop helium cooling.

In an effort to address public apprehension, Carbon County issued a statement on July 3rd acknowledging the difficult economic realities facing the region due to the decline of the coal industry, which has shifted a greater property tax burden onto homeowners and remaining businesses. The statement outlined the commissioners’ support for data centers as a means to bolster tax revenues. The statement also addressed concerns regarding non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), explaining that such agreements are often necessary to encourage companies to explore projects in the county. While it remains unclear if NDAs were specifically used with Altigen or Valar, their prevalence in facilitating business ventures in Carbon County was confirmed by Oran Stainbrook, a former member of the county planning commission and economic development board who resigned to take a position in Colorado. Stainbrook, while not privy to specific agreements related to the data center projects, expressed his belief that the commissioners were acting in the county’s best interests by seeking jobs and investment.

From her perspective along U.S. Highway 6, Cindy O’Neil remains unconvinced, arguing that transparency is paramount. "You shouldn’t be hiding what you and the company are going to bring to a community," O’Neil stated, "and not tell the community until it’s too late and a done deal." This sentiment underscores the ongoing tension between the promise of economic revitalization and the local community’s concerns about environmental impact, public health, and the right to be fully informed about transformative industrial projects.