Kevin O’Leary has agreed to scale back his plans for a data center in Utah following heated public push-back and an appeal from local politicians in the state, according to a report from ABC4 and a letter from Mr. Wonderful himself. On Monday, Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams asked O’Leary to shrink the proposed data center project by 75%, cutting it from 40,000 acres to about 10,000. Adams also asked that any excess water from O’Leary’s data center be treated and diverted to the Great Salt Lake. Claims online had suggested O’Leary’s data center would siphon water from the Great Salt Lake, something the Shark Tank star denied. O’Leary wrote a letter dated June 4 addressed to Adams and agreed to the changes at the Box Elder County data center. “On water, land, heat, environmental performance, and transparency, we are aligned with the standards you have set,” the letter reads. “We commit to industry-leading water-use technology and to dedicating any excess water from the project to the Great Salt Lake.
O’Leary’s letter went on to state that his company, O’Leary Digital, was prepared to enter into a memo of understanding with the Utah Department of Natural Resources “covering wildlife, agriculture, and open space.”
