Block the Stratos Project: No Subsidies Without Public Approval

Block the Stratos Project. A development of this scale — one that would consume more electricity than the entire state of Utah, raise statewide carbon emissions by 50%, and permanently alter the Great Salt Lake basin — does not get rushed through in secret. The speed and secrecy surrounding this process are disqualifying on their own. Tax breaks, zoning carve-outs, and water rights manipulation handed to a billionaire-backed venture, with no public commitments from Box Elder County or MIDA on water and power use, is not how consequential decisions get made in a democracy. This project threatens our airshed, our lake, and the ranchers, farmers, and rural communities who depend on both. Developers claiming the methane gas plants fall outside the Wasatch Front nonattainment area is a technical loophole, not a clean air guarantee — those plants will be upwind of most of Utah's population. Utah taxpayers are being asked to subsidize fossil fuel infrastructure that offers no clean energy benefit and no utility savings in return. A project this size requires genuine public approval, not a backroom arrangement dressed up as economic development. Stop the subsidies, demand full transparency from MIDA and Box Elder County, and ensure this goes through proper public process before any further action is taken.