Data centers in Spanish Fork, Utah

Spanish Fork Mayor Mike Mendenhall said the council has listened to people's concerns, including the amount of water a data center requires.

Volition said they may seek a new community to build their data center due to the continued delays in Spanish Fork

Volition executives stated they would not be drawing off the local power grid or emitting excess heat, noise, and air pollution

Volition would create high paying jobs and generate millions in local tax revenue

Mayor Mike Mendenhall said on social media he thought the Volition proposal could be good for the city

Volition claims its data center would use natural gas powered fuel cells producing substantially lower emissions and heat and requiring significantly less water than traditional data centers

CEO Jeff Chavez previously sought to build a 30 to-40 megawatt fuel cell powered data center in nearby Provo before pivoting to Spanish Fork

Residents opposed the proposal, with Tom Thomas stating residents deserve more than unsubstantiated promises and citing data centers' documented track record of water contamination, air pollution, and noise pollution

Mayor Mike Mendenhall publicly backed Volition Industries' $1 billion data center proposal for the former Fingerhut warehouse site

Author Allyson Flake Matsoso expresses concerns about data centers changing small town America, citing impacts like noise, traffic, heat and light pollution

Mona City government said they had not received any formal data center application or development requests and have not made a commitment of water, sewer, or electricity for this data center

West Jordan Mayor Dirk Burton argued that data centers help keep taxes low for residents and provide needed services

Called the Volition proposal an opportunity for the city and said it warrants moving forward to see if a private business can deliver on what it proposes, with guard rails in place.

Spanish Fork resident voiced concern about proper hard lined bylaws to ensure company cannot override community protections if acquired by larger corporation

Volition CEO said their closed loop cooling system would only need about two Utah households' worth of water to fill

City Community Development Director Dave Anderson stated the city has done more vetting on this amendment than on anything else

Teresa Pierce, resident near Fingerhut distribution center, expressed concern about noise, emissions impact

Volition CEO Jeff Chavez stated the company generates their own power using natural gas powered fuel cells that do not connect to the existing power grid

Volition CEO Jeff Chavez said the proposed facility would use two households' worth of water to fill when first starting operations, then only one household's worth annually

Councilman Shane Marshall emphasized that getting guardrails right is important

Volition proposed to contribute at least $500,000 annually to a community fund for addiction recovery, food security and housing support

Councilman Kevin Oyler stated he takes the issue seriously and is doing his homework despite having many questions

Volition said cooling systems are located indoors to mitigate noise impacts

Property owner John Bankhead stated he has received many offers for the warehouse site and considers Volition a better option than a distribution center that would increase truck traffic

Volition CEO Jeff Chavez said their data center project would generate about 250 megawatts of power and use an existing distribution center of about 28 acres

Volition plans to create a community fund contributing at least $500,000 per year for addiction recovery, food security, housing support and other community needs

Residents noted that the proposed data center location is in the heart of the town, not on the outskirts

Residents expressed concerns over noise pollution, water resource impacts, location over a fault line, and whether the facility would be a test site

Jeff Chavez, Volition CEO, stated data center developers should reuse existing infrastructure instead of buying thousands of acres

A resident stated that neighborhoods are not interested in being a test site for Volition's unproven technology

Volition's plan includes no diesel generation, a dry cooled system, and a noise limit

Teresa Pierce, Spanish Fork resident, expressed concern that data centers should not be built in residential backyards regardless of need

Residents expressed concerns that Volition has not provided sufficient data or evidence to support claims of minimal community impact

Facility would generate its own power with natural gas fuel cells, never connect to the grid, use closed loop cooling with a one time 500,000 gal fill and 250,000 gal per year, and request no tax breaks.

A resident raised concerns that the data center location is over a fault line and questioned earthquake safety

Jack Urquhart, Spanish Fork communications manager, explained the municipal code amendment is needed because the developer proposes generating its own power

Resident Sarah Stevenson pleaded with the council to listen to residents' concerns, not just hear them

Volition officials stated their data center will not strain local resources due to being self powered, will be in an existing building, and will have reduced emissions and increased property tax revenue

Volition officials stated their data center will not strain local resources due to being self powered, will have no diesel generation, is dry cooled, and has noise limits

A resident stated that data centers have promised minimal water use then sued for more water access

Volition's data centers produce zero draw on Spanish Fork's municipal power grid and use no local utility power

The fuel cell technology generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction with no combustion, flame, or fumes

Computer chips transform electricity into heat, creating a large thermal output that should be regulated as heavy industrial use

Volition is not requesting any additional water rights from the city

Volition will include enforceable covenants in the development agreement covering water caps, noise limits, no grid connection, and no diesel

The proposed data center facility is a good reuse of the existing building and resolves water and heat concerns

Volition commits to providing more than 500,000 dollars per year in direct community contributions and educational partnerships

Transparency from the developer and rigorous questioning by the planning commission changed resident sentiment toward supporting the project

Data centers pose environmental and fire concerns and benefit wealthy entities at the expense of local residents

Converting the existing industrial building to a data center reduces traffic from 3,500 trucks per month to 100-200 employee car trips per day with zero heavy truck traffic

Enforceable contractual guardrails and community benefit agreements are necessary to protect clean air and water for future data center projects

Volition received a New Minor Source air quality permit approval from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality

Volition Industries proposes a data center inside Spanish Fork City powered entirely on site without connection to the city electric grid

The proposed 250 megawatt facility would produce more than double the peak power draw of the entire city of Spanish Fork

Jesse Harrison, local IT expert, stated that many data center promises get broken repeatedly based on historical patterns

Traditional data centers require massive grid power and two to four years of utility infrastructure upgrades

Volition facilities deploy in six to nine months using on site fuel cell electricity generation