This is what AI populism looks like when it loses. Thousands of Utah residents objected to the biggest datacenter project in state history. The county commission approved it anyway. The governor is trying to claw back what's already been given. And Kevin O'Leary gets to build a campus bigger than two Manhattans in a desert that's running out of water.

The Stratos Project is obscene in its scale. Box Elder County commissioners just approved 40,000+ acres across three sites in northwestern Utah. That's 62 square miles of AI infrastructure. For context, Manhattan is 23 square miles. This project is nearly three times larger.

The power requirements are equally staggering: 9 gigawatts. That's more than the entire state of Utah currently consumes. For comparison, a typical nuclear power plant generates about 1 gigawatt. This single AI datacenter project would need nine nuclear plants' worth of electricity.

Then there's the water usage. Datacenters consume massive amounts of water for cooling. Utah is already in severe drought conditions. The Great Salt Lake ecosystem is at risk of collapse. And now they're adding industrial-scale cooling operations in an area that can't support them.

The approval process was a masterclass in ignoring public input. Thousands of residents submitted objections during public comment periods. Environmental groups raised alarm bells about water usage and ecosystem damage. None of it mattered. Box Elder County commissioners approved the project despite overwhelming opposition.

Governor Spencer Cox is now scrambling to make it harder for projects like this to proceed. But he's trying to change the rules after the game has already been played. According to Business Insider, Cox is working to 'make it harder for Kevin O'Leary to build his datacenter.' The problem? The approvals are already in place.

Kevin O'Leary, the Shark Tank investor known as 'Mr. Wonderful,' is the financial muscle behind the project. His involvement guarantees this won't be quietly canceled. O'Leary doesn't back down from fights, especially when local governments try to change rules retroactively.

The primary site is in Utah's Hansel Valley area, administered by the Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA). The irony is rich: a military development authority approving civilian AI infrastructure that could destabilize the region's water supply and ecosystem.

This is the physical cost of the AI boom getting a face. Not the abstract discussion of compute and algorithms, but 62 square miles of concrete and cooling systems in a drought-stricken desert. The decision has been made. The infrastructure will be built. And the people who live there will deal with the consequences while O'Leary counts the profits.