Latest / The Radio From Hell Show - Best Of / Elevate Utah - AI Data Center from May 21st, 2026

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Elevate Utah - AI Data Center from May 21st, 2026 · The Radio From Hell Show - Best Of

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Uh, Elevate Utah. I'm just done with it.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure where.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Late apparently Uh the so I was just looking through
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: some Elevate Utah stuff and they became the targets of uh,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: of Kevin O'Leary, mister wonderful about this whole Strato Status
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: center project. Uh. They they whipped up a lot of
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: opposition to it, and of Kevin. Kevin O'Leary, he told
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Fox News that his guys had done a deep, deep
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: dig and found that there were two cells inside of
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Utah Alliance for a Better Utah and Elevate Strategies. Uh.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: And most specifically, Gabby Finlayson is Gabby Finlayson?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Here are you?
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Gabby? And Hi? Gabby? How does it? How does it
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: feel to be the target of a of a multi millionaire?
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: You know, it's not something that you expect in your
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: life every day, No, I would think not. Yeah, but
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: you know it's there are things that are a nerve
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: wracking about it, but mostly it's been kind of entertaining.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: If it was a more realistic claim, maybe you'd be
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: a little more nerve wracking.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's been it's been a weird week.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: So have you had any you guys, you and your
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: partner is a Jackie. Yes, you and Jackie with Elevate
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: seem to be having sort of fun with this. I mean,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: it's a serious subject and one that you're that you
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: are serious about. But it's it's so absurd for somebody
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: like this big Canadian multi millionaire to make a claimt
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: that you guys are operatives of the Chinese government. It's
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: just so ridiculous. You have fun with that part, but
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: has it got a dark side to it if you
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: experienced because there are people who would agree with Kevin
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: O'Leary about what's going on here, Yeah, totally.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: I mean there are always people that are going to disagree,
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: you know, with with us or anyone that's making political
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: statements on you know, online or you know, in real life. Luckily,
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: I think because this issue is is it's like a
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: ninety ten issue in the state right, Like, there's not
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: a lot of actual utahs that are supportive of this project,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: and so I think because of that, it's like it's
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: been a lot easier to have a little bit more
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: fun with it because there hasn't been the same level
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: of you know, backlash that we get with some of
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: the issues that we talk about that are I don't know,
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: maybe sixty forty issues fifty fifty.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and so you really do have the sense and
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: is it just the sense or do you have some
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: way of measuring that, Like ninety percent of the people
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: in Utah at this point would say we don't want this.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: There is an.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Initial kind of poll done by one of the local
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: news outlets here and I don't think it was quite
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: ninety ten. But it's definitely not like a popular issue
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: here now, and I think because it's been you know,
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: imposed on people again, this is like the worst parts
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: of why people are mad about American politics right now.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: It's like the environmental impact plus AI plus data centers
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: plus these you know, billionaires and people that are powerful
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: making decisions on behalf of the community that nobody asks
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: for and nobody wants. And so yeah, I don't think
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: this is a popular issue, and I don't think them
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: trying to make it about our quote unquote national security
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: is really landing for people here.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: If you're if you're having a hard time following it
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: or don't understand that. I love the way Gabby and
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: elevate you guys just make it so digestible. How you
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: take what what information you're finding out. I followed you
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: during the legislature when you were breaking They have a
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: whiteboard they put up with their little post its and
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: they help you follow some complicated stuff that's going.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Help me follow this? Then, I think a lot of
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: people don't understand, and I don't understand completely. Is it
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: meta or mida? How do you? How do they say it?
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: It's an acronym. I think it's in the eye of
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: the beholder. But we hear mida quit all right.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: So I think a lot of people don't understand what
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: that organization is and what it's capable of doing.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, so this is I think, why the
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: box all the count commissioners are getting so much heat
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: when in reality we should be looking at the state agencies.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: This is an appointed state agency.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: The board is appointed by five members by the governor
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: and then one by the Speaker of the House and
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: one by the Senate President. It's currently chaired by the
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: Senate President, Stuart Adams. And this board has not a
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: ton of oversight because it's kind of an independent and
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: independent body, but they have a ton of power.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: It stands for the military installation.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Development Authority, and so they're supposed to manage developments around
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: military bases, but have certainly expanded I think, you know,
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: outside of that a bit.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: But yeah, they're some ski resort. So what power do
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: they have?
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  Speaker 3: So they can move massive amounts of public tax dollars
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: into private developments. If they approve a development like this,
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: they can give tax incentives and tax breaks and other
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: incentives for developers. So like in this case, normally they
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: charge a six percent tax on energy, like any sort
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: of like development that's producing energy. They've cut that by
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: ninety two percent for Kevin O'Leary, so he's only paying
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: er point five percent in taxes.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: And then they also have the structured so.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: That eighty percent of the property taxes that it brings in.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: After it's built, we'll also go right back to the developer.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: And so they have all of these tools where they
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: can give huge incentives on you know, the backs of
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: taxpayer dollars to private development.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: They can issue bonds, yeah, sure can that.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: They can issue bonds. Yeah, you know, it's all in
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: the name of you know, security. And then isn't it
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: disingenuous for Spencer Cox to be quoted in the news
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: this morning, was saying, you know, the way this was
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: rolled out is just it just didn't work right. We
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: were not informed about what's going on. You appointed these people.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: I know in a press conference in April he said,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: I think I only appoint one person to that board.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: No, No, you appoint five. Yeah.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I do think it is disingenuous in some
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: way because you rolled it out man, like you were
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: part of the problem. He was out there saying, like,
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: these people that are against everything are ruining this country,
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: us why we can't build anything anymore.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: So basically like get over yourself for doing it, am.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: He was pointing his finger at you, Gabby than Licens.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: He is not a fan of Elevat, I will tell you.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: He was pointing his finger at you, saying, you people
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: standing in the way of progress and national security. Where
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: did this come from? Do you think that Kevin O'Leary
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: thinks that somehow China is involved in what you do?
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: You know, if anyone can get inside the mind of
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: Kevin O'Leary and let me know, that would be excellent.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: But you know the general argument is that the only
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: people that would be against building data centers like this,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: and especially this particular one WHI would be the largest
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: data center in the United States would be people that
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: are against our national security because the US needs to
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: keep up in the like ai arms race with China. Therefore,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: anyone against this is working with China. So he mentioned
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: US at another organization. And I will tell you the
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: closest thing I've ever gotten to the Chinese government is
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: my little brother is in the sixth grade.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Chinese immersion program. Oh well, there, it's not a good
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: loss guy connection.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you this the data center. I
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: assume that you have looked into there are other data
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: centers already operating in the country. I assume you guys
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: have looked into what they're like and what they're doing.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Can you talk a little bit about that.
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there are obviously a ton that have
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: been proposed and a few that Kevin O'Leary has already
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: sort of been proposing or is in the process of building.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: But yeah, they have massive environmental impacts to the areas
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: around them. Most of the time, these are put in
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: communities that again didn't ask for it and kind of
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: have been you know.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Like all black neighborhoods and things like that. Yeah, Jay's
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: mom has one next to her house, and so one
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: of the things that they don't talk about, you know,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: they talk about all the other things that it does
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: is the noise. It's extremely noise. What else have you
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: found out about them?
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean they're super loud, they use a ton
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: of water, they put off a ton of carbon emissions,
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: they have impacts on They create heat islands for the
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: local ecology, so for the plants and animals, they raise
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: temperatures around them. But yeah, it is definitely an issue
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: for people living directly next to them because of the
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: heat and the noise and the the carbon offput that
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: it has. And then in addition to that, there is
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: really interesting research around what are the property values not
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: directly next to the data centers looks like, but for
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: the people around it. So there are also a ton
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: of people that stand to benefit, like developers around these
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: data centers, and so again it's kind of these people
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: that have an interest in making money, and then there's
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: all the other people that have to suffer with the impacts.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Whether you live, you know, a mile from a data
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: center or you know ten miles, Like there's not a
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: force field around the data center that's going to keep
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: all the carbon in there and the heat and the noise, and.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: So it is. It's a huge issue for people that
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: live nearby these data centers.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: What have you found out about the developers that have
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: bought land or own land near the piece center?
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, you know, this data center is interesting.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: There are a few elected officials that are in our
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: state legislature that own property around it. You know, we
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: are not here to say that they knew anything obviously
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: about this data center or what the potential value of
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: this property could do, and we are not in a
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: position to answer those questions. The Speaker of the House
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: owns twenty five thousand acres around the data center, and
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: he is, you know, certainly now said that he is.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: He has his own questions and he wants to see
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: the impacts and all of that, and it might not
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: be good for him. But looking at different studies from
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: across the country, those property values go up either by
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: double or in some studies, by sixteen times their original
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: property value, and so there is going to be some
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: interesting things to keep an eye on on that front,
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: for sure.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: I don't know where I was listening to this sort
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: of a reporter was a podcast of some sec and
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: they drove it was in Tennessee or something where a
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: much smaller data center than the one proposed from here.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Said but they they said, go, let's just drive down
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: there and take a look at it and what it's like.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: He said, the air around was we were driving there,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: it was a beautiful day in the air was lovely,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: and as we got closer to the data center, there
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: was pollution in the air just hovering around this data center.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: And the people who lived there and this was an
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: all black community, they said, yeah, it's like this all
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: the time.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and even in Tennessee they're looking at building another
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: data center on an HBCU. In this and in a
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: similar situation, it's an almost entirely black community. And you know,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: they some of those folks reach out to us and
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: they were like, what do we do to stop this?
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: And the thing that about it is so hard because
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: so many of these are private developments, and so there's
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: not a lot that the community can really do to
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: push back on this, especially when it's approved like ours
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: was before the public even knew about it.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: You have any do you have any predictions what's going
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: what's going to happen with this. Is it just going
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: to happen anyway?
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: You know, that's a really good question.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: There are a ton of places across the country and
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: even in the state where we've seen proposed data centers
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: that have gotten shut down and killed because of the
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: community impact, but also because there are elected officials that
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: started working together with the community and trying to actually
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: listen to their concerns.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: And so I think because we have seen.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: Such significant public pushback both you know, this is not
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: a part of an issue. This is everyone across the
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: spectrum that's been kind of pushing back on this. We've
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: already seen you know, the governor, the Speaker of the
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: House and some other folks kind of taking a step
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: back and saying, well, yeah, we should follow the environmental standards,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: and we should do the federal regulation stuff, and we
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: you know, should make sure we you know, yesterday the
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: legislature decided to have a study on the potential.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: To look into this.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: But I think ultimately, like there are things that the
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: community can do. There is a group of people that
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: are running a referendum up in Box Elder County on
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: the County Commission vote. There are people looking at potential litigation.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: Because this was moved through so quickly, they think that
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: there are some boxes that they didn't check along the way.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: But in reality is this comes down to us making
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: sure that we are continuing to reach out to our
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: elected officials and our representatives and telling them our concerns
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: about this project and really making sure that people know that.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, like the thing
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: that people respond to really well and in politics is
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: electoral consequences, and so make sure you get out and vote.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: To Now, if people want to find out more about
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: you and your organization, what do they do?
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, threads. I
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: don't know all the things at Elevate Underscore Utah Utah
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: and then our subtac is at Elevateutah dot News.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: All right, Gabby Finlayson, Right, that is right, Thank you,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you guys. Yeah, and keep it up. Yes, and
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: we'll keep it up too well.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's a team effort.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: You're welcome to.
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: Come back anytime and talk about say, if.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: You want to come back or if you need our help,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: let us know.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, I definitely will.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much.