{"id":384,"date":"2026-05-21T15:08:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=384"},"modified":"2026-05-21T15:08:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:08:30","slug":"data-center-proponent-steps-back-from-china-charges-puts-focus-on-funding-of-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=384","title":{"rendered":"Data center proponent steps back from China charges, puts focus on funding of critics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Hundreds demonstrated against a proposed Box Elder County data center in Tremonton on May 4.<\/p>\n

Read more Utah Gov. pushes back on federal red tape slowing energy projects<\/a><\/p>\n

Hundreds more gathered last week at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City to sound off against the proposed project.<\/p>\n

The outpouring has prompted skepticism from Kevin O\u2019Leary, the main force behind the controversial project, who has characterized the critics as non-Utahns and suggested they are linked to the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP. Over the long haul, the plans call for a data center intended primarily for military needs and a power-generating network to serve it, capable of generating 7.5-9 gigawatts of power at full buildout.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo these are proxies for the Chinese government is my argument. They\u2019re just spreading falsehoods. This is the CCP at work here. There\u2019s no question about it,\u201d he said in a post on the social platform X last week, one of his more charged pronouncements. A week earlier, O\u2019Leary said, without providing evidence, that more than 90% of the critics don\u2019t live in Utah and that some are paid \u201cprofessional protestors.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when asked for more specifics and whether the Utah organizations most directly involved in campaigning against the data center plans are somehow beholden to China, Paul Palandjian, chief executive officer of O\u2019Leary Digital, seemed to take a step back. Among the many progressive organizations that have publicly expressed opposition or are helping with a demonstration this coming Saturday against the data center plans are Salt Lake Indivisible, the Salt Lake Party for Socialism and Liberation, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment and Sierra Club Utah.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not asserting that any specific local organizer is acting on behalf of a foreign government, and we are not characterizing any individual on that list as a foreign agent. Many of these are legitimate civic groups with long operating histories in Utah,\u201d Palandjian said.<\/p>\n

Rather, Palandjian charges that the \u201cUtah progressive advocacy network\u201d organized against the data center plans is funded by the Arabella Advisors network, which he calls \u201ca structure currently under active federal scrutiny.\u201d Arabella was acquired late last year by Sunflower Services, which calls itself a public benefit corporation that aids \u201cnonprofit and social impact organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

He singled out Alliance for a Better Utah and the Better Utah Institute, among others, as recipients of \u201cdirect grants\u201d from the Arabella\/Sunflower network. He also called for \u201cfull donor transparency\u201d in funding of groups opposed to the data center projects, but otherwise levied no specific accusations against the organizations.<\/p>\n

A website created this month focuses on the funding of Alliance for a Better Utah, which has posted critical comments on data center plans, and says public records reveal \u201ca layered network connecting Utah progressive advocacy to Arabella Advisors-managed dark money vehicles.\u201d It also looks at the funding of Grow the Flow Utah, Friends of Great Salt Lake, Elevate Utah and the Center for Biological Diversity, other organizations that have made critical comments about the data center plans.<\/p>\n

Palandjian pointed to the website, saying it contains \u201cdocumented evidence that shines the light of transparency on the network of money behind the protests and opposition to the project.\u201d However, aside from questioning the sources of funding of the varied organizations, it makes no specific accusations against them. The author or authors of the website aren\u2019t identified, but Palandjian suggested that it is a secondary matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe underlying records are the point. We encourage you and your readers to examine them directly rather than focus on the messenger,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read more The politics of AI data centers<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018A very unreliable narrator\u2019<\/h2>\n

Reps from the groups singled out by the O\u2019Leary camp reject charges and insinuations that they are linked to China or the Chinese Communist Party. They also rebuff allegations that the rabble-rousing against the project is coming from forces outside of Utah.<\/p>\n

Deeda Seed, of the Center for Biological Diversity, called the rapid rise of the movement against the data center plans \u201cone of the most astonishing, organic outpourings\u201d in her 40 years of involvement in public policy issues. Those opposed come from a range of viewpoints, worried variously about the government\u2019s role in aiding the development and its potential impacts on the environment and dwindling water supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we have is this rhetoric from a very unreliable narrator who\u2019s calling all of us Chinese Communist Party operatives, which is absolutely absurd,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Hutchings of Alliance for a Better Utah noted that the organization\u2019s funding information is public, downplaying the ominous tone of those taking aim at the group. In an interview with Fox News, O\u2019Leary cast a suspicious eye on the Alliance, suggesting it might be linked to the Chinese government.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our information on donations and stuff like that is publicly available. He\u2019s kind of treating this as a very deep investigative dive, and it\u2019s really not,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are not beholden to China, we don\u2019t take directives from the Chinese government, we don\u2019t work on behalf of the Chinese government. We\u2019re working on behalf of the people of Utah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charges aimed at critics of the project are \u201ca distraction,\u201d Hutchings said, adding that O\u2019Leary might be better served by listening to what critics have to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that he should spend less time into crafting stories and going after local people and organizations and baseless claims, and focus a little bit more on answering the public\u2019s questions and earning trust within the community,\u201d she said. \u201cI think he\u2019ll face less opposition if people feel that he\u2019s acting in good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

The data center project publicly emerged in late April when the board of the Utah Military Installation Development Authority, a state entity that promotes economic development tied to military initiatives, approved plans for the proposal. Box Elder County commissioners approved plans related to the initiative a week later.<\/p>\n

The development would take years and span 40,000 acres set aside for the project, though it would occupy only a fraction of that land.<\/p>\n

Read more The commencement speech backlash no one saw coming<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A key businessmen behind the Box Elder County data center proposal is stepping back from charges foes are linked to China and instead focusing on their funding sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-utah"],"yoast_head":"\nData center proponent steps back from China charges, puts focus on funding of critics - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=384\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Data center proponent steps back from China charges, puts focus on funding of critics - 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