A Data Center Bigger Than Manhattan, In a Drought

In this already crazy, chaotic and very bad timeline, the continuation of the ultra rich doing whatever they want, with the help of our so-called elected officials, who seemingly forget they were elected to protect the interests of the people, not the wealthy…

Sigh.

Last week in Utah, the Box Elder County Commission approved a data center project reportedly twice the size of Manhattan that will consume more electricity than the entire state.

Pause.

Let that sit for a second.

A data center larger than Manhattan, using more electricity than the entire state of Utah.

Photo by Arturo Rivera on Unsplash.

Every single time I think we have finally reached the point where things cannot possibly sound more dystopian, another headline appears and proves me wrong.

The project is tied to Kevin O’Leary, the venture capitalist and television personality who, apparently, was on some business show or whatever. I genuinely do not care about his celebrity status. What I care about is the fact that nearly 4,000 residents, environmental advocates, and community members raised substantial objections to the proposal because it would draw massive amounts of water and increase temperatures in an area already dealing with drought conditions.

And despite that, it was still approved.

I watched clips from the meetings. I watched people beg officials to think beyond profit margins and billionaire ambition for five seconds. I also watched Kevin O’Leary dismiss protesters by suggesting they were paid and bussed in, instead of considering the very obvious possibility that people genuinely do not want a massive AI and data infrastructure project draining resources from their communities.

Apparently it is now unbelievable that regular people might oppose a corporation building a data center so large it could consume more power than an entire state.

That alone should sound like a warning sign.

There is also the fact that we are already experiencing severe drought conditions across the Southwest. I literally just wrote about this a few weeks ago in my blog, “What Happens When the Water and Power Go Together,” where I talked about the Hoover Dam, shrinking reservoirs, and the reality that climate collapse is no longer some distant abstract concept. It is here. We are watching it happen in real time.

Lake Mead keeps dropping. Lake Powell keeps dropping. Temperatures keep rising. States continue fighting over water rights while cities beg people to shorten showers and conserve electricity during heat waves. Meanwhile billionaires are out here building AI empires that require unimaginable amounts of energy and water to function.

Because that is the part people keep glossing over when talking about AI and massive data centers. These facilities do not just magically exist in the cloud. The cloud is not a cloud. It is land, concrete, water, electricity, pipelines, cooling systems, and physical infrastructure. It is massive buildings humming with servers that require constant cooling to prevent overheating.

Cooling requires water.

Electricity generation requires water.

And in places already running out of water, somehow the solution is apparently to build even bigger systems that consume more of it.

Make that make sense.

Sigh.

What also frustrates me is the way regular people are constantly expected to sacrifice while corporations and the ultra wealthy continue operating without limits. We are told to recycle more. Use paper straws. Keep thermostats higher during the summer. Limit water usage. Drive less. Consume less. Be responsible.

Meanwhile private jets continue flying. Billionaires keep building larger compounds and bigger projects. Corporations continue draining natural resources at industrial scales, then turning around and blaming ordinary people for environmental collapse.

It feels impossible not to notice the imbalance.

And honestly, the phrase “larger than Manhattan” keeps replaying in my head because what does that even mean anymore? Manhattan is not small. It is one of the most densely populated and recognizable places in the country. The fact that a single data infrastructure project can even be described that way should alarm everyone.

Especially when it is happening in a drought-stricken region.

Especially when people directly impacted spoke up against it.

Especially when elected officials ignored them anyway.

This is the part that keeps sticking with me lately. People show up. They protest. They speak during public hearings. They organize. They beg officials to listen. They take time off work. They bring their kids. They prepare remarks and stand at microphones in rooms where they were never really going to be heard. And more and more, it feels like the decisions were already made long before the public was ever invited into the room.

The hearing becomes performance.

Public comment becomes theater.

The three minutes they give you at the mic is not democracy. It is the appearance of democracy, which is somehow worse.

And in the end the wealthy still get what they want anyway.

At some point, we have to ask who these systems are actually built for, because it certainly does not feel like they are being built for the people expected to live with the consequences.

Photo by redcharlie on Unsplash.

It feels like we are watching the future get sold off piece by piece, reservoir by reservoir, power grid by power grid, while people in charge smile and call it innovation.

The part I cannot shake is this:

When resources become scarce, regular people are always the first ones expected to adapt.

Not corporations.

Not billionaires.

Not the industries consuming staggering amounts of energy and water.

Us.

We will be told to conserve more. Pay more. Use less. Survive hotter summers with less power and less water, while the same people approving these projects call it economic growth.

I think that is why this story hit such a nerve for me, because it feels like a glimpse into the future we are being pushed toward. One where human survival becomes secondary to technological expansion and corporate profit.

A future where entire communities are sacrificed so the wealthy can keep scaling bigger, faster, and richer.

And the scariest part?

The people warning about it are not being ignored because they are wrong.

They are being ignored because there is too much money to be made.