A Utah rancher learned of a 3-million-square-foot data center across from his home when a gas company sought a pipeline easement; now he is appealing its permit

Most people would probably expect a heads-up before something huge is built across the road from their home. However, Taylor Flake, a rancher near Mona, Utah, didn't get one. He told The Salt Lake Tribune he had no idea about the project until a gas company representative stopped by his home in August. The representative wanted an easement to run a pipeline through his land. The pipeline would feed a planned data centre campus on 361 acres of farmland across his ranch. The campus would be roughly 3 million square feet, and Flake's group has now appealed the permit.A four-minute hearing and a $10 billion plan The permit came from the Juab County Planning Commission in April. As per The Tribune, the public hearing lasted only 4 minutes, and there were no objections to the project. The planning commission sent a notice about the meeting two weeks earlier, but neighbours say it went under the radar. Flake says that the meeting minutes were not made available to the public until late August. The permit application revealed that the Nebo North LLC campus could have up to 10 buildings, each around 300,000 square feet. That's about 3 million square feet, all together roughly the size of 20 Costco stores. The Tribune says it's a $10 billion project.What the neighbours are asking for Flake’s group appealed on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, a week after more than 100 people jammed a county commission meeting. It's called Mona Cares: neighbours for responsible development. It asks the county to overturn the permit decision and start the approval process over again with “adequate and actual notice” to residents. It also asks for a process that protects the residents’ rights to seek a referendum. It wants the project work to be halted pending appeal. Neighbours argue that the campus should not be allowed under agricultural zones. Construction would mean traffic, dust and debris on Goshen Canyon Road. When it's up and running, the data centre could create noise, light and air pollution, residents say.How a conditional use permit works Conditional Uses, a training presentation by the Utah office of the property rights Ombudsman, explains how this type of permit usually works. According to the state agency, the permit is normally an administrative process. This means that authorities apply pre-existing laws to determine the issue of a particular case rather than create new legislation. The agency says officials must approve a conditional use if reasonable conditions can reduce its expected harms under local standards. Moreover, they can gather facts from residents but can't rely on public opinion or preferences. The community demanded that the county review the issuance of this permit.Why data centers raise bigger questionsLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated in its 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report that US data centres consumed about 176 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2023. That was 4.4 percent of national electricity consumption. The report predicted a range of 325 to 580 terawatt-hours by 2028, or about 6.7 percent to 12 percent of US power. These are national estimates. They don't mention anything specific about the Mona project. But they may help explain growing concern about proposals like this one.What happens next As of mid-September reporting, the county had not said if it would accept the appeal. County Commissioner Clinton Painter had said the county followed state law when it processed the permit. But commissioners also indicated they weren't sure if they had the authority to overturn the April decision. The county clerk’s office told The Tribune that the county attorney had counselled officials not to comment. Flake wanted people to be heard before decisions like this disrupt their lives. Whatever the outcome, the case shows how much clear notice actually matters.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.