VALAR WATCH
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374 facts · 512 sources · updated 2026-09-30

Fact loc-026

newrecordconfirmed Residents pushed back in 2026: pleas for data-center pauses reached Emery, Cleveland, Orangeville and Wellington
2026-08-13 · loc-026 · Wellington Planning Commission, Emery County Commission, Orangeville City, Cleveland Town, Carbon County Planning Commission

Public records of local concern, residents described and not named: Wellington City's planning commission put 'Data Centers moratorium and/or strict guidelines' on its 1 April 2026 agenda (its minutes of that meeting were approved on 6 May but are not posted); its posted minutes for 6 May, 3 June and 5 August do not return to the item and mention neither Valar nor the trust-land site about six miles north of town, and record no public comments on 3 June or 5 August. At the Emery County Commission on 21 July 2026 a resident asked for a 180-day pause on data-center applications, proposed eight areas for rules (water, chemicals, noise, heat, water-rights transparency, ratepayer protection, emergency power, reclamation bonds) and questioned the county's sale of land to Valar and its annexation into Orangeville (ETV, 28 July; the commission's minutes list only an informational presentation, gov-024). Orangeville's 13 August minutes record a resident raising concerns with Valar at the city's planning meeting, and Cleveland Town's 13 August minutes record a resident's email asking for a moratorium on AI and data centers, which the council tabled for research. In Carbon County, the planning commission began drafting rules for 'highly contested industries' in August (csite-013), and the only comment at the Trust Lands hearings acknowledging opposition was a commissioner's reference to 'a few in our community who will push back' (mine-014). Officials in turn spoke of misinformation: an Orangeville councilman on 9 July ('mis- information on social media', minutes), ETV on 28 July about the water shares, and Orangeville's mayor saying data-center talk was speculation (ETV, 20 Aug). On 15 September Emery County approved a 180-day pause on new Level 2 and 3 permit applications (ETV, 21 Sept; loc-024). No local public hearing on Valar's Carbon site has been held as of 29 September 2026.

In plain termsSome residents did not wait to be asked. In 2026 they went to their town, city and county meetings to ask for a pause on big data-center and industrial projects until rules exist, and to question the Valar land deals. Local officials mostly answered that nothing had been applied for yet and warned about rumours. Emery County has since approved a six-month pause on new major permit applications. In Wellington, the town nearest the Carbon site, the planning board's posted minutes never mention Valar, and in Carbon County there has been no local public hearing on the Valar site itself.
verified 2026-09-29: Re-read all cited minutes and reports: holds. Updated the Emery moratorium (approved 15 Sept, not just proposed), added Wellington's later posted planning minutes, which never mention Valar, and replaced quotes that did not bear on this fact.

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