At the 20 August 2026 board meeting Valar's head of projects, Max Ukropina, said the company talked to more than 20 states and that in 2024 he came to Utah and met the Office of Energy Development, the Governor's economic office, SERDA and Carbon County. The auto-transcript then renders him as saying 'the first property I looked at was actually property', apparently referring to the parcel under discussion, back when the plan was to make fuels from coal-plant flue gas; the garbled wording does not settle which property he meant. On 17 September another Valar speaker said 'Max came to look at sites in September', without a year. Ukropina said the Emery lab is no longer just a test facility but Valar's 'whole Utah operations', including its fuel facility, and that Valar is 'currently purchasing 110 acres north of the lab from Emery County'. The records differ on whether that purchase has closed: ETV News wrote on 28 July 2026 that, according to Valar, extra water shares would support development on 'the larger property Valar recently purchased from Emery County'; ETV reported on 20 August an 'ongoing annexation of Valar property into Orangeville City'; and the Utah Inland Port Authority wrote on 10 September 2026 that Valar 'has also purchased' more than 100 acres next to the state research center, inside its Castle Country Project Area. Staff described Valar as headquartered in Hawthorne, California (orig-036).

• 2026-08-20 TLA Board of Trustees Meeting Audio Transcript (auto-generated) (Utah Trust Lands Administration (Utah Public Notice Website), 2026-08-20) primary government “currently purchasing 110 acres north of the lab from Emery County”
• Castle Country Project Area Builds Momentum Across Energy, Critical Minerals and Logistics (Utah Inland Port Authority, 2026-09-10) primary government “Valar has also purchased more than 100 acres adjacent to the state-owned research center”
• Emery County Commissioners Debate Solar, Data Centers and EMS Funding (ETV News (Kevin Butler and Julie Johansen), 2026-07-28) news “the larger property Valar recently purchased from Emery County”
• Growth, industry and community issues highlight Orangeville council meeting (ETV News (Kevin Butler and Julie Johansen), 2026-08-20) news “the ongoing annexation of Valar property into Orangeville City”
• 09.17.2026 TLA Board of Trustees Meeting Audio Transcript (auto-generated) (Utah Trust Lands Administration (Utah Public Notice Website), 2026-09-17) primary government “Max came to look at sites in September.”