The answer is simple: Utah’s political leaders and their wealthy donors handsomely profit from them.

The Salt Lake Tribune’s Pat Bagley had it exactly right with his May 5, 2026 cartoon about a “higher power.” Utah’s leaders (most are rich themselves) can’t be bothered by the will of the people; they’re beholden to their bank accounts and their wealthy donors.

Utah’s political and business leaders love to talk about “vision,” and promise prosperity, innovation, and a bright future for all. But when you look at what actually gets built – what gets subsidized, and what gets pushed through despite overwhelming public opposition – the pattern is unmistakable.

Utah’s political class keeps choosing projects that ordinary people don’t want, don’t benefit from, and often actively oppose. And they do it because the money flows upward, to the already wealthy and the politically connected.

That’s the reason Shark Tank’s billionaire star, Kevin O’Leary, chose Utah for his massive Stratos data center. As noted in a recent Tribune Editorial: “O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, has said that it was wonderful to find in Utah a state where public officials, including Gov. Spencer Cox, are willing to move quickly — i.e., without subjecting the process to public comment or rational thought — to get the project approved.”

For his part, Governor Cox implied that those willing to take the time to make things better or safer, were engaged in the “dumbest thing ever.” Never mind the enormous amount of power, water, land, heat and pollution this data center will consume and produce (more than double the electricity the entire state uses with a footprint the size of St. George).

Before Utah grants even more millions in incentives to data centers (15 are currently proposed), it should add up all the costs (see above), while noting that after construction, according to the Utah Foundation and others, these projects create very few permanent jobs.

And really, all one has to do is follow the money. Just seven days after MIDA, the powerful state agency chaired by Utah Senate President Stuart Adams signed off on the Stratos data center, his PAC collected $135,000 from companies and individuals associated with the project.

The same can be said for Utah’s “Nuclear Campus project.” The companies involved in that scheme have donated over $360,000 to Utah officials and political influence groups, with $57,500 flowing directly to Governor Cox’s campaign.

Salt Lake County’s Inland Port is perhaps the longest lasting and most blatant example of Utah’s political class overriding public will (and it’s only one of 12 proposed ports across the state). When the project was first introduced in 2018, residents were stunned to learn how little say they had, and furious when the Legislature stripped Salt Lake City of land-use authority in order push the project through over the city’s objections.

House Speaker Mike Schultz has been one of the port’s most vocal champions, calling the port “a generational economic engine” that will benefit the entire region. A closer look, though, shows the Inland Port board to be dominated by developers and industry insiders and that it’s stacked with people who stand to profit directly from the project.

Schultz was so thoroughly entangled in the economics of the Port, that he stepped down from its board in 2024. Meanwhile, residents near the site face increased diesel pollution, traffic, and industrial sprawl. The benefits go to developers; the burdens fall on neighborhoods; and the wetlands be damned.

While the rest of the country transitions to cleaner energy, Utah lawmakers continue to prop up coal with public money, our money. With new laws, Utah lawmakers moved to shield coal companies from market pressures and climate impacts, and then devoted tax money to subsidize coal plants even as the utilities themselves questioned the economic logic.

Critics quoted in the same article argued that the real motivation was protecting politically connected coal interests, not consumers. This is a pattern played out over and over in Utah.

This is a pattern of extraction, not vision. Across all these issues, the pattern is the same: public opposition is ignored; environmental and health costs are downplayed; and the financial benefits flow to a small circle of insiders.

Utahns have long made their priorities clear: clean air, sustainable growth, transparent governance, and long-term water security. But the state’s political leadership continues to choose projects that enrich the few at the expense of the many.

This isn’t a vision. It’s extraction – of resources, of public trust, and of the future Utahns hoped to build. Utah deserves leaders who choose projects because they serve the people, not because they enrich the powerful. And Utahns deserve a political culture that values long-term well-being over short-term profit.

Eric C. Ewert is a professor in and chair of Weber State University’s Department of Geography, Environment & Sustainability. His current research and teaching interests lie in environmental studies, the American West, population, historical and economic geography and geospatial technologies. Views are the opinion of the author, and in no way represent Weber State University.