For the second time in four months, construction at the future Meta/Facebook data center in Eagle Mountain was shut down because of an apparent racist threat.
On Friday, a noose was found at the site, according to contractor Mortenson Construction. Both the contractor and Meta are offering a $100,000 reward to anyone with information about who planted a noose at the site.
According to the contractor, work was shut down Monday to address the issue with workers. Construction resumed Tuesday.
In November, workers twice found racist graffiti at the same construction site, police have said. The second time, “Kill a [N-word] day 11/29″ was found scrawled on portable toilets.
At the time, the site’s approximately 1,300 workers were called into a meeting to address the issue as construction was shut down for the day. A $50,000 reward was offered, but no perpetrator was identified, according to Meta and Mortenson.
“We strongly condemn and have zero tolerance for hate, racism or bigotry in any form,” the construction company said in a statement, “and we have a clear anti-harassment, anti-discrimination policy.”
Meta — the parent company of Facebook — issued a statement avowing its “zero tolerance for any racist acts.”
“While this is a challenge facing the entire industry, we’re working with our general contractors to implement measures that will help prevent them at any of our construction sites,” the statement said. “At the Eagle Mountain site, we are working closely with Mortenson and trade leaders to identify the perpetrator(s) of these acts.”
The Utah County Sheriff’s Office is investigating, and anyone with information about the racist scrawls or the noose may call 801-794-3970.
Last year, construction on two other Facebook data centers — one in Ohio and one in Iowa — were shut down after racist graffiti was found at both sites and a noose was found at one.
Facebook announced in 2018 that it would build a 970,000-square-foot data center in Eagle Mountain after obtaining $150 million in tax breaks and promising $100 million in road and utility enhancements.
In 2019, the company announced that the Eagle Mountain data center would be more than 50% larger than originally announced, adding 500,000 square feet to the plans.
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