Note to readers • This story is made possible through a partnership between The Salt Lake Tribune and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
The Eagle Mountain City Council opted to once again table an ordinance that would have potentially allowed for nuclear energy development in its backyard — but warned the city’s fission fate may be inevitable.
Nuclear and the city’s energy future became a key area of focus this year. In January, the council opted to table a plan for advanced generation, after the planning commission also rejected an energy ordinance the week before. Nuclear isn’t the only option being floated by city staff, and no projects are imminent. Still, power development has become a hot-button topic among community members in the months since, with safety and what to do with potential radioactive waste chief among the concerns.
Eagle Mountain, like much of Utah County, grew rapidly over the last decade. It largely became a bedroom community, with few businesses or places of employment for its residents, along with little tax revenue for city services. It welcomed data centers to fill in that gap, including a sprawling Meta campus, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Another campus, operated by QTS, broke ground last year.
But the rise of artificial intelligence has created an insatiable energy demand at those tech centers, as has the electrification of nearly everything in modern life, including transportation.
“Eagle Mountain, of course, needs far more than just data centers,” Evan Berrett, director of legislative and strategic affairs for the city, said in a presentation to the council Tuesday night. “We need to be able to attract other industrial centers, other commercial centers, [and] great workplaces for residents.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Meta's Eagle Mountain Data Center on Friday, May 2, 2025.
City staff spent months developing and refining an energy strategy that would help officials plan for and have some control over their energy future. The resulting Alternative Energy Overlay Zone looked to open the door to developing “preferred” energy sources, including natural gas, geothermal, solar and nuclear, including small modular reactors.
The plan would bar power sourced from coal, wind and hydropower generation. It would leave the specific location of any power projects up to future City Council decisions, and all proposals would require additional review and community feedback.
Berrett acknowledged water was a critical concern in building any energy projects within city limits, and it’s a resource that’s in short supply. Eagle Mountain lies on the west side of Utah County. With little to no mountain streams and snowpack runoff, it depends entirely on groundwater and purchases from the Central Utah Water Conservancy District.
“We should never pursue any sort of energy generation facility that uses vast amounts of water,“ Berrett said, later adding that ”I worry what happens if we have a lack of energy supply as well."
Residents who commented on the plan Wednesday night, however, appeared split.
Running out of water will have a much bigger impact than a power brownout or blackout, one resident said.
Another asked the council to postpone the decision until a new mayor and council members take office next month. But another countered council member Jared Gray has served the city for several years, is set to become the next mayor and is familiar with the city’s energy concerns.
Other commenters voiced agreement with the city’s need for the energy zone, but remained wary about the nuclear option. They noted Eagle Mountain lies near the Wasatch Fault, a zone prone to seismic activity with a major earthquake likely due in the next 50 years, according to the Utah Geological Survey.
“It’s valid to be concerned,” said council member Melissa Clark, while assuring residents that the federal government has “rigorous” requirements for siting nuclear generators.
Some residents shared concerns about a perceived “power grab” between state and local control, citing Gov. Spencer Cox’s priority to more than double Utah’s energy output over the next decade. That could make communities like Eagle Mountain vulnerable to having nuclear reactors and other generation projects built on neighboring unincorporated land anyway.
“You can either plan for things,” a resident said, “or have things happen to you.”
Council member Donna Burnham raised concerns about another energy source that has largely flown under the radar in Eagle Mountain’s energy debates — gas-fired plants. The city has already approved potential natural gas generators for three data centers, she noted.
The fuel is almost entirely composed of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. It contributes to both particulate and ozone pollution on the Wasatch Front all year.
Mayor Tom Westmoreland said the Wasatch Front’s recent air quality attainment status — meaning it was taken off the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of areas that violate winter pollution standards — created more flexibility for burning natural gas.
“You would still need to get permits,” the departing mayor said, “and you would still need to show how much is going into the air.”
The majority of the council, however, expressed hesitation with proceeding with the energy plan.
Council member Rich Wood said he was disappointed with the proposal presented by staff, worried it contained future loopholes developers could exploit, a lack of specificity and came at the “11th hour” of Westmoreland’s term.
“I’ve never been one to rush to make a bad decision,” he said, “and we’ve made plenty in the past.”
The council unanimously voted to table the ordinance. But council member Brett Wright urged residents to stay vigilant and involved on the energy issue.
“It’s very likely that this is, in some form, going to find traction,” he cautioned. “I would be shocked if it doesn’t.”