As a proposed hyperscale data center campus in Box Elder County has caused turmoil in Utah political circles, a candidate for Utah’s new 1st Congressional District has a small stake in a similarly-sized data center already under construction near Delta.

Former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams holds stock in the Creekstone Energy data center campus, which, when fully built, is envisioned to use even more power than the proposed nine-gigawatt Stratos data center campus in Box Elder County.

McAdams said his government consulting firm was hired two years ago to help bolster the clean energy component of the Creekstone — then known as Fibernet MercuryDelta. As payment, he received stock in the project — between $1,000 and $10,000 total, according to his recent personal financial disclosure.

McAdams’ opponents in the 1st District race say hyperscale data centers don’t belong in Utah, and McAdams’ stake in the project presents a conflict of interest.

A poll published Thursday by the Hinckley Institute of Politics and the Deseret News found that 69% of Utahns — and 82% of Democrats — believe that the cost of new data centers to Utah’s water and energy resources outweigh their economic benefits.

But McAdams draws distinctions between the Delta project and the Box Elder campus and a Facebook data center proposed in West Jordan that McAdams helped scuttle in 2016.

“I do believe that technology and the AI fight is going to be a central part of America’s and Utah’s future, and it’s critical that our leaders understand this space and ensure growth happens in the right way,” McAdams said in an interview.

“The project in southern Utah is doing that with a focus on clean energy. No utility costs are being passed on to consumers. It’s a waterless operation,” he said. “That’s in direct contrast with the Box Elder data center, which I vehemently oppose, because it doesn’t put clean energy and water stewardship and transparency and the public benefit first.”

Most of the power for the Creekstone data center will be generated using natural gas, but the company does have a license for a 30,000-acre solar farm. It also sits near the decommissioned Intermountain Power Plant and could potentially use coal power, which the company attempted to purchase in 2023, but was rebuffed. It will be air-cooled, meaning it uses far less water, but more power.

State Sen. Nate Blouin, one of the four contenders vying for the Democratic nomination, said he has “raised concerns about [the Creekstone] project for years because of its environmental impact and the lack of transparency in its process.”

“Utahns deserve transparency, and they deserve leaders who stand up to corporate power, not benefit from it,” he said.

The Creekstone data center went through a series of public hearings before the Millard County Commission dating back to at least June of last year. Some residents opposed the project due to its impacts and location, but the commission approved rezoning 4,000 acres for the site and last month approved a letter supporting Creekstone’s effort to get state incentives for the project from the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.

Michael Farrell, another Democrat in the 1st District race, said it is concerning that McAdams has a “vested interest in something that would be bad for Utah and, in my opinion, make it practically impossible for us to increase the water levels in the Great Salt Lake.”

“From everything I’ve seen, there is just no responsible way to put a data center in a water-stressed region like Utah,” Farrell said. “I would hope that Ben divests his … stake in the data center, no matter how small, so that Utahns can know for sure that he wouldn’t support, financially or otherwise, the data center because of his own personal interest in it.”

Liban Mohamed, who edged out McAdams among delegates at the Democratic nominating convention last month, said, “ Utah needs a prohibition on hyperscale data centers, not conflicts of interest.”

In 2016, McAdams, then the mayor of Salt Lake County, led the opposition to a $2.5 billion Facebook data center in West Jordan that was seeking $200 million in taxpayer incentives. The West Jordan mayor, at the time, blamed McAdams for its defeat.

“Putting that data center and in the heart of the metro area, didn’t feel like the right fit,” McAdams said this week. “That’s why I opposed it before, and we killed it.”

The personal financial disclosures required from candidates for Congress were due May 15.

Noteworthy in Farrell’s filing is between $50,000 and $115,000 of cryptocurrency — most of it in Bitcoin — and a series of retirement accounts worth between $400,000 and $780,000.

Blouin’s shows his $23,000 in income from his legislative position last year and $18,000 from his communications consulting business this year, plus a series of retirement accounts and student loans for he and his spouse.

McAdams’ other assets include a rental property in Salt Lake City and various investments and retirement accounts totaling between $3.7 million and $9.2 million in value.

Mohamed failed to file the disclosure by the deadline.