Doug DeVore

Husband, father, son, brother, Airman, lawyer, Ute, cougar, who has been across the country and around the world

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@MikeLMower @SenTomCotton His brother (and your other great uncle), Howard Sharp Bennion, was the patriarch who gave my dad his patriarchal blessing at the University of Utah in 1967 on year after he joined the church

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@jpodhoretz @whignewtons The jokes will write themselves. Congratulations all around!

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@StallionCornell @TheDonStein That would be like wiping out Utah 2x over.

The bloodiest days in American history-i.e. the days on which the most Americans ever die-are still Civil War battles that occurred 150+ yrs ago.

Trump’s bad but such casualties are simply staggering for me. Sorry to disagree.

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@StallionCornell @TheDonStein Gentle disagreement, @StallionCornell. I agree re: Trump’s corruption, stupidity, depravity, but I rate Franklin Pierce & James Buchanan worse simply because they the presidents before the Civil War. If 2% of Americans died today like they did then, it would be 6 mil casualties.

[Sean T at RCP @SeanTrende]

I almost hesitate to promote this, because it wasn't really intended to be a piece. I just sort of sat down and it came out. Maybe someone else out there has the same type of day today, and it'll speak to them.
https://t.co/xSMUDOrHcC

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@StallionCornell Depeche Mode
Howard Jones
Sting
U2
The Police
INXS
Midnight Oil
Elvis Costello
Rage Against the Machine
Garth Brooks

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@MikeLMower Or the cowboy boots memo!

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@scottlincicome @mikekofoed @LizMair @microsamonomics Shots fired!!!

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@mikekofoed @scottlincicome @LizMair @microsamonomics Alas, he’s only a BYU undergrad. His law degree is from UVa. No excuse for what he’s saying, but we shouldn’t slander BYU Law unnecessarily. Utah’s senior senator on the other hand…..

[Governor Cox @GovCox]

I’ve heard from a lot of Utahns over the past week about the proposed data center project in Box Elder County. Many are asking questions about water, air quality, energy, land use, and the long-term impact on rural Utah. Those are real concerns, and all Utahns should expect clear standards and accountability.

Industry is our state’s motto. And in our pursuit of economic strength, we must always ensure that development is thoughtful and in line with Utah values.

Based on conversations with residents, local leaders, subject matter experts, and project stakeholders, the following actions are now being taken regarding this project. 🧵

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@MikeLMower @UTStateCapitol @GovCox This is a fitting tribute—and I strongly agree that it is well-deserved

[Dr. Arthur Brooks @arthurbrooks]

Very helpful short essay, thank you

[Christopher Koopman @ckoopman]

The conversation around Stratos has gotten badly unmoored from the actual proposal, and it’s worth addressing the biggest misconceptions before the vote.

The loudest claim is that this project will draw more power than the entire state. True at full buildout. Beside the point, because Stratos generates its own power on site. It doesn't draw from the public grid. Last year the legislature passed SB 132 precisely for large private loads that build and operate their own generation off-grid. Utah's existing 4 GW stays where it is. Electricity bills won’t go up because of this project. The "more than the whole state" line sounds scary to some, but falls apart the second you dig in.

The water claim deserves more care than it's been getting. The water rights at issue are existing agricultural rights. Bar H Ranch is transferring 1,900 acre-feet currently used for irrigation. This is not new pressure on the basin, but a reallocation. The data center cooling itself is closed-loop. The gas plant will use some water for power generation, and we should want the developer to specify how much; that's a fair ask. But the framing that Stratos is "draining the lake" assumes new diversions that don't exist in the actual filings. The Great Salt Lake is in real trouble, and most of that trouble has names. Stratos isn't one of them.

The tax-giveaway argument frustrates me the most, because it imagines a counterfactual that doesn't exist and ignores the actual math. The reduced energy is the price of getting the project to land here instead of in Texas or Wyoming. Even at 0.5%, the county pulls in roughly $30M a year in Phase 1, and over $100M annually at full buildout. The state pulls in roughly $49M. The developer is prepaying the county $5.4M a year for the first three years to fund emergency services before tax revenue starts. The developer is paying for every road, sewer line, and stormwater system in the project area and deeding it to the county. If specialized fire equipment is needed, the developer pays for that too. Two thousand permanent jobs in a part of Utah that has been waiting a long time for a real employer. None of that exists if the answer is no.

And the site is the part of the case I keep waiting for someone to make. Hansel Valley is unincorporated, sparsely populated, sits on the Ruby Pipeline, and is adjacent to military infrastructure with strong reasons to want resilient on-site power. The land is doing nothing else. It has been, in policy terms, waiting for this.

I'll grant the strongest version of the critique. The process moved fast, and the commissioners felt blindsided. That's a real complaint and worth fixing in how these things come to the county next time. But the choice today isn't between this Stratos and a better Stratos. It's between this Stratos and the same project getting built somewhere else.

The country has decided, at the level of abstraction, that it wants to lead on AI. You don't get to keep saying yes to the abstraction and no to every concrete project that would make the abstraction real.

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@SpencerJCox @UtahCollegeReps Does that make Sanpete County Utah’s Mount Vernon?

🤔

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@AndersenNeilL An excellent exchange. Elder @AndersenNeilL, you and Sister Andersen visited my mission in Germany shortly after your call as a General Authority in 1995. It was a wonderful experience. Thanks for all you do!

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

https://t.co/VtdePuQJHL

This is my all-favorite article from the @nytimes. It’s nearly twenty years old—there’s nothing better

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@jstaples01 @Joshua_Newman Gary Carter (he went into the Hall of Fame as an Expo)

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@StallionCornell Yowzers! Those are excellent times!

If you were to write the same sentence for me, it would read: “He came across the finish line . . . . ”

The end.

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@StallionCornell @PurpleKoya21 Hugh B. Brown

Marlin K. Jensen

Steven E. Snow

[Doug DeVore @douglas_devore]

@StallionCornell @PurpleKoya21 Ben McAdams