As coal mining fades into history, Carbon County, Utah, faces a contentious future defined by nuclear reactors, natural gas plants, and a wave of industrial data centers.
The empty coal cars sitting silent along U.S. Highway 6 are the ghosts of a local economy that once defined Carbon County. By 2006, the region’s mines were churning out nearly 10 million tons of coal. By 2023, that number hit zero. Now. as the dust settles on the death of coal. a new. complex energy future is moving into the neighborhood—and for residents like Cindy O’Neil. the transition feels less like a lifeline and more like a looming threat.
“We’ve had the coal. We’ve dealt, the whole community, with black lung,” says O’Neil, whose husband spent years working the mines. “The explosions, the fires and all the things that came along with it.”
Her anxiety is no longer directed at the mines. but at the sprawling industrial data centers and energy projects currently circling the valley. Among the most ambitious is “Project Beehive. ” a plan by the nuclear startup Valar Atomics to build a massive complex of 456 small modular reactors on Bureau of Land Management land. The company intends to use the site—which includes a square mile of state-owned trust land—to power data centers. manufacture steel. refine minerals. and process uranium TRISO-fuel. The facility. which would also store radioactive waste. is projected to generate $35 million in lease rents for Utah schools over the next 50 years.
While Valar Atomics has already achieved “self-sustaining criticality” with its “Ward250” microreactor in neighboring Emery County and secured partnerships with tech giants like Nvidia. the technology remains largely unproven at a commercial scale in the United States. During a recent Utah Trust Lands Administration board meeting. chair Mike Nelson admitted the deal came with unknowns. noting. “We weren’t always sure what to ask about. and probably still aren’t sure of everything to ask about because this is a first. right?”.
For some, the skepticism runs deeper than technical uncertainty. Cheryl Lupo, a county commission candidate, traces her opposition to personal history. She believes her mother’s death at 38. and that of her grandfather. were the result of radiation exposure from 1950s nuclear testing in Nevada. “I will never, ever be a proponent of nuclear,” she says. Across the county, the sentiment is mirrored by a frustration over opacity. Residents report that many of these industrial negotiations are shielded by non-disclosure agreements. leaving the public feeling sidelined until projects are effectively finalized.
Adding to the industrial footprint is Altigen Energy’s “Jurassic Spark,” a 1,200-acre project planned for the east of Wellington. The site would initially feature a 250-megawatt natural gas plant. though project backers suggest it could eventually scale to 3 gigawatts of electricity—nearly 75 percent of Utah’s total current usage. This surge in private energy development follows the state’s passage of SB 132 last year. which allows large energy consumers to build their own private power plants. bypassing the public grid.
The prospect of these facilities—which create significant heat. consume scarce water. and rely on methane—has residents like Aspen Westenskow worried about the local environment. Physics professor Robert Davies notes that because the Wellington area is a contained valley. the heat generated by these massive installations may struggle to dissipate. “If you’re in a contained valley, it concentrates the problem,” he explains.
Carbon County Commissioners, including Larry Jensen, argue that these projects are essential to prevent the region from slipping into irrelevance. They point to the need for tax revenue to ease the burden on homeowners as the coal industry’s property tax contributions vanish. “They say everything’s left us. and if we don’t grab these table scraps we’re not going to get anything. ” says O’Neil. “I don’t think our county has to take the table scraps.”.
As the debate intensifies. the divide between local officials—who see a necessary pivot toward a tech-driven future—and residents—who fear the environmental and health costs—widens. With local elections approaching and construction plans moving forward. the community is left to grapple with whether this industrial rebirth is the solution they were promised. or a new version of the same boom-and-bust cycle that haunted them before.
Carbon County Utah Valar Atomics data centers nuclear energy small modular reactors Jurassic Spark coal economy energy transition