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Locals blindsided by Trump's secretive plans for public lands: 'Unholy alliance' September 18, 2026 7:23AM ET The Trump administration is quietly working to hand over vast stretches of America's public lands to billionaires and technology companies - and the scale is bigger than known, according to a Friday investigation by The Washington Sun. According to locals who would be affected, they have been kept completely in the dark. The Bureau of Land Management is reviewing at least "12 data center and infrastructure proposals covering more than 17,600 acres" across six Western states - Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming - the outlet reported, citing public right-of-way records. Many of the proposals have never been publicly disclosed and aren't easily found on BLM's own website. In Utah, nuclear startup Valar Atomics is reportedly pushing two data centers powered by small nuclear reactors, including a sprawling 10,200-acre site near Green River. Arizona has four proposed projects that could gobble up more than 3,000 acres of public land. The catch: local officials in several states told the Sun they had no idea the deals were even on the table, raising transparency concerns among conservation advocates. According to Lexi Tuddenham, executive director of HEAL Utah, an environmental advocacy group, no one saw this coming. "It's really, really hard to find information about this stuff, and I think it's representative of the way the industry in general is operating with a lack of transparency that I think is really deeply concerning," she told the Sun. "Both the AI industry and the nuclear industry, which seem to be in this unholy alliance right now." "If there are places where communities think it is appropriate to build data centers, focus on those," Aaron Weiss, director of the Center for Western Priorities, told the Sun. "The Trump administration needs to stop cutting the public out of public land management. The solution is more public notice and more opportunities for stakeholders to shape projects on the front end." It's the latest flashpoint in Trump's AI infrastructure push, which has already sparked fury after the administration moved to gut public comment periods on data center pollution permits. Polling shows 70% of Americans oppose data centers landing in their backyards, yet the buildout barrels forward, often in the dark. For customer support contact [email protected]. Report typos and corrections to [email protected].

Utah's deep-tech companies take center stage. Recent deals in AI, robotics, medtech and nuclear are pushing the state well beyond its software roots. // Sept 4, 2026 This story appears in the September 2026 issue of Utah Business. Subscribe. Utah's technology landscape continues to move beyond its traditional software roots, with recent investment activity highlighting the state's growing presence in artificial intelligence, robotics, healthcare technology, entertainment software and advanced nuclear energy. Xenter raises $58.25M to accelerate TechMed platform. Draper-based Xenter closed a $58.25 million Series B financing on June 30, which the company announced in July. The company is developing what it calls a TechMed platform at the intersection of medical devices, healthcare data, wireless connectivity and artificial intelligence. The financing attracted existing shareholders, family offices and healthcare-focused investors. The company plans to use the new capital to support the commercial launch of its diagnostics business, expand manufacturing, advance clinical and regulatory initiatives and continue development of its Physical Intelligence platform. Quantizr raises $5M to bring AI to live entertainment. Park City-based Quantizr announced a $5 million seed round led by TTV Capital, with participation from music industry veterans Jonathan Azu, Chris Kappy and Andy Levine. Quantizr is building an AI-powered financial operations platform for the live entertainment industry, automating many of the manual processes involved in managing tours, budgets, expenses, contracts and settlements. The company's approach is notable in an industry where much of the AI conversation has focused on concerns about replacing creative work. Rather than using AI to replace artists, Quantizr is applying the technology to the business infrastructure surrounding them, which allows managers and teams to spend less time on administrative work and more time supporting artists and live experiences. Peppy raises pre-seed to make robotics more accessible. Salt Lake City robotics startup Peppy closed a pre-seed financing led by Element Ventures, with participation from Rock Creek Capital, Mana Ventures and Colin Gardiner of Yonder. The company did not disclose the size of the round. Peppy is developing what its founders call the "Lovable for Robotics," a platform designed to make robotic programming dramatically more accessible. Users can provide text prompts and generate working robotic code that can be tested in simulation and deployed in the physical world. Fluidx Medical Technology advances next-generation embolics. Salt Lake City-based Fluidx Medical Technology also announced the closing of a financing to support development and growth across its medical-device portfolio. The company did not disclose the size of the financing. Fluidx is developing embolic technologies for vascular and neurovascular applications. The new capital follows completion of the GPX IDE clinical trial and continued advancement of its ULTRA platform, while supporting development of IMPASS, a next-generation neurovascular embolic technology. Valar Atomics brings $1B nuclear bet to Utah. The biggest announcement with a significant Utah connection came from Valar Atomics, which closed a $1 billion Series B led by Sequoia Capital, alongside a $200 million credit facility led by Erebor Bank and supported by J.P. Morgan, Crescent Cove and Hercules Capital. Valar is headquartered in El Segundo, California, but its second campus and first small modular nuclear reactor are located in Orangeville, Utah, at the San Rafael Energy Labs. The company is pursuing a vertically integrated approach to nuclear power and recently achieved the first active SMR outside of a national lab at its Ward 250 reactor in Orangeville in June. Valar has also demonstrated the reactor generating electricity to power an NVIDIA Blackwell system and announced plans with NVIDIA for a waterless 30 MW AI factory. Deep tech on the rise. August's activity reinforces a broader shift in Utah's technology economy, but the sector mix is particularly interesting. The state's innovation story is increasingly moving from software alone to the intersection of software, AI, physical technology, energy and life sciences. AI is showing up as an enabling technology across different industries rather than as a standalone category, while life sciences and advanced technologies are attracting larger pools of capital. Particularly of note is the Valar raise. While this article series strives to capture deals headquartered in Utah, the Valar deal is flowing large amounts of capital into the state, putting us at the cutting edge of energy development and making us a leader in nuclear development. Angela Smith is the COO of the Nucleus Institute, Utah's hub for innovation.

Top cleantech companies in LA. * Inspire * Enervee * Terbine * EV Connect EV Connect provides a cloud-based charging management platform that helps businesses deploy and operate electric vehicle charging stations. The company's Software+ platform, combined with hardware options and support services, enables organizations ranging from charge point operators to utilities and multifamily properties to manage charging programs at scale. Terbine develops STRATA, a mobility infrastructure platform that uses IoT and AI to provide real-time orchestration and synchronization for intelligent machines including electric vehicles, drones and robots. The platform addresses gaps in charging network management and operations, enabling electric vehicle adoption and helping fleet operators and network providers improve vehicle and equipment coordination. CarbonCapture develops direct air capture (DAC) technology that removes carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and prepares it for permanent underground storage or reuse in products such as sustainable fuels and low-carbon materials. Its modular systems, including its container-sized Leo Series units, are designed for large-scale deployment and can be connected to capture significant volumes of CO2. In addition to manufacturing carbon removal technology, CarbonCapture is developing major carbon removal projects, including Project Bison in Wyoming, as part of its mission to help decarbonize the atmosphere. Enervee is an online marketplace platform that helps utility customers compare and purchase energy-efficient appliances, electronics and HVAC systems. Through partnerships with major utilities across North California, New York and the Pacific Northwest, Enervee integrates instant utility rebates and Eco Financing directly at checkout to reduce upfront costs. It also collects purchase and energy-saving data to assist utilities and regulators in tracking market trends and designing energy efficiency incentive programs. EVgo operates one of the nation's largest public fast-charging networks for electric vehicles, with more than 1,200 charging locations across 47 states. The company builds, owns and manages charging infrastructure for drivers, businesses, automakers and fleet operators, helping expand access to convenient EV charging nationwide. Through its mobile app and network of fast chargers, EVgo enables drivers to locate stations, manage charging sessions and keep their vehicles powered on the go. Inspire offers homeowners 100-percent renewable energy plans with a flat monthly rate, sourced from wind, solar and low-impact hydro facilities. The company operates in multiple U.S. states and allows customers to switch to clean energy in minutes without installations or upfront costs, using Renewable Energy Certificates to match electricity consumption with renewable generation. Valar Atomics is a nuclear energy company that developes modular, high-temperature gas reactors designed to provide reliable, carbon-free power for data centers, industrial facilities and hydrogen production. Rather than building one-off nuclear plants, the company aims to manufacture standardized reactors at scale and deploy them across large energy campuses it calls "gigasites." By combining reactor design, construction and operation under one model, Valar Atomics aims to make nuclear energy more affordable and accessible for industries facing growing energy demands.