privatization do not replace this sustained economic value of public trust funds that generate annual revenue, preserve agricultural viability, and support rural economies year after year. As the stable revenue sources diminished, pressure increased to industrialize adjacent private and agricultural lands through conditional use permits.
That pressure has coincided with reduced scrutiny, segmented review, and growing public concern regarding the county land use governance. The result has been a slow degradation of accountable leadership and stewardship, where long-term public benefits are subordinated to short-term approvals, and where land use, once central to DuChesne County's agricultural economy and environmental identity, is increasingly treated as expendable. This context is key as conditional use permits are among the last remaining tools available to ensure development proceeds in a manner consistent with the county's general plan and public obligations.
When those permits are issued without rigorous findings or integrated review, the consequences extend beyond individual projects. They accelerate the loss of public land values, agricultural stability, and stewardship responsibilities entrusted to this commission. The South Mican Bench and broader Nine Mile Anthromican hunting corridor reflects this shift in real time. Where lands that once contributed, contributed to sustained public revenue, supported agriculture, and anchor recreation through public trust management are now bearing the cumulative burdens of privatization and industrial decisions made without the careful stewardship and integrated review the county's own code requires. Under Duchesne County Code Section 813.4, these broader stewardship and fiscal consequences are not abstract policy concerns.
But required considerations in determining whether conditional use as approved and actually operating is material- materially detrimental to public health, safety, welfare, and long-term compatibility of the area. The approvals issued on April 2nd did not create that problem. Rather, they exposed it. The Nine Mile LLC data center and associated projects, including the wastewater facility and the 2 power plants, are not an isolated error or technical oversight. The record shows it is the culmination of a longstanding pattern of failed duties in industrial permitting all across Duchesne County.
For several years, the county has relied on conditional use permits as a default approval mechanism for projects that historically were not appropriate for conditional approval under local zoning principles for land use law. These include oil and gas drilling, production, and compression facilities. Standard produced water disposal and recycling operations, industrial-scale sand and gravel mining spanning hundreds of acres, and heavy-haul industrial corridors cut through agricultural and rural land. That