Judge halts data center construction on public land

A federal administrative court has temporarily revoked authorization to build a massive data center near Boulder City, concluding the federal government likely erred when it approved the project construction on public land without a proper environmental analysis. 

The Interior Board of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to approve the construction of the Townsite Data Center on public land using a prior unrelated environmental analysis likely violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Townsite Solar 2 LLC  — the project developer — originally received federal approval in 2023 to build a solar power generation and battery storage facility on the 88.5-acre parcel, but requested an amended right-of-way grant in 2025 to build a data center instead. 

Federal land managers did not study the effects of the data center project in a new environmental analysis, and instead approved the change in July after determining the data center project “is essentially like” the solar plant project and that it would have “similar anticipated impacts.”

The order comes after the Center for Biological Diversity and Boulder City filed an appeal in July against the Townsite data center, which became the first data center approved on BLM land in the United States.

An administrative judge determined there was persuasive evidence that BLM “acted arbitrarily or capriciously when it determined that the data center project is ‘substantially the same’ as the solar plant project for purposes of its NEPA analysis.”

The order prevents the data center project from moving forward while the Interior Board of Appeals considers legal challenges against the proposal. 

“We’re thrilled that this data center has been stopped dead in its tracks,” said Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity in a statement. “The Trump administration is pulling out all the stops to let tech companies build massive data centers on our public lands. This tremendous victory proves communities have the power to fight back and win.”

The federal administrative court found that the appeal was likely to succeed on their claims that the BLM’s analysis of the solar plant project’s environmental effects was insufficient because the projects are not  “substantially the same”.

The temporary pause was granted after the Center for Biological Diversity “demonstrated that permanent and irreparable harm is likely to occur” if construction of the data center continued before the appeal is settled, and that those “harms outweigh the temporary financial harm to Townsite from the delay.”

Boulder City also filed an appeal and petitioned for a temporary pause on the project while their appeal makes its way through the federal process. However, the city’s petition was declared moot given the panel granted the Center for Biological Diversity petition seeking a pause. 

In the order, the Interior Board of Appeals consolidated both appeals filed by Boulder City and the Center for Biological Diversity and expedited the appeals. The panel ordered BLM to respond by Sept. 21.

Construction of the Townsite Data Center could have major implications for public lands throughout the West, and especially in Nevada where about 80% of the land is managed by the federal government.

In July, the Boulder City Council unanimously voted to appeal the BLM approval for a data center on an 80-acre BLM-owned parcel about three miles west of the city’s borders.  

Nevada Rep. Dina Titus, who represents the district where the data center would be located, sent a letter to federal land managers demanding answers about how the agency is reviewing proposals for data centers on public land following the approval of the BLM’s amended plan.

Titus Tuesday applauded the Interior Board of Land Appeals’ decision to halt the development of the Townsite Data Center. 

“The judge ruled for transparency and public accountability in granting a stay based on the BLM’s misuse of an environmental impact statement for a solar farm as justification for a data center. The two are vastly different.” Titus said in a statement. “I’ve said since day one that this was not only improper but illegal.”

Gov. Joe Lombardo, to whom Titus had also written seeking clarification about data centers on Nevada public land, and Townsite Solar 2 LLC did not immediately respond to requests of comment about the order. A spokesperson for the Interior said the department does not comment on litigation matters.