Ford, Lombardo avoid taking sides on state tax breaks for data centers on federal land 

Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and his Democratic challenger for the state’s top spot, Attorney General Aaron Ford, won’t say whether Nevada taxpayers should subsidize a proposed data center approved on federal land just outside Boulder City. 

Ford stopped short Monday of endorsing fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. Dina Titus’  request last week that Lombardo halt tax abatements to data centers on federal land until the Legislature can weigh in. 

“Given the budgetary shortfalls facing our state and local governments in Nevada, this raises questions about why the State tax abatements should be incentivizing the development of data centers on public lands,” Titus wrote to Lombardo.

Ford has previously declined to say whether he still supports data center tax breaks he helped pass as a sponsor of legislation in 2015.

“It’s irresponsible for anyone to make immediate decisions when I haven’t looked at all of the details and facts,” he said in June after winning the Democratic primary election. His campaign did not respond when asked why voters shouldn’t be aware of Ford’s position before they cast their ballots. 

Titus calls on Lombardo to freeze data center tax abatements

“We certainly need to reevaluate the abatements,” Ford said Monday, adding he commends Titus “for standing up and speaking out on this issue and calling Lombardo out for kowtowing to these companies.” But he wouldn’t say if tax breaks should be extended to projects on federal land. 

“I will continue to look at this,” Ford said, adding he’s going on tour throughout the state next week and intends to “iterate on my plan.” 

Lombardo, a strong and vocal backer of the data center industry in Nevada, did not respond to the Current’s inquiries, and has not responded to Titus, her spokesman Dick Cooper said Monday. 

The federal regulatory approval process, Titus noted in the letter, “will have immense consequences for the future of data center development across the Silver State, which is approximately 88 percent public land, and potentially across the country.”

The Boulder City Council voted unanimously earlier this month to appeal BLM approval of the data center, which was originally proposed on city-owned land. 

On Monday, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter filed an administrative appeal of the federal government’s approval of the Townsite Data Center.

“It’s an outrage that the Trump administration is giving away our public lands to hedge funds for data centers,” Patrick Donnelly, the Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release. “Public lands are for wildlife and clean water, for recreation and spiritual renewal. They’re not meant for big tech companies to spew air pollution and suck down water for AI and the surveillance state.”

The lawsuit alleges the BLM sidestepped regulatory approval rules. 

“The data center would be built on desert tortoise habitat in Eldorado Valley, southeast of Las Vegas,” says the news release. “Water for the project would be sourced from within the parched Colorado River Basin. It is within the city limits of the small town of Boulder City, which is also filing an appeal.” 

The countdown’s on…

With fewer than 100 days until the November election, Lombardo and Ford are likely eager to break out in a race that is up for grabs, according to pollsters. With prices on groceries, gas, and housing up, and tourism down, affordability is likely to play a pivotal role in Nevada’s gubernatorial race, billed by experts as the Democrats’ best chance of turning a governor’s seat. 

Ford, at a news conference Monday, vowed to “stop Joe Lombardo’s price hike” – a reference to NV Energy’s peak demand charge, which was approved last year by Lombardo’s appointees to the Nevada Public Utilities Commission and is scheduled to take effect Jan 1. The demand charge is projected by NV Energy to add roughly $12 a month to the average rooftop solar customer’s bill. Ford said Monday it will add “hundreds of dollars” to electric bills. 

By comparison, data centers consume electricity and water, which is already in scarce supply in Southern Nevada, at alarming rates, have more than doubled electric bills in some places, and are also unpopular with voters.

In fiscal years 2023 and 2024, the most recent for which details are available, property tax breaks provided to data centers totaled $13.3 million, and sales and use tax breaks totaled $225.6 million, according to the Nevada Department of Taxation.