A panel this week placed a temporary halt on a controversial data center planned for public land in Nevada. The project, by Townsite Solar, was approved by the Bureau of Land Management – and seen as a test case for such projects on public lands.
Officials in neighboring Boulder City, along with environmental groups, said in a complaint to the Department of the Interior that the BLM granted approval for the data center without conducting proper environmental studies and public input. The Interior Board of Land Appeals issued a "stay" that halts construction as the appeals process plays out.
"It's sort of become an emblem of this new frontier in the fight against data centers," said Patrick Donnelly with The Center for Biological Diversity, anon-profit that is one of the environmental groups in the process.
Donnelly says the language in the stay already points to concerns about environmental impacts.
"They agreed that noise is a potential harm from data centers," Donnelly said "They agreed that air pollution is a potential harm from data centers."
Judge David Gunter with the land appeals board wrote that the appellants would "likely prevail" in their effort to require BLM to provide new environmental studies and public input before the project can go forward.
The judge also stated that since the appellants are likely to win that "the public interest in the timely development of data center infrastructure does not outweigh the benefits of a thorough and open consideration of the potential environmental effects of that development, as (the National Environmental Policy Act) requires."
"This issue of data centers on public lands is really coming to the fore right here in Nevada," Donnelly added. "So, that is going to set a huge precedent for how public lands are treated in this state."
Boulder City officials allege that the 80-acre federally-owned parcel would tap into local utilities and emergency response services, but were not consulted by the BLM regarding the use of those services.
Townsite Solar 2, owned by Skylar Capital Management, a hedge fund company based in Houston, had applied to create a solar project. When it changed plans, and sought to create a data center instead, city officials opposed it.
The panel found that the BLM did not conduct new environmental assessments when the company changed the plan to a data center.
The stay is in place until both sides present legal briefs.
Meanwhile, local residents will vote on a measure in November to determine if the city should change its zoning regulations.
The region is known for endangered Mojave tortoises and the state protected desert big horn sheep.
Rep. Dina Titus, a Democrat who represents the area, issued a statement following the stay: "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."
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
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