Treelines

A firm that secured approval to build a solar installation on federal land in Nevada now plans to instead construct a data center on the site.

Local government officials and conservation groups are contesting the change, arguing that it was fast-tracked to avoid public input.

Boulder City, a 15,000-person down southeast of Las Vegas, recently said that it would appeal the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of a data center on an 80-acre parcel of Mojave Desert land that is within the city’s jurisdiction. City officials contend that the agency violated federal law by approving the project without consulting the city and providing opportunities for public input.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter said this week that they also filed an appeal in hopes of halting construction of the data center, which would remove habitat for threatened desert tortoises and draw from the already thin supplies of water remaining in the Colorado River Basin. They contend that the BLM is illegally allowing the data center project under environmental analysis that was performed for a dissimilar project, failing to consult with the US Fish and Wildlife Service on potential effects to endangered species, and sidestepping requirements for public review and comment on the new plan.

US Rep. Dina Titus, whose district includes Boulder City, said last week in a letter to Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo that she was concerned that the BLM approval of the data center plan without community input or adequate environmental analysis. The state should halt all tax abatements for data center projects on federal land pending a review by the legislature, she said.

In 2022, Skylar Energy Resources inked a deal with the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for a 30-year right-of-way to install a 19-megawatt solar photovoltaic array and a battery-based energy storage system with a capacity of up to 35 megawatts. In a project plan published on the BLM’s website, the company said that Nevada is requiring that utilities phase out the use of coal-fired power plants and increase the supply of renewable energy, and the project would help the region to meet its energy needs while meeting goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The company also described efforts that it would take to minimize the effects of the project on tortoises, migratory birds, and any cultural resources that could be found at the site as well as reclaim the area with native plants and prevent noxious weeds from becoming established.

However, Boulder City said this month that the company, through its Townsite Solar 2 subsidiary, had submitted in January 2026 an application to instead build on the site two warehouse-type data center buildings along with an electrical substation and battery storage.

The municipality noted that other landowners near Boulder City have signaled intent to build data centers. Data centers on leased land would provide about $2.6 million in revenue for the city in its first year and $1.5 million in subsequent years, compared to $611,000 in revenue from the approved solar and battery project, and provide between 25 and 40 permanent jobs. However, the city noted that it has not yet fully evaluated their effects.

“Since data centers are being proposed on vacant lands owned by the federal government (BLM) both inside and outside the boundaries of Boulder City as well as on privately owned lands located in other nearby cities, it is likely that one or more data centers will be built in our area,” it said.

On Tuesday, the environmental groups said in a filing with the US Department of the Interior’s Office of Hearings and Appeals that the project would disrupt, fragment, and remove segments of an already shrinking habitat in a region with immense biodiversity.

“These impacts on the land do not cease at the end of the life of the project,” the organizations said. “Instead, the legacy of altered soil, vegetation, and hydrology continues for decades to centuries.”

The groups noted that an environmental assessment for the previously planned solar array project showed that construction would occur within the habitat of the endangered Mojave Desert tortoise and the area is home to other endangered and threatened bird populations as well as monarch butterflies, populations of which have fallen sharply. However, the BLM determined that the project was unlikely to have a significant impact on the natural environment.

In November 2025, though, Skylar submitted an updated development plan that replaced the solar project with a data center with computer servers, data storage, and network equipment on the same site, the administrative filing states. It includes a parking lot, a 70-megawatt battery storage system, an electrical substation, and biodiesel or natural gas backup generators.

The right-of-way expires in 27.5 years, but the development plan includes an estimate that the data center will remain in operation for at least 50 years.

One year ago, President Trump signed an executive order for his administration to support the use of federal lands for data center projects, and that support includes finding ways to reduce environmental review requirements.