Trump feds use a solar review to approve the first AI data center on public land

In Boulder City, Nevada, federal land managers approved a 167-megawatt AI data center on public land that had originally been permitted for a solar farm and battery storage system. The Bureau of Land Management made the switch by reusing the environmental review done years earlier for the solar project, rather than conducting a new review or opening the change to public comment. Officials reasoned that a 19-megawatt solar and storage project and a data center consuming up to 167 megawatts (enough to power roughly 75,000 homes) were "substantially the same" because they shared similar acreage and building footprint.

Boulder City's government disagrees and was not consulted before the decision. When the developer tried a similar switch on nearby city-owned land, the city required a full public review, and its planning commission rejected the project. The developer then withdrew that application and secured approval for the adjacent federal site instead. The city council has voted to appeal the BLM's decision and wants the project paused while that appeal is heard, arguing the data center will still lean on local roads, utilities, and emergency services even though it sits on federal land.

This story is about federal land policy rather than something that changes your options at home. But it matters for anyone tracking clean energy and rebate programs, since conservation groups warn this reuse of an old environmental review could become a template for converting other approved solar and storage projects into data centers elsewhere, without fresh review or local input.