A struggle over which public entity should have a determining say in the construction of a new large data center is playing out in southeastern Nevada, less than 10 miles from the Arizona border.
In the last week of June, the Bureau of Land Management gave its approval to a data center construction project planned to be built on an 81-acre site roughly three miles to the southwest of a Boulder City, Nevada neighborhood.
The site in question is under the purview of the BLM, which had earlier given its stamp of approval to the building there of a solar power and battery storage facility project.
That project was proposed by the Houston-based company Townsite Solar 2 LLC, which subsequently requested an amended right-of-way grant to pursue a data center facility. The BLM went along with the request, contending that the right-of-way grant will result in a facility not that much different from the original solar power project.
Then the Boulder City Council stepped in.
In a unanimous vote on July 14, the council officially declared its intention to appeal the BLM-approved project, which will also include an electrical substation, biodiesel emergency backup generators, and a battery storage system.
In council discussions, Boulder City Attorney Brittany Walker said the BLM had always previously given the city the right to review or have input on any such project that would result in a brand new use.
“The BLM,” said Walker in published remarks, “essentially, sweepingly approved a new land use without following processes in federal law, which include a meaningful engagement process with the City of Boulder City.”
The conflict has been animated by an executive order signed last year by President Trump designed to hasten construction of data centers on federal land.
The outcome of the battle between Boulder City and the BLM, contends the publication E&E News, could “set a precedent for future fights between localities and Washington over the use of federal lands.”
The publication adds that the Boulder City project is thought to be the “first data center approved on BLM land, but it likely won’t be the last.”
July 23, 2026
By Garry Boulard
