When Patrick Donnelly walks in the desert, he sees nature thriving.
The Great Basin Director of the Center for Biological Diversity met with the Mountain West News Bureau in the desert near Boulder City, Nevada, to discuss the federal government's recent approval of a data center, despite opposition from city residents and officials.
"The Mojave Desert is an incredibly biodiverse place, with plants and animals that thrive here that are found nowhere else on Earth," Donnelly said as he walked among the unique flora and fauna of the area.
"The El Dorado Valley here is critical habitat for the desert tortoise, our iconic threatened Mojave Desert reptile, and our iconic Bighorn sheep," he said.
Donnelly and his organization oppose building a data center on the land near the small desert city, about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas.
Townsite Solar 2 plans to build a data center on 80 acres near there. What makes it different from others is that it is planned on public land. And the decision was made without input from the community.
Boulder City's City Hall was packed on July 14, after residents and city leaders found out about the federal government's decision.
Residents and city council members expressed frustration that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the company's data center, adjacent to the city.
"We've become a battleground for 'small versus large,' for this David versus Goliath battle," one resident said during that meeting. "What happens in our community will resonate throughout the country."
Others voiced concern about resources.
"They should be required to provide their own power," another resident said.
"Where is the water supply?" asked a woman who, along with others, is concerned about dwindling water resources in the area.
Boulder City is known as the gateway to Hoover Dam, which is dangerously low and faces the potential of not being able to generate enough hydroelectric power, which would impact all three states in the Colorado River's Lower Basin: Nevada, Arizona and California.
Townsite Solar 2 originally said it was going to build something else: a solar and battery storage facility. That application was with the city and would have been the second such facility built by the company. But the company later amended the application, saying it wanted to build a data center instead. While residents spoke out against a data center in the area, it was a nonstarter anyway because city regulations don't allow for data centers.
A portion of the land purchased in the 1990's from the federal government, called El Dorado Valley, is where the proposed project would be located. And the land is specific. "Our city charter requires that if any of the land there is used, it can only be used for certain uses," like solar and battery storage, among others, explained Lisa LaPlante, Communications Manager for the City of Boulder City. This also includes the Desert Tortoise Conservation Area, where there's a building moratorium.
The city would also be on the hook for some services.
"Although it's BLM land, if there's an emergency, it's our police and fire department that will need to respond. When the building is built, if it's a data center, we are going to be supplying water and taking care of wastewater. These are issues that haven't even been discussed at this point," LaPlante said.
The city and several environmental groups have accused the federal government of violating the National Environmental Policy Act, or "NEPA," and other long-standing regulations like the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which directs how public land is managed and preserves natural resources.
"Existing law says we have to go through environmental review, public participation procedures," said Donnelly, of the Center for Biological Diversity.
But a 2025 Executive Order by President Donald Trump calls for accelerating AI infrastructure and data center development. It hopes to achieve that by "streamlining environmental reviews" and "permitting for data centers."
Donnelly, however, asserts that "no executive order can avoid or shortcut those laws."
BLM, in its decision to allow the data center, said that a new environmental study was not necessary. It considered the company's application to the city for the solar and battery storage facility "similar" to a data center.
The city disagreed.
"The one is generating power — the solar and the battery energy storage — while the other consumes power," said LaPlante. "There needs to be a closer examination of whether or not we're going to just take something that was approved for A and turn it into B. That I don't get from the executive order. There's a difference between streamlining and just running roughshod through."
Townsite Solar declined to be interviewed for this story, but said in a statement that it intends to "be a responsible neighbor and long-term partner" to the city. It also touted plans to "clean and return" Colorado River water to Lake Mead.
The company's full statement is as follows:
"Since developing the 180 MW Townsite Solar 1 project, TS2 has worked to be a responsible neighbor and long-term partner to the City of Boulder City and the people who call it home. That commitment remains central to this project. TS2 wants the project to provide meaningful, measurable benefits for Boulder City residents, local businesses, and the broader community. Our goal is to develop a responsible, sustainable project that Boulder City can be proud of and that can serve as a national model. This includes supporting water-positive outcomes by funding a City recycling effort to clean and return water to Lake Mead, powering the project with our own renewable energy sources, and creating an Energy Fund to help lower electricity costs for everyone. TS2 also wants Boulder City to receive the greatest possible revenue and contribution benefits from the project, regardless of siting on federally-owned or city-owned land."
The developer also created a website titled An Open Letter to the Residents of Boulder City, which addresses issues like water, power, air quality, noise and more.
BLM also declined a request for an interview with the Mountain West News Bureau, but provided documentation on its approval of the data center.
For now, walking along the outskirts of Boulder City, the area remains undeveloped. But the uncertainty of what the future could bring weighs heavily for many.
"Biodiversity gives us clean air to breathe, clean water to drink," Donnelly said, "and we are slowly chipping away at that by developing public lands."
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club have joined the city in an administrative appeal against the federal government in hopes of overturning the decision.
"It's not just about one data center on public lands. It's about the integrity of our public lands, and it's about our own future," said Donnelly.
Because this is an unprecedented case, city leaders aren't sure what will happen or when.
"So, we need to be prepared regardless. We need to be sure that we're ready to go if they deny the appeal tomorrow or if they accept the appeal tomorrow," said LaPlante. "Prepare for the worst and hope for the best."
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy has its own plans for data centers and energy generation. It has identified four federal sites, like the Idaho National Laboratory, for future data center and energy development projects. Others include the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky and Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan recently introduced a bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), to prohibit data centers on federal land.
"AI data centers bring noise, light, air, and water pollution, and can increase energy costs by as much as 267%," Tlaib said in a statement announcing the bill.
Boulder City residents will vote in November on whether the city should amend its zoning codes to allow data centers.
Shortly after BLM announced its approval of the data center near Boulder City, Democratic Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada wrote to Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo requesting that the State halt tax abatements for data center projects on federal land until the 2027 Nevada Legislature had an opportunity to review and discuss the issue.
Titus shared the governor's response on Monday regarding tax abatements:
"The Renewable Tax Abatement (RETA) is clearly defined under NRS 701A, and as the name would suggest, has applicability limited to renewable energy projects meeting certain statutory criteria," Lombardo said in the statement shared by Titus. "Since the RETA in question, which was approved in 2024 by the Governor's Office of Energy, is for a solar generation and storage project on land leased from Boulder City it would not be transferable to a data center regardless of its location on federal land or land leased from Boulder City."
Titus said she asked the governor to respond to four questions, including, "Do you agree that the regulatory approval process for any proposed projects to build data centers on public lands will be transparent and subject to robust public input?"
In Monday's news release, Titus said the governor "doesn't commit to halting abatements. Those abatements would set a precedent for future developments on public land. This is the first and more are planned across the West."
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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