The public lands fight

Data centers on public land: what just happened, and where each fight stands.

33 events on the record across 11 fights, 19 of them federal and 8 at the state level, and 15 sites that sit on land the public owns. The newest: BLM confirms a four million square foot data center and gas plant proposed on 3,200 acres south of Boise, Sep 21, 2026. Headlines land here every fifteen minutes; the timeline is written from primary sources as each step happens.

This page is a record, and the map it belongs to takes no side on data centers. Public land is where we do. It isn’t a county’s to give or an agency’s to sell, it belongs to everyone, and we’re against data centers on it. Off public land our argument is with the deal rather than the building, because these projects move their costs onto people who never got a vote: the ratepayers on the utility, the county downstream of the water, the neighborhood the transmission line crosses. Each fight below says what happened, who decided it, and where it goes next.

The sites on public land

15 sites in the record sit on land the public owns, each placed there by a public document the row links: a BLM decision or right-of-way case, an Energy Department site selection, a state land office action. They carry a pulsing ring on the map. Nothing here is inferred from an overlay.

Off public land but tied to it: Project Jupiter (STACK Infrastructure / BorderPlex Digital Assets), crosses state land (New Mexico State Land Office); Monarch Data Center (Copia Power, Mason Valley), crosses public land (Bureau of Land Management, Sierra Front Field Office).

On BLM’s books without a public location yet, as The Washington Sun, September 18, 2026 read the agency’s right-of-way records: Copia Power in Wyoming, a data center proposal, withdrawn by the applicant in summer 2026; Prometheus Hyperscale in Wyoming, rights-of-way for an access road, a telecommunications line and a water pipeline, under BLM review; Valar Atomics in Utah, a second data center with small nuclear reactors, the Raceway gigasite, proposed, size not stated. Each becomes a row on the map the day BLM’s case record or a notice of intent gives it a location.

Coming up

Oct 5, 2026 Deadline
Boulder City’s response to BLM’s motion is due
The city opposes the remand and said it will lay out its reasoning in a legal response due October 5.
Boulder City, Nevada: the first data center on BLM land · Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Nov 3, 2026 Vote
Boulder City votes on data center zoning
Boulder City residents vote on changes to the city’s zoning rules for data centers, the local half of the Townsite fight.
Boulder City, Nevada: the first data center on BLM land · Source: Wyoming Public Media
Dec 31, 2026 Deadline
BLM plans a notice of intent on the Blacks Creek data center by the end of the year
Field manager Jarod Blades said the office plans to publish a notice of intent in the Federal Register before the end of the year, which opens the project to public comment and starts the environmental review.
Blacks Creek, Idaho: 3,200 acres of BLM land south of Boise · Source: Idaho Statesman
Jul 1, 2027 Deadline
Oregon’s pause on data centers on state land is set to end
The governor’s pause runs through this date unless she issues new direction first.
Oregon’s state land · Source: Oregon Capital Chronicle

Where each fight stands

Sep 21, 2026 Lawsuit
Boulder City, Nevada: the first data center on BLM land
BLM approved an 88.5-acre data center 1.6 miles from Lake Mead on June 26, the first ever on BLM land. The Interior Board of Land Appeals stayed it on September 1, and on September 21 BLM asked the board to set aside its own approval so it can review the application again.
Latest: BLM asks the board to set aside its own approval of the Townsite data center
Next: Boulder City’s response to BLM’s motion is due October 5; the city votes on data center zoning in November.
Sep 18, 2026 Announcement
Interior’s list of public land for data centers
Interior told BLM state directors to name parcels that could take data centers and return their lists within three days. The list is still secret, but The Washington Sun read BLM’s right-of-way records and found at least 12 data center proposals on 17,600 acres across six Western states.
Latest: BLM is weighing at least 12 data center proposals on 17,600 acres across six states
Next: The first notice of intent on any of the 12, which is when a location and a size become public.
Jul 29, 2026 Award
The Energy Department’s federal sites
DOE picked Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Paducah and the Savannah River Site for private AI campuses on federal land, and awarded Paducah on July 29.
Latest: DOE awards Paducah to Brookfield and NextEra: 1.8 GW, 2 GW of new gas, over $100 billion
Next: Developer selections at the three other sites.
Sep 9, 2026 Statement
Mount Hood National Forest and Google’s water
H.R. 655 would hand 150 acres of the Mount Hood National Forest to The Dalles, Oregon, so the city can serve its data centers’ water demand.
Latest: Sen. Wyden comes out against H.R. 655
Next: Senate Energy and Natural Resources holds the bill; Sen. Wyden is against it.
Aug 27, 2026 Ruling
Cave City, Kentucky, beside Mammoth Cave
A developer sued a town of 2,500 twice over a twelve-month moratorium on a 1.2 GW campus 3.5 miles from Mammoth Cave National Park.
Latest: The Cave City data center suits proceed
Next: The suits in Barren Circuit Court; the moratorium runs to May 2027.
Sep 8, 2026 Moratorium
Oregon’s state land
Gov. Kotek killed a state land sale to a Google-funded developer in Salem, then paused every data center request on state land through July 2027.
Latest: Oregon pauses every data center request on state land through July 2027
Next: The pause holds through July 1, 2027, or until the governor issues new direction.
Sep 17, 2026 Statement
New Mexico’s state trust land
The land commissioner refused a data center at Spaceport America while Sierra County’s moratorium stands.
Latest: New Mexico’s Democratic nominee for governor promises a data center pause on her first day
Next: County moratoria across New Mexico; the land commissioner’s office and the governor’s race are both on the November 3 ballot.
Sep 14, 2026 Deadline
Alaska’s state land at Houston, in the Mat-Su
Alaska proposes handing nearly 20,000 acres near Houston to its own development authority, at no cost and with nobody else allowed to bid, for an industrial district that could take data centers.
Latest: The comment period on the Houston transfer closes with more than 2,100 comments
Next: DNR’s final decision, after a comment period that drew more than 2,100 comments; five senators say the conveyance may not meet the public purpose the statute requires.
Sep 21, 2026 Announcement
Blacks Creek, Idaho: 3,200 acres of BLM land south of Boise
Rhea Data, an Arevia Power subsidiary, applied to build a four million square foot data center campus with its own gas plant on about 3,200 acres of BLM land beside Blacks Creek Reservoir, the largest data center proposal on public land yet described in public.
Latest: BLM confirms a four million square foot data center and gas plant proposed on 3,200 acres south of Boise
Next: BLM’s Four Rivers Field Office plans a notice of intent in the Federal Register before the end of the year, which opens public comment.
Sep 17, 2026 Vote
Congress
A bill to ban AI data centers on federal land, a bill to end the right-of-way shortcut BLM used at Boulder City, and a run of siting, transparency and cost bills. One cost bill passed the House 417 to 3 on September 16 and was blocked in the Senate the next day.
Latest: The Senate blocks a fast track for the Ratepayer Protection Act
Next: The Senate on the Ratepayer Protection Act; committee action on the rest.
Jul 23, 2025 Order
The White House order
Executive Order 14318 told every federal agency to put federal land to work for data centers. Every federal approval since cites it.
Latest: The White House orders federal land opened to data centers

Latest headlines

read 5 minutes ago · 40 headlines from 33 outlets in the last ninety days · the outlet’s words, never ours

Every headline is the outlet’s own, credited and linked. A headline is not an event: five outlets wrote “judge halts data center” over two weeks about one stay. The timeline below says it once, on the day, with the order.

The timeline

September 2026
1. Sep 21, 2026 Announcement
  BLM confirms a four million square foot data center and gas plant proposed on 3,200 acres south of Boise
  Rhea Data, a subsidiary of Arevia Power of Las Vegas, applied for a multi-building campus near Blacks Creek Reservoir on Kuna-Mora Road, with a natural gas plant, a tie into Idaho Power and rights-of-way reaching into Elmore County. BLM’s Four Rivers Field Office first got the application in August 2025 and puts the footprint at 3,750 acres, a 3,200-acre campus plus 550 acres of transmission. It’s about 5.5 times the size of Meta’s Kuna data center a short drive west. BLM is still asking about water demand and cooling and is holding back the power figure while the design takes shape. The Sierra Club’s Idaho chapter called it unacceptable.
  It’s the largest data center on public land yet described in public, it comes with its own gas plant, and the reservoir beside it is a bird reserve that Audubon volunteers spent six years cleaning up.
  BLM Four Rivers Field Office · Blacks Creek, Idaho: 3,200 acres of BLM land south of Boise · Idaho · Rhea Data Blacks Creek Campus (BLM Four Rivers) · Source: Idaho Statesman
2. Sep 21, 2026 Lawsuit
  BLM asks the board to set aside its own approval of the Townsite data center
  In a filing Monday, BLM attorney Kathryn Brinton asked the Interior Board of Land Appeals to set aside the agency’s decision approving the right-of-way amendment so it can conduct additional review of the application. The developer, Townsite Solar 2, supports the motion. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club took no position. Boulder City opposes it, because a remand would lift the stay without committing BLM to an environmental assessment, public involvement or a cooperating-agency role for the city.
  Three weeks after the board found the challengers likely to win, the agency is asking to take back the first data center approval on BLM land rather than defend it. Whatever comes next at Townsite goes through the review the first approval skipped.
  Interior Board of Land Appeals · Boulder City, Nevada: the first data center on BLM land · Nevada · Lake Mead National Recreation Area · Townsite Solar 2 AI Data Center (Boulder City) · Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal
3. Sep 18, 2026 Announcement
  BLM is weighing at least 12 data center proposals on 17,600 acres across six states
  The Washington Sun read BLM’s right-of-way records and found at least a dozen data center and data center infrastructure proposals on public land in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming, most never reported and several unknown to the local officials the paper called. Four are in Arizona, at least three in Nevada, one each in Idaho and Oregon, and Prometheus Hyperscale wants an access road, a telecom line and a water pipeline in Wyoming. Valar Atomics’ 10,200-acre nuclear-and-data-center site near Green River, Utah was the largest until the company told the Sun after publication that it had dropped it. BLM said each proposal gets a NEPA review with public comment.
  Interior’s own parcel list is still secret. This is the first count of what’s in the pipeline, and it’s the count the next approvals will be measured against.
  The Washington Sun · Interior’s list of public land for data centers · Source: The Washington Sun
4. Sep 17, 2026 Statement
  New Mexico’s Democratic nominee for governor promises a data center pause on her first day
  Deb Haaland, the former Interior secretary, said she would sign an executive order on taking office halting every new large-scale data center proposal while the Legislature writes rules for them. She named the rules she wants: no non-disclosure agreements, developers building their own renewable power, closed-loop cooling, and decommissioning bonds like the ones the state puts on oil and gas.
  The land commissioner has already refused two data centers on state trust land. A governor elected on a pause would put the state’s other lever, permits and incentives, behind the same answer. Both offices are on the November 3 ballot.
  New Mexico governor’s race · New Mexico’s state trust land · New Mexico · Source: Source New Mexico
5. Sep 17, 2026 Vote
  The Senate blocks a fast track for the Ratepayer Protection Act
  Sen. Jon Husted asked to pass the House bill by unanimous consent the day after the House vote. Sen. Martin Heinrich objected, saying a bill that only tells states to consider a standard has no teeth, then asked consent for his own GRID Savings Act, which would require large loads to pay for their grid connections. Sen. Bernie Moreno objected to that.
  The bill now waits on committee time in the Senate, where the Mount Hood bill has sat since December.
  U.S. Senate · Congress · Source: LiveNOW from FOX
6. Sep 16, 2026 Bill
  Rep. Titus files a bill to end the right-of-way shortcut BLM used at Boulder City
  H.R. 10465, the Public Lands Accountability Act, would bar an agency from amending an existing BLM right-of-way to allow a data center without its own environmental review, take data centers out of the categorical exclusions that skip a full review, require BLM to weigh a project’s effect on the regional water supply, and ask developers for a workforce plan with local jobs and wages. It went to the Natural Resources and Agriculture committees.
  The Townsite approval rested on a solar right-of-way amended into a data center. This is the first bill written to close that door, and the Center for Biological Diversity opposes it for stopping short of a ban.
  U.S. House · Congress · Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal
7. Sep 16, 2026 Vote
  The House passes the Ratepayer Protection Act 417 to 3
  H.R. 9340, from Reps. Gabe Evans and Kathy Castor, passed under suspension of the rules on roll call 312. It would have state utility regulators consider a standard under which customers drawing 100 MW or more pay the full cost of the generation and transmission built to serve them, with financial assurances if a project is canceled or moved. It doesn’t require any state to adopt the standard.
  Every Republican present and all but three Democrats voted for it. Who pays for the buildout is the one data center question Congress has now voted on.
  U.S. House · Congress · Source: Clerk of the U.S. House, roll call 312
8. Sep 14, 2026 Deadline
  The comment period on the Houston transfer closes with more than 2,100 comments
  Public comment on the preliminary decision ended September 14. The proposal drew over 2,100 comments. A final decision from the Department of Natural Resources comes next.
  Alaska ran the public process that the federal path at Townsite skipped, and it produced 2,100 comments on a transfer of land nobody had yet proposed to build on.
  Alaska Department of Natural Resources · Alaska’s state land at Houston, in the Mat-Su · Alaska · Source: Alaska Beacon
9. Sep 13, 2026 Memo
  Interior orders BLM state directors to list public land for data centers, with three days to answer
  The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Interior leadership told BLM’s state directors to identify tracts of public land that could take data centers and return their lists within three days, as a top priority. No list has been made public.
  The Townsite template, a right-of-way turned into a data center, is what a parcel list would repeat across the West.
  Department of the Interior · Interior’s list of public land for data centers · Source: The Salt Lake Tribune
10. Sep 9, 2026 Statement
  Sen. Wyden comes out against H.R. 655
  Senator Ron Wyden said the bill is a fast track to selling off public lands and that Congress should not be in the business of helping sell off Oregon’s natural treasures.
  Without Oregon’s senators the transfer is stalled in the Senate.
  U.S. Senate · Mount Hood National Forest and Google’s water · Oregon · Mount Hood National Forest · Source: Columbia Riverkeeper
11. Sep 9, 2026 Statement
  Five Alaska senators question whether the Houston land transfer is legal
  Five members of the Senate Resources Committee, Cathy Giessel, Bill Wielechowski, Forrest Dunbar, Matt Claman and Scott Kawasaki, signed letters to the Department of Natural Resources during the comment period. They cite a Legislative Affairs Agency analysis questioning whether the conveyance meets the statutory requirement that state land serve a sufficient public purpose, and say they are not satisfied that the department reviewed the proposed projects or their environmental effects.
  The objection is to the giveaway itself rather than to any one data center, which is the argument that reaches the land before a developer does.
  Alaska Senate Resources Committee · Alaska’s state land at Houston, in the Mat-Su · Alaska · Source: Alaska Beacon
12. Sep 8, 2026 Moratorium
  Oregon pauses every data center request on state land through July 2027
  Gov. Kotek’s office announced an immediate pause on unapproved requests for easements, rights-of-way, leases, rentals, land-use permits and sales or transfers of state-owned property for data center projects, through July 1, 2027, or until new direction.
  The broadest public-land moratorium on data centers by any government so far.
  Governor of Oregon · Oregon’s state land · Oregon · Source: Oregon Capital Chronicle
13. Sep 3, 2026 Statement
  New Mexico’s land commissioner refuses a data center at Spaceport America
  Commissioner Garcia Richard said she will not approve the Green Data and Aetherion data center at Spaceport America, on state trust land, while Sierra County’s moratorium remains in effect.
  A state landowner deferring to a county moratorium is the reverse of the federal pattern.
  New Mexico State Land Office · New Mexico’s state trust land · New Mexico · Source: Source New Mexico
14. Sep 1, 2026 Stay
  The Interior Board of Land Appeals stays the Townsite approval
  Administrative Judge David Gunter stayed BLM’s authorization, finding the appellants likely to prevail on their NEPA claim and that the public interest in fast data center development does not outweigh the review the law requires. Construction is halted while the board hears the appeal.
  The first data center on public land is stopped, for now, by the process it skipped.
  Interior Board of Land Appeals · Boulder City, Nevada: the first data center on BLM land · Nevada · Lake Mead National Recreation Area · Townsite Solar 2 AI Data Center (Boulder City) · Source: Nevada Current
August 2026
1. Aug 27, 2026 Ruling
  The Cave City data center suits proceed
  The court let the suits over the moratorium and the annexation go forward.
  Barren Circuit Court · Cave City, Kentucky, beside Mammoth Cave · Kentucky · Mammoth Cave National Park · Cave Point Commerce Center · Source: Bowling Green Daily News
July 2026
1. Jul 30, 2026 Order
  Gov. Kotek kills a state land sale to a Google-funded data center developer in Salem
  Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek directed the Department of Administrative Services to terminate a pending contract to sell 32 acres of state-owned land at the Mill Creek Corporate Center to Verrus, a California company funded by Google, for a 75-acre data center.
  The first governor to block a data center on state land outright.
  Governor of Oregon · Oregon’s state land · Oregon · Source: Salem Reporter
2. Jul 29, 2026 Award
  DOE awards Paducah to Brookfield and NextEra: 1.8 GW, 2 GW of new gas, over $100 billion
  Brookfield will develop and operate a 1.8 gigawatt AI and high-performance computing campus on the former uranium enrichment site in western Kentucky; NextEra Energy will build 2 gigawatts of gas generation and up to 2.6 gigawatts of storage. Construction is expected through 2031.
  The first federal site to get a developer, and the largest single announcement in the fight so far.
  Department of Energy · The Energy Department’s federal sites · Kentucky · DOE Paducah AI Infrastructure Site · Source: U.S. Department of Energy
3. Jul 27, 2026 Lawsuit
  Conservation groups and Boulder City residents appeal the Townsite approval
  The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter filed an administrative appeal at the Interior Board of Land Appeals, arguing BLM approved the data center without the site-specific environmental review the National Environmental Policy Act requires and without public comment.
  The appeal is the first legal test of a data center on public land.
  Interior Board of Land Appeals · Boulder City, Nevada: the first data center on BLM land · Nevada · Lake Mead National Recreation Area · Townsite Solar 2 AI Data Center (Boulder City) · Source: Center for Biological Diversity
4. Jul 23, 2026 Bill
  Rep. Tlaib introduces the No AI Data Centers on Federal Lands Act
  H.R. 9939 would permanently bar large AI data centers and their infrastructure on federally owned or managed land, including military bases, and require existing ones removed and their sites remediated. Five cosponsors; referred to the House Natural Resources Committee.
  The first bill to answer the executive order directly.
  U.S. House · Congress · Source: Congress.gov
5. Jul 22, 2026 Moratorium
  Sierra County, New Mexico adopts a data center moratorium as residents protest the Spaceport proposal
  The county commission approved a moratorium on data centers while residents opposed a proposed campus at Spaceport America, which sits on leased state trust land.
  One of several New Mexico counties to freeze data centers this year.
  Sierra County · New Mexico’s state trust land · New Mexico · Source: Source New Mexico
6. Jul 16, 2026 Order
  New Mexico’s land commissioner blocks a Project Jupiter pipeline from state trust land
  Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard refused a pipeline tied to the Project Jupiter data center from crossing state trust land.
  State trust land is a lever a single elected official can pull.
  New Mexico State Land Office · New Mexico’s state trust land · New Mexico · Source: Source New Mexico
7. Jul 16, 2026 Announcement
  Alaska moves to hand 20,000 acres near Houston to its own development authority
  The Department of Natural Resources issued a preliminary decision in July to convey nearly 20,000 acres of state land, about 30 square miles near Houston in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. The transfer is non-competitive and costs AIDEA nothing. The stated purpose is a multi-use industrial and energy development district, and data centers are one of the uses named for it.
  A state agency conveying public land to a state authority at no cost, with nobody else allowed to bid, is the cleanest version of the pattern this page tracks: the land moves before any project is named, so the project never faces the land decision.
  Alaska Department of Natural Resources · Alaska’s state land at Houston, in the Mat-Su · Alaska · Source: Alaska Beacon
8. Jul 15, 2026 Hearing
  Senate subcommittee holds a hearing on H.R. 655
  The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining held a hearing on the bill.
  The bill was moving in the Senate until Oregon’s senior senator came out against it.
  U.S. Senate · Mount Hood National Forest and Google’s water · Oregon · Mount Hood National Forest · Source: Congress.gov
9. Jul 7, 2026 Lawsuit
  A second suit seeks to void the annexation tied to the Cave City data center
  A second lawsuit asked the court to void the city annexation connected to the proposed campus, as Cave City moved to dismiss the developer’s first suit.
  Barren Circuit Court · Cave City, Kentucky, beside Mammoth Cave · Kentucky · Mammoth Cave National Park · Cave Point Commerce Center · Source: WCLU Radio
June 2026
1. Jun 26, 2026 Approval
  BLM approves the first data center on BLM land, 88.5 acres in Boulder City, Nevada
  The Bureau of Land Management approved construction of the Townsite Data Center on 88.5 acres of public land in Eldorado Valley, next to the Townsite Solar project, citing Executive Order 14318. The developer had pulled the same project from Boulder City’s own land process after residents objected.
  The first data center ever approved on BLM land, cleared without a new environmental review by treating it as a change to a solar right-of-way.
  Bureau of Land Management · Boulder City, Nevada: the first data center on BLM land · Nevada · Lake Mead National Recreation Area · Townsite Solar 2 AI Data Center (Boulder City) · Source: Bureau of Land Management
2. Jun 8, 2026 Lawsuit
  Kentucky Industrial Alliance sues Cave City over the moratorium
  The developer sued the city, its council and the Barren County joint planning commission in Barren Circuit Court, asking a judge to declare the moratorium unlawful and to have its application reviewed under the rules in place on May 11, the day it filed.
  The moratorium is the tool that is working against data centers, and it is now the tool being litigated.
  Barren Circuit Court · Cave City, Kentucky, beside Mammoth Cave · Kentucky · Mammoth Cave National Park · Cave Point Commerce Center · Source: WBKO
3. Jun 3, 2026 Announcement
  BLM tells Umatilla County it holds a data center application on public land outside Hermiston
  At the county board's June 3 meeting, BLM Baker Field Manager Sarah Sherman briefed the commissioners on current projects and said the bureau had received an application for a proposed data center outside Hermiston. The minutes name no applicant, acreage or capacity. The Washington Sun's September read of BLM right-of-way records lists one Oregon data center application, by Copia Power.
  This is the Oregon application in the queue that Sen. Wyden's office is writing to Interior about, on the county record three months before any newspaper had it. The site would sit in the Hermiston cluster, about seven miles from Cold Springs National Wildlife Refuge.
  Umatilla County Board of Commissioners · Interior’s list of public land for data centers · Oregon · Undisclosed BLM Data Center Project (Hermiston) · Source: Umatilla County Board of Commissioners, minutes of June 3, 2026
May 2026
1. May 20, 2026 Moratorium
  Cave City, Kentucky freezes data centers for twelve months, nine days after a 1.2 GW campus was filed
  After two special meetings on May 18 and May 20 the Cave City council adopted a twelve-month moratorium on data centers. Kentucky Industrial Alliance had filed plans on May 11 for a campus of about 380 acres on Doyle Avenue, north of downtown and a few miles from Mammoth Cave National Park.
  A town of 2,500 beside a national park used the one tool a town has, and the developer went to court over it within three weeks.
  Cave City council · Cave City, Kentucky, beside Mammoth Cave · Kentucky · Mammoth Cave National Park · Cave Point Commerce Center · Source: WBKO
December 2025
1. Dec 9, 2025 Vote
  The House passes H.R. 655
  After forty minutes of debate the House passed the Dalles Watershed Development Act and sent it to the Senate.
  A public-land transfer for data center water cleared one chamber with little notice.
  U.S. House · Mount Hood National Forest and Google’s water · Oregon · Mount Hood National Forest · Google The Dalles Campus C3 · Source: Congress.gov
July 2025
1. Jul 24, 2025 Announcement
  DOE picks four sites: Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Paducah, Savannah River
  Of the 16 sites, Secretary Wright selected four for private developers to build and power AI data centers, and DOE followed with solicitations at each through the fall of 2025.
  Four Cold War reservations with their own transmission became the federal government’s data center inventory, with no county vote and no zoning hearing.
  Department of Energy · The Energy Department’s federal sites · Savannah River Site IT · Source: U.S. Department of Energy
2. Jul 23, 2025 Order
  The White House orders federal land opened to data centers
  Executive Order 14318, Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure, directs federal agencies to make federally owned land and resources available for data center development and to speed the permits. Every federal approval since cites it.
  This is the order behind the BLM approval in Nevada, the DOE site awards and Interior’s parcel list. The fight over data centers on public land starts here.
  White House · The White House order · Source: The White House
April 2025
1. Apr 3, 2025 Solicitation
  DOE names 16 federal sites for AI data centers
  The Energy Department issued a request for information on building AI data centers and the power to run them at 16 of its sites, with a target of operations by the end of 2027.
  The first federal offer of land for the buildout, months before the executive order.
  Department of Energy · The Energy Department’s federal sites · Source: U.S. Department of Energy
January 2025
1. Jan 23, 2025 Bill
  H.R. 655 would hand 150 acres of Mount Hood National Forest to The Dalles
  Rep. Cliff Bentz introduced the Dalles Watershed Development Act, directing the Forest Service to convey about 150 acres of the Mount Hood National Forest to the City of The Dalles, Oregon, at no cost, for the city’s water system. The water demand is the city’s data centers, led by Google’s campus.
  The first bill to move national forest land for a data center was about the water, not the building.
  U.S. House · Mount Hood National Forest and Google’s water · Oregon · Mount Hood National Forest · Google The Dalles Campus C3 · Source: Congress.gov

In Congress

read 0 minutes ago from Congress.gov · every bill naming a data center, plus H.R. 655 and H.R. 9939 by number

In the Federal Register

read 9 hours ago · notices from Interior, BLM, the Forest Service, the Park Service, Fish and Wildlife or DOE that name a data center, last twelve months

None. No notice from those agencies has named a data center in the last twelve months. That is the point: the Townsite approval went through without one, which is what the appeal is about.

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The headlines are read from the outlets every fifteen minutes and shown as written. The timeline is ours: one entry per event, dated to the day it happened, with the primary document where one exists (the BLM decision, the appeals board order, the governor’s directive, the bill) and the outlet that reported it where one doesn’t. Bills come from Congress.gov daily. Federal Register notices come from the Register daily. If we have missed an event or got one wrong, write to ask@morethanjustparks.com with the source.

Story leads for reporters

Data centers on public land: what just happened, and where each fight stands.

The sites on public land

Coming up

Boulder City’s response to BLM’s motion is due

Boulder City votes on data center zoning

BLM plans a notice of intent on the Blacks Creek data center by the end of the year

Oregon’s pause on data centers on state land is set to end

Where each fight stands

Boulder City, Nevada: the first data center on BLM land

Interior’s list of public land for data centers

The Energy Department’s federal sites

Mount Hood National Forest and Google’s water

Cave City, Kentucky, beside Mammoth Cave

Oregon’s state land

New Mexico’s state trust land

Alaska’s state land at Houston, in the Mat-Su

Blacks Creek, Idaho: 3,200 acres of BLM land south of Boise

Congress

The White House order

Latest headlines

The timeline

BLM confirms a four million square foot data center and gas plant proposed on 3,200 acres south of Boise

BLM asks the board to set aside its own approval of the Townsite data center

BLM is weighing at least 12 data center proposals on 17,600 acres across six states

New Mexico’s Democratic nominee for governor promises a data center pause on her first day

The Senate blocks a fast track for the Ratepayer Protection Act

Rep. Titus files a bill to end the right-of-way shortcut BLM used at Boulder City

The House passes the Ratepayer Protection Act 417 to 3

The comment period on the Houston transfer closes with more than 2,100 comments

Interior orders BLM state directors to list public land for data centers, with three days to answer

Sen. Wyden comes out against H.R. 655

Five Alaska senators question whether the Houston land transfer is legal

Oregon pauses every data center request on state land through July 2027

New Mexico’s land commissioner refuses a data center at Spaceport America

The Interior Board of Land Appeals stays the Townsite approval

The Cave City data center suits proceed

Gov. Kotek kills a state land sale to a Google-funded data center developer in Salem

DOE awards Paducah to Brookfield and NextEra: 1.8 GW, 2 GW of new gas, over $100 billion

Conservation groups and Boulder City residents appeal the Townsite approval

Rep. Tlaib introduces the No AI Data Centers on Federal Lands Act

Sierra County, New Mexico adopts a data center moratorium as residents protest the Spaceport proposal

New Mexico’s land commissioner blocks a Project Jupiter pipeline from state trust land

Alaska moves to hand 20,000 acres near Houston to its own development authority

Senate subcommittee holds a hearing on H.R. 655

A second suit seeks to void the annexation tied to the Cave City data center

BLM approves the first data center on BLM land, 88.5 acres in Boulder City, Nevada

Kentucky Industrial Alliance sues Cave City over the moratorium

BLM tells Umatilla County it holds a data center application on public land outside Hermiston

Cave City, Kentucky freezes data centers for twelve months, nine days after a 1.2 GW campus was filed

The House passes H.R. 655

DOE picks four sites: Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Paducah, Savannah River

The White House orders federal land opened to data centers

DOE names 16 federal sites for AI data centers

H.R. 655 would hand 150 acres of Mount Hood National Forest to The Dalles