KVIG Informative

A company won approval to build a solar farm on federal land near Boulder City in 2023. This summer, the same approval got quietly transferred to an 86-acre AI data center instead — without a new environmental review or a single conversation with the city it sits inside.

The Bureau of Land Management approved an 86-acre data center on federal land roughly 10 miles from Lake Mead National Recreation Area in June, using an environmental review originally written for a solar energy project on the same parcel.

Townsite Solar 2, a Texas-based developer, first secured approval in 2023 to build a 19-megawatt solar generating facility and 35-megawatt battery storage system on the 80-acre parcel. In late 2025, the company requested an amended right-of-way grant to build a data center instead, and the BLM granted it on June 26.

Donate

Donate

The BLM justified skipping a new environmental review by issuing a “Determination of NEPA Adequacy,” concluding the data center project was “substantially the same” as the original solar plan based on similarities in acreage, perimeter, construction time, and facility size and shape.

Boulder City Mayor Joe Hardy said the city was never contacted before the decision was made, despite the parcel sitting within Boulder City’s jurisdiction. He said the city learned of the approval only after it had already happened.

The new data center project would draw up to 167 megawatts of power demand and include backup diesel generators — output the city’s attorney, Brittany Walker, said would create financial liabilities for the municipal government, local taxpayers and utility ratepayers without proper compensation or the meaningful consultation federal law requires.

Donate

Donate

The project’s location adds to the scrutiny. It sits roughly 10 miles from Lake Mead, where more than 95% of the Colorado River Basin watershed is currently experiencing drought conditions and reservoir levels remain near historic lows.

Solar projects generate power. Data centers consume it — enough, in this case, to outstrip the electricity use of the entire community sitting next door to it. The BLM decided that distinction didn’t matter enough to ask anyone first.