BLM asks judge to undo Boulder City data center approval

The Bureau of Land Management has asked a judge to set aside its unprecedented approval of a data center near Boulder City and allow the agency to reconsider the application.

Weeks ago, that same judge halted the project’s construction in response to an appeal.

In a filing Monday, BLM attorney Kathryn Brinton asked that the federal agency’s “decision to approve the right-of-way amendment be set aside to allow the agency to conduct additional review of the application.” The agency did not reply to a request for comment.

The controversial data center would be the first approved on BLM land. The BLM, in a first-of-its-kind maneuver, amended the existing right-of-way from a solar project and relied on the solar project’s prior environmental review without completing a new analysis.

The news comes after Interior Board of Land Appeals Administrative Judge David Gunter granted a stay that prevented construction while consolidated appeals from Boulder City and environmental groups were processed.

“The two projects are fundamentally dissimilar in ways that affect the environment and require meaningful analysis under NEPA (the National Environmental Policy Act), yet BLM concluded that they are essentially alike,” Gunter wrote early this month in his ruling.

Mixed reaction from appellants

Monday’s filing notes that the developer, Townsite Solar 2 LLC, is in favor of the motion while the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club have a neutral opinion.

In a statement, the developer said it has no objection to further environmental review and that the company will work with the BLM and all involved to be a “responsible neighbor.”

A spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity said the group is opposed to the data center but did not want to protest the agency’s rollback of what it sees as an unlawful approval.

Boulder City is opposed to the motion, according to the filing.

In a statement, Boulder City spokeswoman Lisa LaPlante said officials plan to lay out their reasoning in a legal response due Oct. 5.

“Nothing in the BLM’s motion to remand commits the BLM to conduct an environmental assessment, involve the public, or designate the city as a cooperating agency, and its approval would lift the stay that is currently in place,” LaPlante said.

Boulder City’s appeal stems, in part, from the fact that Townsite Solar 2 had previously sought a lease on city-owned land that officials said could bring $2.3 million in annual revenue to the city.

The Planning Commission said the city council should reject the data center in a near-unanimous vote.

Last week, Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., introduced a bill to prevent BLM right-of-way changes for data centers without a separate environmental review. Boulder City’s situation served as the starting point for the bill, said Titus, whose district includes Boulder City.

The proposed legislation would seek to prevent data centers from benefiting from shorter timelines through what’s known as a categorical exclusion.

Neither industry proponents nor opponents expressed a favorable opinion about the bill.

The Center for Biological Diversity said the bill does not go nearly far enough and that no amount of environmental review should allow a data center to be built on public land.

A libertarian, public interest law firm countered that the bill would create an unjust legal burden for the data center industry.