- Records claim there are currently 35 applications to build data centers on US public land
- Public land permitting is far more lenient for data center developers
- Multiple projects are being rushed through
According to US land records, there are currently 35 data center-related developments currently being considered for construction on public lands.
These are the findings published by the Center for Western Priorities who track the Bureau of Land Management’s records to provide transparency into data center developments across the US.
Permitting for data centers on public land is significantly more lenient than in other jurisdictions, and allows developers to bypass environmental reviews. 17 of the applications are to build data center campuses, with a further 13 to build infrastructure to support AI data centers.
Thousand-acre developments planned
“Some of these proposals dwarf a typical data center,” the Center for Western Priorities said, pointing to an example of a 9,000 acre AI data center development submitted by Valar Atomics that would be powered by small modular nuclear reactors.
One developer, Copia, is responsible for submitting 16 site and infrastructure proposals spanning five states including a one application that would span 2,520 acres near Las Vegas.
“Data centers are not like oil, gas, or minerals, which are extracted from public lands because that’s where they exist,” said Lauren Bogard, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities. “Unlike mining or drilling, there are no natural resources that make it necessary to develop data centers on public lands, and there is no reason to assume data centers belong on them.”
“Before even considering putting data centers on public lands, the Trump administration should be obligated to solicit public feedback on this idea. None of these projects should move forward without a permitting framework that lets communities decide where, how, or if data centers get built,” Bogard continued.
“That process must include robust, site-specific environmental review and public input opportunities, as well as meaningful, negotiated community benefits that ensure the public is compensated when private companies profit from public lands.”
The people versus AI data centers
Data center developers are encountering stiff resistance from local residents in areas where AI data centers are planned, which has snowballed into an anti-data center movement that spans the US.
The concerns range across environmental damage, increased noise pollution, excessive water usage in drought-stricken areas, and increased energy prices at a time when fuel costs have been rising to new heights.
But a new report from the US Chamber of Commerce, published in October, has attempted to sway the minds of Americans opposed to data centers with statistics on the economic benefits of local data center developments.
The report states that a single data center development can support 5,200 jobs, contribute $680 million to the state economy, and generate a further $400 million in state personal income annually over a two-year construction phase.
However, once a data center’s construction is complete, the majority of these jobs disappear. Construction takes a huge amount of manpower, but running an operation data center can be done by a comparatively small team.
The opposition to data center construction has led some developers to offer tens of thousands of dollars to local households in return for approval, with President Trump suggesting developers should offer local residents a “dividend” if they are struggling to gain local approval.