The Department of Interior has ordered a pause on the construction of a information heart on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land close to Boulder City.
The choice adopted two appeals of the BLM’s unique approval of the project this June, one filed by the metropolis and another by the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity. A keep means that construction will be paused until the matter is settled in courts, a course of that can take years.
The project, initially slated to be constructed on metropolis land, has angered and galvanized Boulder City residents. Dozens of people came out in opposition to the information heart this summer season. After pulling their metropolis software, the builders of the project, Townsite Solar 2, moved to construct the information heart on BLM land outside the metropolis.
A key issue in the decide’s choice was that Townsite Solar 2’s unique software was accredited as a photo voltaic subject farm in 2023. Townsite Solar 2 modified the project to be a information heart this yr, arguing the two makes use of were alike.
In his written choice, Department of Interior Administrative Judge David Gunter famous that photo voltaic subject farms are not “substantially the same” as a information heart, as Townsite Solar 2 said in its software.
“Likewise, Boulder City argues that ‘the installation of solar panels and modular battery storage units’ is ‘vastly different from a high security data center complex consisting of four data center buildings totaling 300,000 square feet,'” Gunter wrote, noting that a information heart attracts vitality from the grid while a photo voltaic subject provides vitality to it.
Gunter also said that, though developing information heart infrastructure is a “matter of significant practical and economic importance” to the nation, neither the builders, nor BLM, had confirmed that the Boulder City information heart was significantly important to the buildout or that it would be a “major setback” in the national effort for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Olivia Tanager, president of the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter, said the pause was a “huge win” for environmentalists and a main setback for the builders. The information heart was designed as a 167 MW heart with an further 70 MW of battery storage. Townsite Solar 2 is owned by mother or father company Skylar Capital Management, a hedge fund management company primarily based in Houston.
“We’re thrilled,” Tanager said. “Particularly given the precedent that this project could have set for how data centers could be constructed on public land.”
Townsite Solar 2 and BLM did not reply to requests for remark in time for publication.
In a assertion, Lisa LaPlante, a spokesperson for Boulder City, said the metropolis had several objections to the information heart plan.
“The City had appealed based on numerous concerns, including the site had not followed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Process as required by law,” LaPlante said. “The City contends that the BLM did not consult with the City or provide adequate opportunity for public input on the approved data center, as required by federal law.”