At least 17 data-center campuses proposed on US public land

A Center for Western Priorities analysis of Bureau of Land Management records found 17 proposed data-center campuses and related projects across six Western states.

jajoy39

Oct 21, 2026 - 11:46

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The Idaho National Laboratory Advanced Test Reactor complex, shown as an illustration of DOE land and infrastructure; not a proposed data-center design. — Image: U.S. Department of Energy (official illustrative infrastructure image)

At least 17 data-center campuses proposed on US public land

At least 17 data-center campuses have been proposed on US federal land across the West, according to an analysis by the conservation group Center for Western Priorities. The review of Bureau of Land Management records found at least 35 active or pending data-center-related applications covering more than 24,000 acres.

The proposed campuses are in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. The wider count includes 13 associated projects—transmission lines, pipelines, telecommunications facilities and access roads—showing that a server campus can generate a much larger infrastructure footprint than its buildings alone.

Public-land industrial policy

The map includes applications connected to a Prometheus Hyperscale facility in Wyoming and projects from Copia Power in Arizona, Nevada and Idaho. The findings arrive as the Trump administration seeks to open public lands to more industrial uses, including energy, mining and technology. The Center’s analysis identifies applications, not approvals or completed construction. BLM officials were not immediately available for comment, so the final scale and environmental consequences remain unsettled.

Image: U.S. Department of Energy (official illustrative infrastructure image).