Congresswoman Titus today introduced the Public Lands Accountability Act to ensure the public has a say in the federal permitting process for data centers on public lands and environmental effects are thoroughly evaluated.

“Data centers are proliferating in Nevada and other states having large expanses of federal land,” Congresswoman Titus said. “We need to make sure the public’s voice is heard and that the effects on the environment, water resources and the electric grid are thoroughly assessed and made public.”

A data center has been proposed in Boulder City, Nevada, and would be the first data center in the nation built on BLM land.

“How this project is handled will have immense consequences for data center development in Nevada and beyond,” Congresswoman Titus said, noting there are currently 76 data center projects in Nevada in place or being proposed. “The public should be involved and the environment should be protected.”

Congresswoman Titus’s legislation prevents a federal agency from amending any existing right-of-way permits on BLM land to allow the construction of a data center without going through a new environmental permitting process. As part of the environmental permitting process for proposed data centers on BLM land, the bill requires that the BLM consider the impact of the project on regional water supply. It also requires a data center developer to submit a workforce plan detailing how many local jobs the project will create and whether these jobs will pay prevailing wages.

The bill explicitly prohibits data center projects on public lands from being eligible for categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Permitting Act (NEPA) process, closing potential loopholes that could allow the federal administration to skirt environmental review. The Trump administration is aggressively pushing for the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers through executive actions.

On June 26, 2026, BLM’s Las Vegas Field Office quietly approved an application to amend an existing Right-of-Way (ROW) grant held by Townsite Solar 2, LLC. The original ROW grant authorized Townsite Solar 2, LLC to construct a 19 MW solar photovoltaic power generating facility with battery storage on an 80-acre parcel. The revised ROW grant that BLM approved allows Townsite Solar 2 to construct and operate a data center on the BLM parcel. BLM approved the application for the data center project without conducting a new environmental review or gathering community input, despite the fact the project scope had significantly changed.

Boulder City residents raised concerns about the potential impact of the project on dwindling water resources, extreme heat, and grid resilience, among other environmental concerns and filed an appeal with the BLM. On Sept. 1, 2026, Administrative Judge David Gunter granted a stay halting the data enter development, saying in his ruling, "Appellants have made a persuasive showing that BLM violated NEPA and acted arbitrarily or capriciously when it determined that the data center project is 'substantially the same' as the solar plant project for purposes of its NEPA analysis."