Data Center Developers Seek 24,000 Acres of Federal Land

At least 35 applications related to data centers cover more than 24,000 acres of U.S. federal land across six Western states, according to an analysis by the conservation group Center for Western Priorities. The filings include proposed campuses and the infrastructure needed to connect them. The report gives no financial terms, expected revenues, or employment figures for the projects.

Public Land, Industrial Projects

Bureau of Land Management records show at least 17 proposed data center campuses and 13 related infrastructure projects in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming, the study said. The applications put federal land at the center of a potential AI infrastructure buildout, spanning multiple states and more than 24,000 acres.

The infrastructure filings cover transmission lines, pipelines, telecommunications facilities and access roads. According to the analysis, those projects connect to proposed campuses or otherwise relate to data center development. The report doesn’t state how many acres each project seeks or what it would cost to build the facilities.

The figures document industry interest in using public land for data center development. But the supplied account doesn’t identify projected profits, land-use fees or other financial returns for developers. It also offers no estimates of how much power or water the proposed campuses would use, and describes no effects on workers or nearby communities.

Developers and the State

A map of planned projects includes several infrastructure applications tied to a Prometheus Hyperscale facility in Wyoming. It also includes projects by developer Copia Power in Arizona, Nevada and Idaho, among others. The account doesn’t provide the companies’ full project plans, ownership details or the terms under which they would use federal land.

The proposed development comes as the Trump administration seeks to open public lands to a wider range of industrial uses, including energy, mining and technology projects. The article connects the data center applications to that policy direction, but it doesn’t describe any specific administration decision approving the campuses or related infrastructure.

BLM records tracking the applications show the government’s role in the immediate matter. BLM officials weren’t immediately available for comment. The account doesn’t say whether officials have approved or rejected any application, or assigned one a decision date.

What the Applications Leave Unanswered

The reported total combines at least 17 proposed campuses and 13 related infrastructure projects. The applications remain pending or active; the source doesn’t describe them as completed developments. It provides no construction schedule, expected job count or information about what wages workers might receive.

The account also doesn’t describe organized labor, community campaigns, strikes or other resistance to the proposals. It reports no government conditions on developers, public benefits tied to the applications or details about how the projects could affect access to federal land. Those questions remain outside the analysis’s figures.

The available numbers show the applications’ scale and geography: more than 24,000 acres, at least 35 data center-related filings and six Western states. They don’t establish what developers would pay, who would receive the economic gains or how project costs would be distributed.