Lawmakers Demand Transparency for Data Centers on Public Lands
Congressional delegates are demanding the Interior Department disclose resource data for data center projects on federal lands following a Trump executive order to accelerate development.
Democratic lawmakers and Arizona congressional delegates are demanding that the United States Department of the Interior disclose critical resource data before allocating federal public lands for large-scale data center projects. The scrutiny follows a 2025 executive order by President Donald Trump designed to accelerate data center development and infrastructure through faster federal permitting.
In Arizona, lawmakers are specifically seeking the identification of project sites and estimates for water and electricity demands for over 3,000 acres of proposed land. They argue that local and tribal governments must understand the impact on groundwater and power grid stability before the Bureau of Land Management proceeds. Similar concerns have emerged across Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming, where Democratic members of the House Natural Resources Committee have demanded transparency regarding the approval process by October 8.
The push for oversight follows a legal challenge in Boulder City, Nevada, where an appeals judge temporarily halted a data center project due to a lack of public input and environmental studies. In response, Representative Dina Titus is introducing the Public Lands Accountability Act to ensure projects adhere to the National Environmental Policy Act. Lawmakers expressed concern that the combination of the executive order and EPA rollbacks could allow developers to bypass regulations and public oversight.
