A newly launched Data Center Tracker maps thousands of facilities and shows dozens of large proposals targeting public lands in the Western U.S., raising questions about water, wildlife, community input, and transparency.
The Data Center Tracker maps 2,173 facilities nationwide and shows 568 projects that local communities have stopped.
Developers recently sought permits for mega-sites on public land, including a proposed 10,200-acre plan near Green River, Utah, and other projects totaling at least 17,600 acres on public land.
Concerns center on water use, electricity demand and cost, noise and pollution, impacts to wildlife habitat and migration corridors, and the secrecy of some proposals.
The web-based Data Center Tracker is searchable by location, size, and whether the facility is proposed, under construction, already in operation, or if it's been stopped by the communities affected by the proposed installation. The interactive site specifically tracks data centers proposed for public land, and also provides the distance to public lands for the hundreds of data centers sited on private land. It's unclear if the substitute facility would be powered by nuclear reactors or by more conventional natural gas or solar.
An even larger project, which would have covered 44,000 acres of mostly private land in Box Elder County, Utah, has been scaled down after intense community push-back. Together, they could impact at least 17,600 acres of public land in the West. The site tracks 2,173 facilities in 49 states and notes that 568 have been stopped by local communities.
Thought | Outdoor Life As dozens of mammoth data centers are being proposed — in some cases without community input — on public land around the West, a new tool launched this week provides a window into the scale, location, and status of these resource-intensive industrial facilities. Data-center developers that have applied recently for public-land occupancy permits includes a massive nuclear-powered facility that was proposed for 10,200 acres of BLM land plus several hundred acres of state land just outside the northeast Utah town of Green River. First AI Data Center Approved on Federal Public Land Hits a Major Roadblock Just as news of the plan was made public today, developer Valar Atomics announced that it was scrapping its Green River Gigasite and instead pursuing a data center on undisclosed land elsewhere in Utah.
Trump is considering data centers on 6 states' public land — some state officials say they had no idea Zachary Whalen Sun, 09/20/2026 - 09:00 Primary Image Primary Image Caption Public land has traditionally been used for mining, logging and livestock grazing — any data center successfully built on public land would be
The White House and Congress promise that data centers will not cost consumers a dime. That is like a husband pledging not to beat his wife as his fist draws blood. The politicians who spent a year gaslighting the public about data centers’ power use now acknowledge the problem and promise to cover grid upgrades. But e
The fact that even Texas has taken steps to slow the speed of data center development should be a wake-up call for the teams building them, writes an executive search professional.
Legislation is being introduced at a record pace as growing public opposition to data centers drives more proposals to restrict the tech giants.
A judge recently decided that the BLM acted “arbitrarily or capriciously” in approving the data center The post First AI Data Center Approved on Federal Public Land Hits a Major Roadblock appeared first on Outdoor Life .
In politics, it often feels as though common ground is in short supply. But in Arizona, a bedrock principle continues to bridge our deepest political divides: the fundamental duty to steward our public lands and protect the water that makes life in the desert possible. The post Conservation Is a conservative principle
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