BLM asks judge to set aside Boulder City data center approval

The Bureau of Land Management has asked a judge to set aside its unprecedented approval of a data center near Boulder City and allow the agency to reconsider the application, weeks after that same judge halted the project’s construction in response to an appeal.

In a filing Monday, BLM attorney Kathryn Brinton asked that the agency’s “decision to approve the right-of-way amendment be set aside to allow the agency to conduct additional review of the application.” The agency did not reply to a request for comment.

The controversial data center would be the first approved on BLM land. The agency, in a first-of-its-kind maneuver, amended the existing right-of-way from the solar project and relied on the solar project’s prior environmental review without completing a new analysis.

The news comes after Interior Board of Land Appeals Administrative Judge David Gunter granted a stay that prevented construction while consolidated appeals from Boulder City and environmental groups was processed.

“The two projects are fundamentally dissimilar in ways that affect the environment and require meaningful analysis under NEPA (the National Environmental Policy Act), yet BLM concluded that they are essentially alike,” Gunter wrote early this month in his ruling.

Monday’s filing notes that the developer, Townsite Solar 2 LLC, is in favor of the motion while the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club are neutral on it.

The developer’s public relations firm did not reply to a request for comment. A spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity said the group is opposed to the data center but did not want to protest the agency’s rollback of its approval.

Boulder City remains opposed to the motion, according to the filing, and a city spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.