Federal Land for AI Data Centers: DOE Sites, BLM and Military Bases

Federal land for data centers became policy in two steps. On January 14, 2025, Executive Order 14141 directed agencies to make federal sites available for lease to non-federal entities to build frontier AI infrastructure and clean power by the end of 2027, with a central role for the Departments of Defense and Energy.¹⁰ On July 23, 2025, Executive Order 14318, “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure,” replaced that approach, revoking EO 14141.⁸

EO 14318 states that federal land and resources should be used for data center development where consistent with the land’s intended purpose. It defines a data center project as one requiring more than 100 MW of new load dedicated to AI, and qualifying projects include those with at least $500 million in committed capital expenditures or more than 100 MW of incremental load.² It also directs agencies to apply and expand NEPA categorical exclusions and to streamline other permits.²¹¹

The appeal is easy to see. DOE sites often come with existing transmission, large water supplies, a long industrial history and security perimeters. They also come with conditions a private parcel does not: federal ownership stays in place, use must fit the agency’s mission, and the lease runs on federal procurement rules and timelines.

DOE announced the four sites in July 2025, saying they could host both data centers and power generation. The pool started with 16 locations identified after an April 2025 request for information.¹ Each site then moved through its own solicitation.

At Oak Ridge, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management and Office of Science evaluated proposals on technological readiness, financial viability and plans to complete regulatory and permitting requirements.⁵ Those criteria are a useful preview of what any federal site will ask: a credible power plan, a balance sheet and a permitting schedule, not just a site plan.

Most of these sites are former nuclear weapons or fuel-cycle complexes, so parts of them carry legacy contamination and active cleanup; the Oak Ridge solicitation itself came partly from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.⁵ Our guide to repurposing industrial and power plant sites covers the diligence that follows from that history.

The two 2026 selections show DOE favoring projects that bring their own power. At Savannah River, DOE selected Amentum and DC Blox to develop an AI data center with dedicated on-site generation; the project description calls for a 1 GW data center alongside about 2 GW of on-site generation, and the parties will now negotiate a phased lease.⁶

At Paducah, DOE announced a partnership in late July 2026 with a group including Big Rivers Electric, Brookfield, NextEra Energy and local cooperatives. NextEra is to develop 2 GW of new grid-connected gas-fired generation, upgrade transmission and deploy up to 2.6 GW of battery storage; the announcement did not mention nuclear power.⁷

For developers, the pattern matters more than the names. Federal sites reward teams that can pair load with new generation, whether behind the meter or grid-connected, which is the same logic behind nuclear and SMR siting at or near DOE land.

The Bureau of Land Management’s first data center approval shows the legal friction federal land can carry. On June 26, 2026, BLM approved a data center on 88.5 acres of public land in Eldorado Valley, within Boulder City, Nevada, drawing up to 167 MW. BLM did so by amending a right-of-way previously granted for a 19 MW solar project with 35 MW of battery storage, relying on the environmental analysis prepared for that project rather than a new one.³

Boulder City, environmental groups and residents appealed to the Interior Board of Land Appeals, arguing that a data center is a materially different use whose water, air and other effects were never analyzed.¹⁴ On September 1, 2026, an administrative judge stayed the permit, finding the appellants had made a persuasive showing that BLM erred in treating the data center as substantially the same as the solar project it had reviewed in 2023.⁹ A stay is not a final ruling; the board’s decision on the merits was still to come.

The Army and Air Force are offering land through enhanced use leases (EULs), which let a service lease non-excess property to a private partner. The Army’s first EUL request for data centers covered installations including Fort Hood, Fort Bliss, Fort Bragg and Dugway Proving Ground; projects must be compatible with the military mission, the Pentagon can end leases for non-compliance, and offerors must describe their local outreach. Terms could run as long as 50 years.¹⁵ In March 2026 the Army announced conditional selections: Carlyle for about 1,384 acres at Fort Bliss, Texas, and CyrusOne for about 1,201 acres at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, with leases still to be finalized.⁴

In April 2026 the Department of the Air Force issued a request for lease proposals for about 4,700 acres across Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Eielson Air Force Base and Clear Space Force Station in Alaska, in 12 identified parcels. Under the EUL model the Air Force receives at least fair market value, and the developer is responsible for financing, permitting, construction and long-term operation.¹⁶

A federal lease removes some problems and adds others. Compare it with a private ground lease, covered in our guide to ground leases for data centers.

• Environmental review: projects with substantial federal involvement may need NEPA review. EO 14318 directs that projects receiving less than 50% of their funding from federal sources not be treated as major federal actions, but a lease or right-of-way on federal land is still an agency decision, as the Boulder City dispute shows.¹¹¹⁴
• Power: the land does not bring firm power by itself. Oak Ridge applicants must secure their own utility interconnection agreements.⁵
• End of term: DOE expects developers to decommission what they build.⁵
• Mission limits: military leases can be terminated for non-compliance with mission requirements.¹⁵
• Local taxes and politics: federal land is generally outside local property tax rolls, and local opposition can still shape outcomes, as Boulder City’s appeal shows.⁹ See our guide to property taxes on data center projects for how local property taxes normally work.

1. 01Track solicitations on SAM.gov and agency news pages; each site runs on its own deadline.
2. 02Read the evaluation criteria first. At Oak Ridge they were technological readiness, financial viability and permitting plans.⁵
3. 03Build the power case early: new generation, storage and transmission upgrades featured in both 2026 DOE selections.⁷
4. 04Plan for a project-specific environmental review, and for appeals.⁹
5. 05Price the lease against private alternatives, including decommissioning obligations and the time a federal process adds.
6. 06Line up local support. The Army asks offerors to describe their community outreach, and Boulder City’s appeal shows what happens when a host community objects.¹⁵

Treat a federal solicitation like any other site decision: confirm power, water, access and buildable area on the actual parcel offered, not on the reputation of the larger reservation. Ten tracts at one site can differ as much as ten private farms.¹³

Federal land is one option among several. If you are weighing a federal solicitation against private sites, we can get a site reviewed for power, water and buildable area, using the same methodology we apply to private land.