Environmental groups are celebrating on Tuesday after a federal panel halted construction of what would be the first artificial intelligence data center to be built on US public lands. The Interior Board of Land Appeals, an appellate body within the US Department of the Interior, put a temporary stay on the Bureau of Land Management's…
Page A9From§Eachthe supper edition — 1 September 2026
Federal panel halts first public lands data center, tech giant wants geothermal for next
The federal panel stops the first data center from landing on public lands, but the tech giant immediately pivots, aiming its next facility at geothermal energy. The sequence is clear: a halt, then a pitch, with public land as the prize and the ground as the resource. The receipts show the chase—every panel a gate, every company a shovel. The public land is held, the private plan moves on. The rest runs on Page 2.
“They put the brakes on the first data center planned for public land, but the tech giant’s already pitching geothermal for the next one. The panel says no, the company says, ‘let’s try the ground under your feet.’”
“It’s responsible development—public land protection comes first, but innovation won’t wait. Geothermal is green, and stopping one project doesn’t mean stopping progress. Did I say halt? I meant pause. The market will sort it out.”
The receipts
‘Exciting’
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.