Like many counties across Nevada, Lyon County leaders are being asked by residents to place a moratorium (a temporary pause) on data centers and energy projects amid growing concerns relating to the area’s rural character and finite natural resources.
During its July 2 meeting, residents urged the Board of County Commissioners to pause approvals and evaluate the environmental and utility impacts of these large-scale projects. The board faced a wave of public comment opposing the county’s current trajectory regarding data centers.
Despite the pushback, the commissioners passed an ordinance creating the North Lyon County Power General Improvement District for furnishing electric light and power.
Dozens of residents submitted comments to the board ahead of the meeting, connecting the power district ordinance to broader regional energy projects.
“I respectfully ask the Board to delay approval of the North Lyon County Power District Ordinance and reconsider moving forward with the Greenlink Project until all potential impacts have been thoroughly evaluated,” multiple residents wrote in identical public comments submitted to the board. “The ordinance lays the foundation for expansion of electrical infrastructure to support large industrial users, including data centers, but many questions remain unanswered.”
Residents attending the meeting in person echoed these sentiments, requesting a moratorium on data center approvals until the county can draft specific land use regulations.
Please do not bury decisions involving industrial power, natural gas infrastructure, utilities… inside a 521-page agenda
“I am here today to ask for a formal moratorium, a temporary pause, on all new data centers approvals in our community,” resident Doran Ash said during the public comment period. “First let’s look at the power grid a single data center uses as much electricity as a small city if we let them plug in now our families could face rolling blackouts.”
Other residents pointed to water consumption, noise, light pollution, and impacts on wildlife.
“Data center facilities disrupt rural land, ecosystems and displace wildlife,” resident Patricia Jubin wrote to the board. “The rapid, largely unregulated rise of data centers is disrupting to our community, threatening our environmental climate and water security.”
Much of the public argument revolves around a perceived lack of transparency, the rapid pace of development, and the potential impacts on water, power, and rural community character.
A common sentiment is that the scope of these projects is too large to rush.
“Today I am asking you to remember who you work for,” resident Matthew Winterhawk wrote to the commissioners. “The people sitting in this room are not full-time government employees, developers, consultants, or lobbyists. We are parents, ranchers, teachers, business owners, tradesmen, nurses, veterans, retirees, and taxpayers. Please do not bury decisions involving industrial power, natural gas infrastructure, utilities… inside a 521-page agenda.”
Other residents expressed frustration over their inability to directly halt the projects through a vote.
“We were never allowed to vote on this as residents of the Silver Springs area or of Lyon County,” wrote Karen Nelson, a 21-year resident of Silver Springs. “That is wrong, in my opinion. This is far too important to leave voters out of the decision making efforts.”
If approved, the Monarch Data Center will require the energy equivalent needed to power one million homes, along with 260.7 million gallons of water — per year.
Transparency with data centers — especially on how much economic value they’re actually bringing versus how much has been lost in potential taxes — has consistently been an issue across the state.
Earlier this year, the Nevada Independent conducted an investigation finding that not only were tax documents not publicly available, but the Governor’s Office of Economic Development likely broke the law when it refused to release any documents about the ten-years of financial records since these abatements first began.
The current project at the center of Lyon County residents’ concerns is the Monarch Data Center. If approved, the Monarch Data Center will require the energy equivalent needed to power one million homes, along with nearly half a million gallons of water — per year.
The Monarch Data Center Project
The focal point of much of the debate is the proposed Monarch Data Center by Copia Power DevCo, LLC. The project encompasses 4.6 million square feet across approximately 505 acres on Penrose Lane in Mason Valley.
If approved, the site will feature eight two-story buildings up to 95 feet tall, a 500-megawatt battery energy storage system, a 500-megawatt natural gas backup system, and an electrical substation.
For context, 500MW is able to power roughly 350,000 to 500,000 single-family homes.
According to Lyon County agenda documents, the applicant estimates total water consumption for the project will be below 800-acre feet — or roughly 260.7 million gallons of water per year. Instead, they say they will prioritize an air-cooled system within a closed loop.
Typically, data center cooling systems, which must run 24/7 for their servers, utilize a water-based system (such as evaporative cooling), a traditional electricity-powered air conditioning. Most data centers utilize a mixture of the two.
Commissioners previously approved a Master Plan Amendment in December 2025, changing the site’s designation from Agriculture to Specific Plan. The project is now moving through the next phases of county review, with a Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning request scheduled for the Lyon County Planning Commission on July 14, 2026.
Developers and Utilities: Grid Reliability and Economic Growth
In contrast to the public’s concerns, representatives from NV Energy and the developers behind the proposed Monarch Data Center argue that the projects are necessary, legally mandated, and economically beneficial.
Regarding the Greenlink Nevada Transmission Project, which involves over 100 miles of high-voltage lines through the county, NV Energy representatives argued that the infrastructure is not solely for the benefit of technology companies.
During a presentation to the county, an NV Energy representative stated that the project is mandated by Nevada Senate Bill 448 to increase the reliability of the system.
[The Project is] being developed to actually serve existing customers so that they can benefit from increased reliability.
“It’s being designed to handle current and future electricity needs,” the representative stated. “It’s not being developed specifically solely for a data center… it’s being developed to actually serve existing customers so that they can benefit from increased reliability.”
Meanwhile, Copia Power DevCo, LLC, the developer behind the Monarch Data Center, outlined its arguments for the project in its Planned Unit Development (PUD) narrative.
The developer stated that the project “responds to critical nationwide demand for data center infrastructure” and will “deliver transformative economic benefits to Lyon County.”
According to Copia Power’s application, the project is projected to generate “$1.5 billion in real and personal property tax revenue along with approximately $250 million in sales tax revenues.”
However, it should be noted that as the Nevada Independent determined in their investigation linked above, there is no current way for the public to determine whether or not any of the data center estimates relating to economic impact are accurate.
Infrastructure Expansions
The data center proposals are accompanied by corresponding expansions in high-voltage power infrastructure across the county.
A Conditional Use Permit for the Greenlink Nevada Transmission Project, which includes three 345-kilovolt transmission lines spanning approximately 103 miles, was also recently approved. The lines will extend from the Walker River Substation in Mason Valley to south of U.S. Highway 50 in Dayton, crossing 26 parcels in the county.
Earlier this year, on March 5, 2026, the board also approved conditional use permits for two Microsoft-affiliated electrical substations located north of U.S. Highway 50 in Silver Springs. The approvals included the 32.59-acre Nighthawk Substation and the 18.70-acre RNO18 Substation.
Regional Context and Next Steps
The debate in Lyon County mirrors discussions occurring across Nevada regarding the regulation of tech campuses. The city of Reno has paused approvals for new data centers to develop regulations regarding infrastructure and public safety — after rejecting the public’s request to do so repeatedly last year.
Reno’s decision is now one frequently cited by Lyon County residents asking for similar measures.
Currently, the Lyon County Development Code does not include provisions specific to data centers. To address this gap, the Lyon County Community Development Department is drafting a data center ordinance to introduce standards into the county code.
In response to the growing public interest, the Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 on June 18, 2026, to schedule a Data Center Ordinance Workshop to review and discuss the draft regulations with the community. The draft ordinance is expected to be presented to the board in August 2026.
Residents say they are organizing for another push back against data centers in advance of next week’s meeting, in which the Monarch Project will be making an appearance.
Yesterday, we published a short explainer video about what rural concerns are when it comes to data center costs on residents:
