The data center fight in Nye County (Pahrump), Nevada
As of September 27, 2026, Nye County (Pahrump), Nevada has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Aug 18, 2026).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
Bill No. 2026-11: permanent ban on data centers in Hydrographic Basin 162 (Pahrump Valley), 5-0 vote. First total ban in Nevada. Separate from the countywide moratorium (Jun 2 2026) which continues for areas outside Basin 162
SourceNews
read 2026-09-11
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
The project on the table
Manse Technology Campus (formerly Project Blackjack) — Awaiting decision
Operator: Gigawatt Development · Acres: 900
Gigawatt Development proposes a ~900-acre, multi-phase technology campus south of Carpenter Canyon Road along SR-160 at the south end of Pahrump Valley, pledging closed-loop cooling using under 300 acre-feet of water per year (~1.5% of the Pahrump Basin's annual yield) on water rights it already owns, with no tax abatements sought; the application predates the county's June 2026 temporary moratorium on new data center applications. The 'August vote' was on Nye County Bill 2026-11, a proposed ban on data centers in communities without elected town boards: at the Aug 4 commission meeting it did not come to a vote, and commissioners instead moved toward putting the question to voters, with a possible special election (earliest January 2027) to be discussed Aug 18.
Next: Heard 2026-08-18; decision pending. Call the board clerk for the vote date and get on the notification list.
Latest in the record
- 2026-08-06 — The Nye County Water District Governing Board held a roughly two-and-a-half-hour discussion on August 6 featuring a presentation on the proposed Manse Technology Campus by Russ Meads of Double M Construction. · source
- 2026-08-04 — Nye County Bill 2026-11, a proposed ban on data centers in areas without elected town boards, did not come to a vote; Commissioner Jabbour successfully moved to pursue a ballot question instead, with a possible special election to be discussed Aug 18. Over 3,400 people signed a petition supporting the ban and hundreds attended, most speaking against data center development. · source
- 2026-08-03 — The Manse Technology Campus team scheduled a public informational meeting for August 3 at 6 p.m. at the Pahrump Nugget Events Center to present the project and take questions. · source
- 2026-07-25 — Nye County held a town hall/forum on the proposed Manse Technology Campus at the commission building in Pahrump; a large crowd attended inside and outside the venue, with residents opposing the project chiefly over water use. · source
- 2026-07-21 — Manse Technology issued a press release announcing project details, describing an estimated $18.4 billion technology campus with no property tax abatements proposed. · source
- 2026-07-18 — Several dozen Pahrump residents rallied at the intersection of Highway 160 and Highway 372 as part of the AI Data Center National Day of Protest, citing concerns about the town's sole-source aquifer, electricity costs, and noise. · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-08-14.
Recent news
7 stories tracked since 2026-05-27 across 5 outlets. 3× Water use for cooling is straining the local supply. 3× Local officials are moving to pause or block the project. Most recent: “Nye County totally bans data centers in over-appropriated water basin” (Nevada Current, 2026-08-20).
- Nye County totally bans data centers in over-appropriated water basin
- Nye County commissioners approve data center ban in Pahrump
- Nye County residents react to data center ban: 'I'm glad'
- Nye County commissioners approve ban on data centers in Pahrump Water Basin 162
- Nye County approves data center ban, working on development agreement for future
- Nye County residents mobilize against proposed Blackjack Data Center ahead of August vote
- Nye County water board pushes data center moratorium
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 7 headlines archived.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Nevada.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Nevada briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Nevada
- Nye County (1 mi) — Enactedno fixed end — runs until a condition is met
- Henderson (58 mi) — Rejectedterm not documented
- White Pine County (219 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-01-18
- Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe (272 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Reno (309 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-08-31
- Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe (327 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Wells (339 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
- Humboldt County (342 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-07-13
All 9 tracked actions in Nevada are on the state page.
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.