Why Lyon County Is Backing a Data Center on Farmland Even as Many Rural Residents Oppose the Project

What happened in Lyon County

The Lyon County Commission voted this year to move forward with a company's application to build the Monarch Data Center on 500 acres of agricultural land outside the county seat, according to The Nevada Independent. The decision raised a new question in Nevada's growing debate over where data centers belong.

About 200 residents attended the meeting where commissioners advanced the permits, and most of them opposed the project, the outlet reported. Many of their concerns centered on water and energy use. In August, resident David Janakos told commissioners that the community does not want a data center and that Yerington was handed a project it never requested.

Why rural counties are interested

Until recently, data centers in Nevada have been built in industrial zones, The Nevada Independent reported. Research cited by the outlet indicates that more than two-thirds of the nearly 1,500 data centers planned across the country are slated for rural areas, and that close to 40 percent of planned projects are in counties that currently have none.

The tax picture

Lyon County Manager Andrew Haskin told the outlet that the tax revenue generated by industrial property is significant. Because counties generally collect revenue from farmland through property taxes, budgets in agriculture-driven counties such as Lyon are limited, The Nevada Independent reported. Industry, by contrast, also pays sales and use taxes and business license fees.

Growth and its costs

Lyon County has grown into the third most populous county in Nevada, and more residents bring greater demand for resources, according to the report. Fred Steinmann, director of the Center for Economic Development at the University of Nevada, Reno, said that growth does not pay for itself and that industry is needed to raise revenue if residents are not willing to cover 100 percent of the costs. He added that data center builders, like other industries, look for reasonably priced land with access to the power grid, transportation and available workers.

Power lines and a landowner's view

Northern Nevada is considered one of the top locations in the world for data center construction, The Nevada Independent reported. NV Energy's Greenlink high-voltage transmission line is being built through Lyon County, and the utility is constructing its Walker River Substation just 2 miles from the Monarch site. For related coverage, see reporting on a Switch proposal for a data center gas plant and on data center donations to Nevada politicians.

Why the owner was open to selling

In a December email to Commissioner David Hockaday, Brian Masini, who owns the 500 acres, wrote that conditions in the area changed once the substation and Greenlink were announced, according to the outlet. He said solar companies had approached him for years before AI companies and builders showed interest. Masini wrote that traditional farming is no longer economically viable in Mason Valley, and he argued one side of the debate wants economic sustainability, better schools, hospitals and recreation.

Mason Valley and nearby Smith Valley previously faced state curtailment orders, which were ultimately resolved in court in favor of farmers, the report noted.

Concerns about water, energy and fit

NV Energy has acknowledged that it does not have enough secured power supply to support a large wave of data centers in Nevada, The Nevada Independent reported. A 2024 UC Berkeley report prepared for Congress estimated that data centers used 17,430 million gallons of water in 2023 and warned that the figure could double by 2028. Data center supporters say that amount is far smaller than what agriculture uses.

Doug Busselman, government affairs director for the Nevada Farm Bureau, told the outlet that the county's decision to allow a data center on farmland is an exception for now. He said the key is placing data centers where they fit the community. Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said builders are targeting small rural communities where relatively modest sums of money carry outsized influence.

What to watch next

• Further permitting steps for the Monarch Data Center, after commissioners voted to advance its permits.
• Progress on NV Energy's Greenlink transmission line and Walker River Substation, both under construction in Lyon County.
• How NV Energy addresses power supply for data centers, which it says it has not yet secured.