H.R. 10465 — Public Lands Accountability Act

This section requires the Bureau of Land Management to treat the issuance, amendment, modification, renewal, or revision of any permit, lease, or authorization for a hyperscale data center on public lands as a major federal action under NEPA, mandating an environmental impact statement. It requires a public comment period of at least 45 days and one hearing in the affected community, plus additional analysis of water and electricity consumption over the first 10 years and cumulative effects on regional water supply, drought resilience, and water sources. It prohibits categorical exclusions for such actions and defines a hyperscale data center as a facility with a peak load of 50 megawatts or greater located at a single site.

This section requires applicants for rights-of-way to use, occupy, or develop public lands for hyperscale data centers to submit workforce plans as an addendum to their applications. The plans must report the number of construction jobs expected over the first 5 years, the share of those jobs projected to go to in-state residents, whether prevailing wages will be paid, and the number of permanent jobs expected over the first 20 years.