Battle Over $15 Billion in Data Centers Erupts in Rural Southern California County

Residents of California’s Imperial Valley are protesting a series of proposed data centers that could dramatically change the landscape of the mostly agricultural region. As Lester Black explains in SF Gate, developers have announced plans for $15 billion in data center projects near the Mexico border east of San Diego.

The region has some key advantages for data center operations, Black adds. “The valley sits on top of a vast deposit of geothermal energy that provides climate-friendly power, and infrastructure is already being built to extract this energy specifically for servers.” Water from the Colorado River is relatively plentiful for now, but the river’s dwindling resources and disagreements over water use could put that supply in jeopardy in the near future. 

The city of Imperial was originally receptive to the idea of a data center, but rejected the plan when the company did not want to go through the alifornia Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process. The developer then went to the county, which is one vote away from giving it the go-ahead for the 950,000-square-foot facility on unincorporated county land.

“”In December, the city filed a lawsuit against the county and Rucci’s company, arguing that the approval should be halted because the site is partially on urban farmland and the project requires the company to secure conditional use permits for its battery storage facilities, a process that would include public comment.” The developer, meanwhile, has filed their own lawsuit against the city.