Community advocates showed up in force to oppose a proposed AI Data Center in rural Imperial Valley, and still the project continues.
On Thursday, March 26, the Imperial Valley County Board of Supervisors held a Special Meeting to consider the Imperial Valley Data Center project and were met with overwhelming criticism. Tens to hundreds of concerned stakeholders filled the board chambers, overfill rooms, and even demonstrated audibly from the outside of the building. Opponents of the project are asking the county supervisors to pass a moratorium on all AI data centers.
"Kristian Salgado urged the board to follow the lead of the Monterey Park City Council, which recently enacted a moratorium on data centers and will put the issue to a public vote after a proposed project elicited backlash from the community.
Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing, a California-based limited liability company that started two years ago, wants to develop a 950,000-square-foot center in the county that’s designed for advanced artificial intelligence operations. The company says it will create jobs and generate $28.75 million in annual property tax revenue.
The county is moving toward finalizing the proposal, and has granted it an exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act — a point of contention for many residents. CEQA is a landmark state law that requires projects to undergo an extensive review about the social and environmental impacts before breaking ground.
Cornell University researchers last year estimated that AI growth could add 24 million to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere annually by 2030, the equivalent of adding 5 million to 10 million cars to U.S. roadways. The researchers concluded it would also drain 731 million cubic meters to 1,125 million cubic meters of water per year." — Katie King, Los Angeles Times
"An investigation into the project revealed it could potentially consume almost double the amount of electricity that the entirety of Imperial County used in 2024 and could also need 750,000 gallons of water per day." — CA Senator Padilla
Despite community backlash and a lawsuit filed by the City of Imperial, arguing the project should not have received a CEQA exemption the project will continue in it's proposal proceedings.
Sebastian Rucci, the Huntington Beach CEO of Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing, is now suing the City of Imperial alleging it unfairly worked to derail the data center.
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READ: Imperial Data Center Project - Initial Feedback Summary, March 20, 2026.
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