The Imperial County Board of Supervisors will hold a crucial vote Tuesday that will determine whether construction can begin on a massive data center complex that supporters said would generate new revenue and some jobs, and opponents fear it could strain the rural county’s power grid, water supply and air quality.
The vote will take place despite a last-minute attempt to halt it by the city of Imperial, which borders the planned project site. On Wednesday, the city asked an Imperial County Superior Court judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would block county officials from holding the scheduled vote. The judge, Louie Brooks Anderholt, declined to intervene.
The supervisors will be weighing whether to join together several parcels of land for the proposed data center complex. The developer, Huntington Beach-based Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing (IVCM), is seeking to build a 950,000-square-foot computing warehouse, along with a giant battery system and a bank of backup generators.
IVCM said the project would create a burst of construction work, some long-term jobs and millions in future tax revenue. But the company is facing fierce opposition from a large group of county residents calling themselves Not in My Backyard Imperial, who worry about the potential environmental impacts of the facility.
“This community will remember who stood with the people and who stood with the developer,” warned Francisco Leal, an Imperial resident and one of the main organizers of NIMBY Imperial, at a county meeting last week. “It will respond accordingly through public process, public record and at the ballot box.”
County officials said this decision, known as a “lot merger,” is the only step where they have discretion on whether the project moves forward. Otherwise, they said the proposed complex meets the county’s technical zoning requirements.
In January, KPBS reported that IVCM had designed the project to fit those requirements so it would not need to face a lengthy environmental analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
IVCM Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Rucci previously told KPBS they would take steps to reduce the project’s environmental footprint. Rucci said they would use renewable energy, buy recycled municipal water from nearby cities and cover the cost of necessary infrastructure upgrades.
Local officials in those cities have said they had discussed supplying water but had not reached any formal agreements.
The already charged debate over the proposed data center complex has become even more heated in recent weeks.
NIMBY Imperial is urging the Board to reject the lot merger and ban construction of future data centers. They are gathering signatures for a possible ballot measure limiting data center development. Some members have threatened to initiate recall proceedings against supervisors who support the project.
IVCM has signaled its own willingness to intervene in local politics. The company is spending $10,000 to back its own spokesperson in a race for the board of directors for the region’s public power and water utility, campaign filings show. The developer has also filed its own lawsuit against the city of Imperial, accusing officials there of trying to sabotage the project.
(IVCM is also suing KPBS over our previous reporting, alleging that we defamed them, portrayed them in a false light and interfered with their economic interests.)
Last week, residents sparred with Rucci at a county information meeting.
During the March 26 meeting, Rucci said the company had made some changes to the project to reduce noise and add more space between the complex and the nearest homes. That included dramatically reducing the size of the project’s bank of natural gas-powered backup generators, he said.
But those concessions did not mollify the crowd. County officials paused the meeting and Rucci departed early after chanting protestors drowned him out midway through his presentation.
Videos posted to social media showed Rucci and county residents shouting at each other in the parking lot outside the county administration building where the meeting was being held. The videos appeared to show Imperial County sheriff’s deputies escorting Rucci and another IVCM employee, Hector Casas, to their car as protestors chanted, “Fuera! Fuera!”
Days later, Carlos Duran, the IVCM spokesperson running for the local utility Board, called NIMBY Imperial a “Satanic Cult” on Facebook.
In December, the Imperial County Planning Commission heard the developer’s request for the lot merger but did not approve it. Instead, they voted to delay a final decision and continue the discussion.
IVCM filed an appeal, sending the lot merger before the Board of Supervisors.
This week, the city of Imperial asked Judge Anderholt to stop the Board from voting, arguing that the planning commission had never actually made a final decision on the lot merger.
The city is currently suing the county over the project. City officials said county officials have greater authority than they’re claiming — and that the project does need to go through a more in-depth environmental review.
On Thursday, Anderholt said he could not intervene to stop another independent branch of government from taking action. But he said the city could come back to challenge the Board of Supervisor’s decision afterwards if they were not happy with the outcome.
“We deal with it after the action has taken place,” the judge said.
On Thursday, the city of Imperial’s attorney Alene Taber said they would assess their options following the Board’s decision next week.
IVCM also still needs to secure power and water agreements for the data center complex, along with permits from the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District, county officials said last week.
The supervisors are scheduled to discuss the lot merger at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 7, during their regular meeting at the county administration building in El Centro.
