As a fierce debate has risen in the Imperial Valley over a massive planned data center in recent months, one agency has remained notably quiet.
The Imperial Irrigation District (IID), the valley’s powerful public water and energy utility, has largely declined to take a stance on the proposed 950,000-square-foot computing complex. One of IID’s directors has come out against the project, but other district officials have largely declined to take a position.
Now though, the agency could have the final say on the project.
Last week, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors voted to combine several parcels of the land for the project, clearing a major hurdle for Huntington Beach-based developer Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing (IVCM). The lot merger was the only step where county planners said they had discretion over whether the project moved forward.
As of last week however, IVCM still does not have contracts for water and energy, which the company needs to get the data center complex up and running.
The developer has floated several options for acquiring water, including buying it from the County of San Diego. But either way, the energy for the project would have to come from IID, according to agency officials.
IID is one the most powerful government bodies in the Imperial Valley, rivaled only by the county government.
The agency oversees the generations-old claims of Imperial Valley farmers to water from the Colorado River. It also delivers electricity to more than 160,000 customers throughout the Imperial and Coachella Valleys.
The focus on IID comes at a pivotal moment for the public utility. Three of its five directors are up for reelection this year, and the agency is also actively engaged in the high-stakes negotiations over the future of the Colorado River.
IVCM is already wading into the upcoming June elections. The company has to date spent $20,000 to back their own spokesperson, Carlos Duran, in a bid to defeat one of the public utility’s incumbent directors.
“I intend to support candidates who are committed to advancing responsible economic development, including the data center project,” wrote IVCM CEO Sebastian Rucci in an email to KPBS last month.
Opponents of the data center have also taken measures into their own hands. A coalition of residents, enraged over the environmental and health impacts they fear the data center could bring, are rallying support for IID candidates who oppose the project.
“We need people like ourselves who love it here, who are raising kids here, who actually care about our community,” IID Chairperson Karin Eugenio, who has openly opposed the project since December and is now up for reelection, told KPBS this week. “Not people that can be easily bought by outsiders.”
According to IVCM, the data center could need more electricity than the entirety of Imperial County used in 2024. It could also need around 750,000 gallons of water per day — roughly equivalent to the daily water use of about 6,000 county residents.
Despite those demands, the developer is openly seeking to avoid an environmental review under California’s Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). In interviews, Rucci said that was because he is aiming to begin construction as soon as possible.
The company originally said they wanted to buy recycled municipal wastewater from the neighboring cities of Imperial and El Centro. But both cities have backed out of those talks amid the ongoing controversy.
Now, the developer is floating other options, including purchasing water from San Diego County. Last week, a spokesperson for the San Diego County Water Authority said they had not yet spoken with Rucci or anyone else from IVCM.
“Any proposed transaction would be brought forward for consideration by the Board of Directors,” spokesperson Jordan Beane wrote in an email to KPBS.
According to Eugenio, IID would require a similar level of approval. Any agreements to provide energy or water, she said, would need a vote by the IID board.
“Whatever the collective ending of the project would be would come to us,” Eugenio said. “We would be there in the final stages.
IVCM has accused IID of treating the company unfairly.
In an interview last week on KQED’s Forum, Rucci said the agency had not given him a transparent process and was refusing to meet. That, he said, led to the company’s decision to back a candidate for the agency’s board of directors.
“I have a utility that’s been trying to block the project,” Rucci told KQED. “So, we decided we have a right to also voice our First Amendment politically.”
Campaign filings show the company has already spent $20,000 to support Duran, who is attempting to unseat incumbent IID Director Alex Cardenas.
Duran has identified himself as a “Community Information Representative” for IVCM and previously issued statements on the company’s behalf. In his campaign disclosure forms, he reported receiving income from the company in the range of $10,000 to $100,000.
IVCM has said it stands to make billions of dollars renting out the data center to a “hyperscaler,” which describes some of the nation’s largest tech companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft.
Earlier this year, the company said in court filings that IID slow-walked their approval process, imposed unreasonable financial requests and took part in a coordinated campaign to spark public outrage.
The filings were part of a lawsuit by the developer against the city of Imperial, and the lawsuit did not name IID or any agency officials as defendants. Last month, IID General Counsel Wayne Strumpfer told KPBS many of the company’s allegations about IID were not true.
Rucci has also accused Eugenio in particular of using her platform to attack an active application before the utility.
Now, the coalition of residents who oppose Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing’s plans is looking ahead to the June primary election.
On Monday evening, as the sun set and the sky faded to deep blue outside, more than one hundred people gathered at a banquet hall on the outskirts of El Centro for a community town hall organized by local housing developer Michelle Hollinger.
Inside, residents collected signatures for recall efforts against two current Imperial County supervisors — and a potential November ballot measure that would ban data centers on county land. Several candidates for IID and county supervisor, including Eugenio, handed out campaign stickers and signs.
Despite the Board of Supervisors’ recent decision to advance the project, the forum had an air of resolve.
“I think that this data center, as hard as it has been for many of us to do this work on our own time and dime, has given us the opportunity to truly come together across political party lines to defend Imperial Valley,” said Gilberto Manzanarez, the founder of Valle Imperial Resiste.
