Imperial County Enacts Moratorium on Data Centers Amid Opposition and Lawsuits
Developers of the Imperial Data Center initially secured approval for a massive project in Imperial County, California, but the county supervisors later enacted a 45-day moratorium due to intense public backlash. The developer plans to file a lawsuit against the moratorium, while the City of Imperial has already filed a lawsuit challenging the project's environmental review. State Senator Steve Padilla has also introduced several bills to increase regulation on data center development across California.
Developers of the proposed Imperial Data Center, Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing, LLC, had initially secured a major approval from Imperial County Supervisors to combine land tracts for a nearly one-million-square-foot facility, intended to be the state's largest hyperscale data center for AI operations. This approval followed months of public scrutiny and swift opposition from residents and local leaders.
However, last week, the Imperial County board reversed its decision, declaring a 45-day moratorium on data center developments and forming a public commission to advise on zoning policy. Developer Sebastian Rucci announced plans to file a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order against the moratorium, arguing it's defective and not justified by a true emergency. Simultaneously, the City of Imperial filed its own lawsuit challenging the data center’s environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), claiming the project's approval lacked essential safeguards for public protection and impact mitigation, particularly concerning air quality, water use, and energy demand. Local voters are also actively gathering signatures for a referendum to ban data centers in the county.
State Senator Steve Padilla has been a vocal critic, introducing a series of bills aimed at regulating data center construction statewide and specifically in Imperial County. These bills propose stricter oversight of air quality, require large data centers to pay energy costs upfront to prevent cost transfers to ratepayers, and prohibit exemptions under CEQA. They also mandate zero-carbon energy production, recycled water use, and investment in local workforce development. These bills have passed the state Senate and await votes in the Assembly. The controversy highlights growing concerns among Californians regarding the environmental and economic impacts of the burgeoning AI industry's infrastructure on rural communities, especially concerning water use from the Colorado River and potential strain on the power grid. The developer is also suing Imperial Irrigation District for 260 million gallons of river water annually, planning to fallow farmland to divert existing water rights.