Public comment corpus
Board of Supervisors
January 14, 2026 · Data Center Workshop · 13 spoken public comments
Official meeting recording (Granicus)
| Speaker | Time | Comment (verbatim) |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown speaker #1 | 0:52:53 | Good evening. First of all, I would like to thank you for holding this event tonight to bring some awareness to the community. Can you give me one second? I apologize. I will go to the next speaker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . And I have not been treated to a good help, I have to go. I have a lot to do, I have a lot to do, I have a lot to do, I have a lot to do, I have a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot to do, a lot have not been treated fair and I don't think that the commissioners or the or the supervisors have been treated fair believe me the people that are on those commissions supervisors etc are here for the public good and they're doing things they run for office or they get on these commissions because they want to see this community improve there's been a lot of things that are on Facebook a lot of misinformation that's out there and one of them is mentioned today has to do with the water there's people are saying that we're running out of water in the Imperial County but I want to assure you we're not as a matter of fact last year there was a hundred and sixty one hundred sixty thousand acre feet that were left in the Colorado River and if you looked at what we saw tonight the amount of water that is more water than we consume almost three times as much water that we consume for industry or houses in the Imperial County we need to make sure that we protect that water by using it in reasonable and beneficial uses things are going to create jobs for our community and they're going to create taxes the one thing that I've and by the way my job is to bring companies here and we have been working on data centers for nearly 20 years we've had many come our way we're very fortunate that we have an investor that's interested in the Imperial County we've had others that have not been successful and I can't say that I is the one that attracted this investor because I only met him for the first time about two weeks ago and he's been working on this project for over a year but what I will say is that I would invite everybody to actually go to the site that's been in discussion and walk around and actually get out your car and look at it and I'd like you to look at night at the nighttime also because what is adjacent just to the west is industrial land a railroad there's also a gas fuel tank farm farm means multiple tanks and once again this is industrial land but the reason that the developer is interested in this property because it is owned, has natural gas, has fiber and has all the things that a data center would need. If you look at the concerns of many of the people and you can't, I can understand where they're coming from, they're concerned about their property values going down. Look at where they're building new homes and look to the south of where those new homes are. You know what you're going to find? You're going to find the largest natural gas generator in the Imperial County. You're going to find a battery storage facility. You're going to find a solar facility. And that's exactly one mile south of where those new homes are and the new school that's being built in the same distance from the data center. Thank you. My system has backup. I will be using the Granicus timer. |
| Dr. Kelly Jordan | 0:56:55 | Next speaker is Dr. Kelly Jordan. Good evening. I'm Kelly. I'm a resident of Imperial. I'm also an unpaid concerned community member. And I'm speaking because I believe it's important that we understand where all this technology is actually going. So AI data centers. Are often called AI data factories. And are not just updated versions of regular data centers. They're built different. They're designed to grow. That's how AI works. More data, more computing power, more energy, more infrastructure by design. They are built for continuous expansion. What's built first is not the final build out. The size is not optional. It's the business model. AI systems improve by processing more data faster. Industrial scale computing serves the world not the neighborhood. Higher power density. Cooling. Backup systems. Round the clock operations. So impacts to the community are cumulative. They're not isolated. Power, water, noise, heat, air emissions, traffic, and emergency response all interact. Evaluating them separately misses how risk actually shows up in real life. Failure cascades are real because it's a tightly linked system where each piece depends on others to remain stable. That means failures don't stay contained, and these systems fail fast. If grid power drops or fluctuates, backup batteries engage immediately. Generators start to ramp up, and what started as a power issue now becomes a cooling failure, then a fire, then a public safety event. The Moss Landing fire burned for five days and continued to have periodic flare-ups. The permanent jobs. AI data factories lock in long-term resource demand, and once approved, these factories become connected to the same water, land, air, and grid priorities as us. And once started, it becomes nearly impossible to reverse. So labeling matters. Not all data centers are the same. And saying that they are gives developers the ability to place high intensity, heavy industrial equipment near homes. Let's try to enter three minutes are up. Thank you. |
| Jake Tison | 1:00:21 | Next speaker, Jake Tyson. I'm Jake Tyson. I'm not here by anybody's paycheck or anything like that. I have free will. One thing we're not talking about is California law. Oh, sorry. One thing we're not talking about is California law. We're talking about California law, especially from day one of this year. So California just got called out on data centers. And Imperial Valley needs to pay attention. Senator Padilla today introduced a bill that says rate payers are not the piggy bank for massive data centers like the ones this workshop is talking about. If a data center needs huge power lines, grid upgrades, and nonstop electricity like the IEA, then it's not going to pay attention. The IEA has publicly stated at their workshop that the developer pays for it, not us. And if data centers take billions of dollars to build, the developer can pay for SQL oversight easily. Because it's only, I don't know, a couple million bucks or no, I don't even know how, it's not a lot of money. So no more passing the buck. And we're not talking about the cost of the data centers. We're talking about the risk on the cost on to families, farmers, and small businesses. Those days are coming to an end. Senator Padilla's bill also makes one thing clear. Sustainability isn't optional. January 1st, Senate Bill 53 details there are new statutory classifications for data centers. There's foundational models. Frontier models. The higher the intensity of each of these data centers, the higher of catastrophic risk to the public at large. Because these aren't just buildings. They're some of the most power hungry industrial facilities on earth. And California is finally admitting it. If Imperial County intends to be a leader in lithium or renewable energy and advanced technology, then it must also be a leader in responsible development. That means planning AI data centers that comply fully with the law and do not drain the resources of farmers, the health and wellness of our families, and the future of this valley. Thank you. |
| Francisco Leal | 1:03:10 | Next speaker, Francisco Lal. Thanks for having me. Good evening. Since this is a general discussion about data centers and not specific projects, I'd like to ground this conversation in what communities across the country are already experiencing. Data centers are often promoted as economic engines, but independent reviews consistently show a gap between the promise and the reality. We're going to talk about jobs. Construction employment is real but temporary. Once operational, large data centers typically support very few permanent on-site jobs relative to their size and energy demand. On tax revenue, headline investment numbers can be misleading. Many jurisdictions rely on tax exemptions and incentives, which can significantly reduce net public benefit. On utilities, data centers are fundamentally energy and water infrastructure projects. Federal estimates show U.S. data center electricity demand is projected to double or triple within just a few years, placing pressure on the economy. On water, impacts include both direct cooling demand and the indirect water footprint for power generation, a factor often missing from local discussions, especially in arid regions. On air quality and noise, even when backup systems use natural gas rather than diesel, large banks of generators still produce nitrogen oxidized carbon monoxides, particularly when they're used for production. So, the new real-meat and myelodic into the real-merg-e-cow, And, to be more exact, the U.S. wish-advance-gournt-e-cow, the more-fuel, the more-e-cow, the more-e-cow, the more-e-cow, the more-e-cow, the more-e-cow, [ASR loop artifact: phrase repeats 4x, 3924-3928s] have a documented incident history requiring specialized fire response and evacuation planning. Communities nationwide are pushing back not because they oppose technology but because planning transparency and enforceable safeguards often come too late. Before projects arrive the county should adopt clear public enforceable standards on water power, air quality, noise, emergency response, and decommissioning. Big industrial uses should be planned like big industrial uses up front with the public and based on data not promises. Thank you. |
| Nick Gumbleton | 1:06:19 | Next speaker Nick Bumbleton. Good evening my name is Nick Bumbleton. I'm a business agent for Launa Labor's Local 1184 and I represent the thousands of members that we have that reside in Imperial County. Imperial County has the highest unemployment rate in this country. That's a reality our members and families live with every single day. Our members want to work here but that's just not a reality. As a result our workers are forced to leave their homes, their families, and their community just to chase jobs out of town and out of state. No one should have to leave Imperial County to earn a living. The downing center changes that. That's a reality. The downing center is a real reality. The downing center represents thousands of good paying jobs both during construction and beyond. These are not temporary low wage jobs. These are career level family sustaining jobs that allow workers to stay here, spend their money locally, and invest back into the community they live in. A data center will generate significant revenue for the county. Revenue that can be reinvested into the infrastructure Imperial County desperately needs. Roads, utilities, public services, and long-term economic development. It's a foundation for the future of growth. Imperial County cannot afford to say no to opportunity. We can't afford to continue exporting our workforce while unemployment remains sky high. A data center delivers exactly what Imperial County needs. Jobs, investment, and a stronger future. And to finish, I know we're not speaking on a specific project, but the recent data center that was proposed, I can tell you as of today we have a letter in support from the state building trades and that will ensure that the project is built 100% union and that it will have local hire and apprenticeship provisions in that PLA. Thank you. |
| Katia Olivas | 1:08:04 | Next speaker, Katia Olivas. Katia Olivas, Senior Director, Imperial County If I ask questions, will it be answered during my time or afterwards? After your time. After my time, okay. So, I'm going to ask a question. I have several questions that I want to ask. My first question is, if we are the second producer of solar energy in California, where is that energy going? I know that different residents have had their electric bills raised as well as their water bills. We have conversations of people saying that we have an excess of water. So, why aren't the residents seeing that water? Why are their bills being raised if there is an excess of water? So, I'm going to ask the first question. So, where is that energy going? And why aren't the residents being prioritized with this energy distribution? The second question is, if the developer is going to fund the infrastructure, who pays for the upgrades and the maintenance? Who pays for the constant renovations? I know that someone had mentioned that to give a revision to a data center and to generators, they have to re-up it. So, those are energy and fuels that weren't mentioned here. So, who are going to pay? Which resident is going to pay for that maintenance? The third question is, we mentioned that the data center will be using wastewater that then the city will purchase. It was also mentioned that the data center, to cool the data center, there would be different synthetic fluids. When the city buys that wastewater and then is invested into parks, is that wastewater going to include solar? And if so, what is going to be the effect on parks, on living beings, and on humans themselves? My fourth question is, how much revenue do data centers receive annually? I know that we mentioned that they were going to be taxed an annual tax of 4 to 7 million. I was under the impression that data centers make billions annually. So, why are they only being taxed .04% of what they make annually? My final question is, can you repeat clearly, because it's being mentioned by union leaders, how many permanent, permanent, not construction works that are construction jobs that are temporary, we want to know how many permanent jobs there will be at the data center. Thank you. Those are all my questions. |
| Hector Casas | 1:17:54 | allowing us to speak. My name is Hector Casas. I am with the project developer. I want to talk about the benefits from the project. The project is going to be responsible for any infrastructure development such as the grid or the water or anything that is accessed toward the data center. To answer the lady's concerns about energy. Well from the slide it's 3200 megawatts generated in 2025. More than 2000 is exported. There is substantial amount of energy being generated here. In addition to that there were impact studies done to the grid that said it's not going to be impacted by energy generation that had already been generated by using internalelectoral impact it. So that's not going to be a problem. At first, we'll probably bring in energy from the outside through the network and then eventually lock contracts with solar and geothermal companies. Water. The concern with water, it's going to be reclaimed water. The water is either going to come from the city of Imperial or the city of El Centro. We're thinking of purchasing six million gallons a day, of which only 750,000 are going to be used on a daily basis at the top end, which means that all of the rest of the water produced is going to go back into the drains, the Alamo, eventually the Salton Sea. So this is an environmental impact that's net positive, not negative, like some people assume it is. There was other concerns about the noise. I recently talked to somebody that's in Reno and the 2 million square foot data center there does not produce the type of noise that is being suggested. Okay. So I guess it will take place here. And as a matter of fact, the area where the data center is going to take place is near an airport and there's a railroad that goes there daily and it makes a lot of noise. I've talked to some of the people from the community and they tell me that it's very noisy during the morning, early in the morning, and sometimes during the evening. Same with the airport. So I believe the noise that is already there is going to supersede the noise being generated. Okay. And the other thing to know, the other thing to be kind of on the look-in, the thing to be on the look-in, the people in the last part I was just going to say, the the people in the back, the people in the back, the people in the back, the people in the in the back, the people in the back, the people in the back, the people in the back, the people [ASR loop artifact: phrase repeats 3x, 4856-4858s] |
| Unknown speaker (post-Casas, possibly "Cynthia") | 1:21:10 | Hello everybody, it's great to be here. I want to talk about a few things. Oh, sorry. Am I on? No, one more time. Can we start the time? They're asking for it. Yes, give me one second. Is it on now? No, when it turns green it will be on. Oh, okay. Then we'll just restart the time for you. Give me one second. Oh, I get a bonus 17. That's nice. We'll fix that. Okay, that's fine. All right, hey, it's great to be with all of you. I want to talk about a couple of things. Mr. Kossis is here. He was also on my property. He said IID is providing the water. So he just said it's either the city of Imperial or it's the city of El Centro. Now, I want to make something clear. We're not talking about a data center, right? I thought this was a workshop. Now, he's talked about a specific data center. Mr. Kelly talked about a specific data center. What data center? Now, I'm asking you to stop people. I'm asking you to stop people from continuing that propaganda. I thought this was just we're just talking right now, right? So my question is what data center? But I have a few other questions. So one of them being what is the vetting process for potential developers for the county? So you can answer this later. Do you do extensive background checks? Do you ensure they have experience in building data centers? Do you ensure that they have an upstanding legal record? How do you exercise discretion in making sure once the big tech giant moves in and all the issues associated, with AI data centers doesn't burden the communities that live adjacent to them? Part of that, BESS, the lithium battery storage. Lithium, by the way, is not a renewable energy source. That's part of this greenwashing scheme that they're giving us. Lithium is nonrenewable. And it's very volatile. It's something that we need. Of course we do. But you guys didn't talk about BESS facilities. So one of my questions about those, I have it here. Shoot, I should have had it ready to go. Well, anyway, I would like you to talk more about it because you didn't cover that in your supposed workshop. But, I mean, if they catch fire, like, what are you going to do if theoretically there's a house next to it? But we're not talking about any data center in particular, though, right? Just if they're building next to a house. Is there a source, Ms. Bean, that you can share with us? Is there a source that you can share that proves that data centers can operate in high heat climate? Or are we going to take your word for it tonight? I'd really love to see that source. I'd also like to know how many data centers are in the works right now in Imperial County? Since we're just talking about data centers, there's one that some people have talked about. How many are in the works? Are there going to be restaurants and coffee shops at the data center? Is that on the campus? I'd like to know that since it's going to bring a nice job for people. Okay. And then what role does public opinion play in these types of projects? If hypothetical outrage is consistently on public display, is it the county's duty to try and convince people otherwise? Or is it the prerogative of the county to respect the community's voice? And I will concede the rest of my time. So I'll start with your question about can I provide any information on specific data centers in hot climates. And yes, there are very, very large data centers operating in Las Vegas. One of the company's name is Switch. It's one of the largest in the world. And that is currently located in Las Vegas. There are also data centers that are operating in Phoenix. I believe we're all capable of doing a quick search to see that. We're not able to see what the names of those are in the locations. But they are operating in those different places. I would say Switch is the most significant. Switch is also being built in Reno, Nevada right now. Same thing in a hot climate. Other questions about the county vetting process for building data centers and if we vet legal records of individuals or applicants that come in? To the best of my knowledge, we don't look at legal or do background checks on applicants. But I will defer to Mr. Minnick. We do not look at background checks when projects come in. Who vetted this guy? Who vets people? Would you like me to reread it? Would that help? I have it written down if that helps you. No. You submit an application for a project. We don't do a background check on you as an individual. Wow. There was an additional question about battery energy storage systems. As I mentioned, we do already have over 125 megawatts of battery energy storage systems here in Imperial County. And so this isn't something that is new to Imperial County. And we do have fire and safety procedures with our actual county fire department. Anything additional on that? That's correct. Can you tell us about those procedures, please? Not being experts in the field, I don't think it would be our place to give you specifics on that. Dr. Lange, if they're not on the microphone, they won't be heard at all. Okay. So the question was whether or not we could give expert specifics on the firefighting process if there was a battery storage facility fire. We are not experts in that. But we can take that question back. Or as Barry mentioned earlier, we do have an email, questions at co.imperial.ca.us, where you could submit that question. So just real quick. So I did submit a CPRA to the Imperial County Fire Department. I got a reply. And they have not done any assessment on this, whatever we're talking about here. Right? And that's their response. That's what I have on the floor. Okay. So we're going to go back to the question. The question was on battery energy storage systems, BESS. And that was what my response was on. I was not responding about a specific project or what's been looked at. So I would anticipate that we wouldn't have that from the fire. But as a reminder, we did go over the rules at the beginning. We do want to allow people who have submitted their name to ask questions. And we are responding to those. But we're not going to have an ongoing dialogue back and forth between those in the audience and those sitting up here. Okay. So Ms. Medina, if you could call the next individual. |
| Karine Jerome | 1:28:06 | Next speaker, Karine Jerome. Hi. Good evening. So I'm a resident of Imperial Valley. I don't live too far. I live not too far away from it. And one of my the most concern I have is the energy. We've had blackouts in the past years. I had to go to a hotel myself those days that happened. So it's hard for me to understand how we are having excess of energy. I know lithium value is not happening anytime soon. So if that's the solution, I don't see it happening. My other concern is the water pollution. I think it's heavy metals. From what I read, the water systems to cool those machines, well, sometimes they go through the cables. And that's a very heavy pollution. Imperial City had to make us pay for having to create new plans to clean that water specifically. And we are still paying for it. We are still having to pay extra money to get clean water in Imperial City. So I don't see either the excess of water. And I don't see how is it going to be clean, either if it's synthetic or not. And my other concern is the fire risk. I live in the east part of that potential facility. So, yes, I also see some tanks there that I'm not sure what they are. But I am concerned if there is a fire because I understand that electric things, they take a while to be put down. We see the problems with Tesla nowadays, you know. So my other concern is if we have to do something. You are saying that IID is the one that is going to be taking care of providing that electricity or water or the ones being taking the decisions. So how the county is going to be accountable or responsible if something happened that there is not enough water, not enough energy at the end of the day, either because it grew bigger than expected or because there is a drought. So how is the county accountable for that? Because you are the ones who are supposed to take care of us. I would like to see a lot more specific details. I don't know if this is going to be like a project that is going to continue growing like they said. I would like to see also more specific number about the jobs that they will create, the kind of technology that they might use. Maybe that will make a difference. I'm not sure. And how many megawatts it's going to be. That's all. Thank you. Next question. |
| Tom DeBose | 1:30:59 | Next speaker, Tom DeBose. Good evening. Thank you, County of Imperial and staff for putting on this informational workshop. Very much appreciated. We enjoyed and have enjoyed in our history of this county. A fertile area. And we are very proud of the area that our forefathers found a way to have water delivered. So that agriculture could be the base of what we have in this county. The base of economic opportunities. The base of jobs. And all of that has carried us as a county with the ability for the cities and you, the county, to provide services. Services that we all depend on. Whether that be fire protection services or sheriff or police services or public works or other kinds of things like that. Or retail businesses or shopping opportunities. It has carried us to this point. But as we've now seen recently, that's also changing. Unfortunately with the closure of Spreckles Sugar. And as we see things shift from an agricultural point of view. We now need to diversify what has carried us so far. Because what will happen is there will be a degration of the services that we all as citizens enjoy. Or the opportunities that are afforded us where maybe they can no longer stay open or stay active. Because the jobs or the base of our economy now starts to shift. And so here we are in this county now enjoying the new potential of the solar that we can create here. The energy or the geothermal or these other base load opportunities that's now creating this opportunity for a new kind of industry to come here. To start keeping what we enjoy alive and not lose. And an opportunity for the first time in the energy side. To infect. And to in fact have the opportunity of what we produce here. Not serve somebody else in another county or another state. But to serve what will come here. And so not just the opportunity of the jobs that would be brought here with this new diversification of jobs and energy and industry. But the energy in fact would serve it here. And so then we get those jobs of what they produce. And so on. So it's just a wonderful opportunity. This is a watershed. And I'm hoping that we're able to take advantage of it. And we appreciate the county in allowing us to shepherd this thing through. We appreciate your efforts. Thank you. |
| Rami Kamen | 1:34:12 | Next speaker is Rami Kamen. Great. Hi. Thank you for having me. My name is Rami. I'm from L.A. county. But I'm in energy production actually. And I wanted to say Imperial County has like excellent potential. It's one of these I think I consider a diamond in the rough. And I say that because it's got a long history. It's got good culture of people. And you're going to get the opportunity of bringing money in from Silicon Valley without all the annoying people. You actually get to like benefit from that. You can use that money towards your infrastructure, towards hospitals, towards roads, towards. Instead of these type of meetings, the meetings should be based, should be considering what you're going to spend the money on and how you're actually going to improve your lives. Yes. Honestly. With the, just with the attraction of data centers in general, it's going to bring, you're not going to change the culture of the place. You're just going to bring in more money. And I'm telling you this. I know the type of jobs that are going to be offered, especially data centers, when we were talking about job numbers, that was only for a 50 megawatt project. Data centers to be hyperscale are a minimum of 150 and go up to a thousand, which is a gigawatt. And that does scale up. So you do get more jobs. Not to mention all the energy production and renewable energy, if that's what the Imperial County wants. So there's all types of benefits here that I think are being overlooked. And you're right to be concerned. And, you know, this is your home and you should be asking questions. And these are all good questions. You just got to have to like be open to it and keep your eye, keep your finger on the pulse. But I promise you this type of investment is actually going to benefit everyone without changing the culture. That's all. Last thing, best systems. That Moss Landing project was a disaster from the start. It was built indoors and you cannot fight a fire of that magnitude when it's contained in a building. The type of material that they used, the type of composite was is completely outdated. The whole systems change. So best systems are that that type of system is very outdated. You're not going to have those type of problems with anything in the future. Thank you for your time, everyone. Thank you. Yeah, I was just going to say, I was not in a good place. center but with regards to this zoning consideration of ministerial and by right the process seems to be quite bureaucratic and extremely pro-business it's been done behind back to the communities does not apply just to the county of the city of Imperial also didn't talk about this until it was moved out of the city and then to the county then it was something they wanted to talk about it's something is entirely predicated on the county's acceptance of the developers so-called right to avoid regulations like sequa and to extract profit at will and developers own lawsuit not what a nondescript example it has been stated that avoiding sequin and stripping through permitting requests as fast as possible is the stated goal without any regard for the community claims that any of these projects will bring jobs and not impact water and electricity rates I've not really been backed up by any studies by any commitments you that's simply just talk it say that there will be use of for claimed water that any developer will pay for anything then it should be put in writing it should be a commitment there should be a release of all the plans that should be reviewed by the community there's statements that will not increase electricity rates but there's been no issued supporting documentation to support that only bragging that developers will simply just pay the tariff rates and that somehow will generate revenue in the abstract there's a claim that generate a certain number of jobs then that should be again a commitment and that there should be penalties for not finally following through with these minimum requirements if they say they're going to create a certain number of construction jobs that should be committed to with no ability to go back on it there's gonna be a certain number of permanent jobs there should be minimum requirements for how many of those jobs are local not to attack bringing people in from the outside but to defend the local community from just bringing in random people who would then be shuffled out again by a giant corporation this is part of a broader push for a large lithium geothermal solar and other data projects plan for lithium Valley this is all backed by Berkshire Hathaway giant corporations mostly to just distract wealth for Wall Street but just low for working people again the lithium Valley project doesn't say how many data centers they want to build but in the documentation it says around 3.6 million square feet is assumed which would put it at this some of the scales have been discussed around like 1.2 gigawatts the central issue facing the working class in the community and Imperial County is not whether data centers are going to be built essentially the class interests involved these data centers are backed by tech oligarchs and a giant AI data bubble with hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars on the line we cannot become a colony of Wall Street where everything is just extracted to send to bankers in New York there have to actually be social benefits that should be guaranteed not just empty words and promises thank you Michael Morales hello everyone and thank you for hosting this workshop even though it's just a general discussion that I just wanted to touch on a few things and the first being the the jobs you know I I get it that there's going to be a substantial amount of jobs during the construction phase but then is 50 jobs is really nothing to get excited about and I know you say that there'll be a ancillary jobs created but per your slide you said there'd be about half a job created for every one permanent job so that's another six or seven more jobs so I mean that's nothing to get very excited about it was touched on that the developer would pay for upgrades but it was never touched on what about the where is the wear and tear of the grid that's where the taxpayers are footing the bill and uh and I don't think that's right for a taxpayer to be footing the bill for maintenance of wear and tear when we didn't ask for that sub you know demand to increase and you know on these jobs um we should be seeking Industries that will bring permanent jobs long sustainable jobs not short-term jobs you know I get it that you know my brother here from the construction Union I'm a retired Teamster business agent as well so I know about labor how important it is but we also got to look at long term not just temporary because I get it they want to stay here in their home but so do does all the citizens that leave to find other opportunities so we should be looking at other jobs and because I'm running out of time and I had more other stuff I think there should be safeguards put in place with the developers so that that we can get guarantees on jobs and other things that supposedly are going to benefit us and the community should have input on that and they should be involved in the discussions on what those guarantees and safeguards are um |
| Rosa Gonzalez | 1:44:07 | next speaker Rosa Gonzalez if you can just um turn on the microphone please and the bottom there you go okay well I'll be brief I have one question so this is the first time that I've been here so I like to know where the developers live if they live here in the Imperial Valley if they're going to be close to the site where they have you know are thinking about setting the this data center are they're going to be right there next to it at sleeping next to it, being rattled up at midnight, being waken up like I am by the train. I already have issues with the train and with the helicopters. So now you are adding onto it? Really? You're just going to come here and drop all of that on us and then you're going to go back to your places and have a very nice, peaceful night every night while we all suffer here? Yeah, I don't think so. Now, we do have many polluting agents here in the valley already. That doesn't mean that we are open to gather more, to accept more. We do not want that. You can take it somewhere else, close to where you live, and you're going to be sleeping, all right? Now, have you considered health-wise? We already have many problems. Dr. Thank you. Mental health problems, breathing problems, all right? Heart problems. So all of that, who's going to be putting up with that? Us, that we live here? Sir, do you live here? Close to where you're going to build a thing? Ma'am. Dr. Sir? Ma'am. Dr. That you argue, that you argue that we have treated you poorly? Thank you. It is a very, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, Thank you for hosting this workshop. And my first thing is that this is a real scary monster that we have to think about that we're feeding into it. But that's what AI is. You keep feeding into it and it's a monster that is just getting it's going to be getting bigger and bigger. My question is, you said it's going to be reclaimed water. But if you're using reclaimed water that originally was supposed to end at the Salton Sea, that means that that water is now not going to end there, which will then lead for the Salton Sea to shrink faster, which it's already on its way to doing that very soon. Which then will lead to that contamination reaching the entire region. And that would be pollution to the entire community, specifically those those close communities impacted closer to the Salton Sea. So that is in addition to that was mentioned earlier, cumulative impact, not just the impact that you're mentioning on your slides, but the cumulative impacts of over the years, how that's going to really impact the community. That's what I would like to see a report on. They mentioned that there's already noise there, the trails and the airplanes. But my question is, are you saying then that the data center generators are not going to add noise, that the airplane noise is much louder, that this is not going to be adding anything to it? I want an answer to that. Yeah. So the tax percentage, it was asked earlier for a 50 megawatt. The tax was very low. It was around four to seven million for a billion dollar industry. But you didn't really respond with a clear answer. If even if it's not a 50 megawatt, let's say it's 150 megawatt. What would that what would that tax look like for the county? And is that percentage still going to be super low? And I also want to know if there's negotiations in place for sustainable jobs. If if there are going to be around 20 to 50 sustainable jobs for a 15 megawatt. But then someone in the crowd explained that this is going to be a much larger data center, maybe 100 or 150 that would then turn into maybe 50 to 100 sustainable jobs. Is there any negotiation in place for at least 51 percent of those jobs to be for local hire? Or is this going to be just people who are going to be working in the industry? Or is this going to be just people brought up from out of state or out of county? Also, again, 100 jobs, 100 sustainable jobs, even if it were to reach 100, not going to fix the unemployment issue. Last speaker, Rodney Williams. She had some questions. I'll address first. So to the first question about reclaimed water and that that was talked about in the presentation, I did provide that as an example of a type of water use that could be used for developers. I also did share that alternatively they could get water supply agreements from the IID or there could be synthetic cooling. But without talking about any specific project, I can't address whether or not it would be reclaimed water for the IID. I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I have a lot of work to go on, and I is why that property tax number would be much lower. Any comments on noise? The question regarding studies to data centers and any additional noise? MR. The county has a noise element as part of its general plan that requires noise levels to not exceed certain thresholds based on the use and the zoning. So wherever the data center is located or any type of project, it has to comply with the noise requirements. It also has to comply with the noise adjacent to. So for example, let's say I have industrial land and residential land, industrial or agricultural land, let's say. It has a higher noise threshold as normally obtainable noise, where residential has lower. So at the property line, the industrial doesn't get its higher level. It has to meet the residential level. So if it's, say, 70 decibels are commonly allowed in industrial, but 55 is in residential, you have to meet the residential at that property line. And so any type of large-scale project like that, we would require a traffic, not traffic, we would require a noise study to make sure that the noise study, that the proposed project would not exceed the county's general plan regulations. And if many of the projects that we're looking at are not in the property line, we would require a traffic. So that's something that we would require. And then the other question was, what kind of negotiations on local hires? That is not something that has happened with any developments to date, because we don't have any projects that are that far along within Imperial County for data centers overall. But that is something that we can take back to our office and to our board. So we would require a traffic. So that's something that we would require. WG. I have a second and a second. [ASR loop artifact: phrase repeats 11x, 6805-6822s] We don't recall a question in that line of thinking and that attendee already left. So we can't have her restate her question. It was about accountability. I heard what you said but I don't know what the question is about accountability. How is the county accountable if the IID are the ones who are responsible for the water and the power? Could you come to the microphone please? It won't pick you up unless you speak into the microphone. And this won't be a three question, a three minute, yeah. She just asked how would the county be accountable if the IID are the ones responsible for the water and the power? If anything were to go wrong on their end, how is the county holding them responsible for the water and the power? Or how is the county accountable? Well, we're not accountable for the IID, right? What's our answer there? Yeah, we're not accountable for the IID specifically. We do have parameters though within our projects. Do you want to touch on that, Mr. Minnick? You mentioned like a balance or a check, a balance, something like that. So if you guys aren't accountable to them and they're not accountable to you, how does that balance work? I mentioned that the Imperial Irrigation District is a balancing authority, which is a technical term within power. I wasn't saying we're a balancing authority between the county and the IID. So does that not hold accountability, Edison, to the balance? What she's trying to explain is the irrigation. The irrigation district is also the power district, and the power district is responsible for all power served in this community. And under CalISO and FERC and NERC, all of the utility management for state and federal, they call it a balancing authority. Just like if you go to San Diego, San Diego Gas and Electric is the balancing authority for that area. If you go to LA, it's SoCal Edison and so forth and so forth. That's what she was referring to. But the IID comes after. The county is voting on this because there was an appeal. So you guys are making that decision first, and then it's the IID. So the accountability should go both ways. No? Okay. So if you build a house, you have to have power to generate the house. If I, as the building department, wants to issue you a building permit to build your house, I have to make sure that the utility company has the power or safety. Say it's Hebert, has the water and sewer capacity, or I can't issue you the building permit because health and safety codes say that when you occupy that house, it has to have power, water, and sewer. Same thing here. So these types of businesses, we have control over the building permits and the health and safety, but the utility companies are responsible for the water and sewer and power. It's not in our jurisdiction, but if it's failed, then we go after those utility companies, or if it's a failure on the property owner's side, we go after the property owner to make sure it gets rectified. But it's not some kind of balancing thing. So... If they were to do something wrong, you guys would go after them to rectify that problem? If it's not us, it's the powers above us. So NERC, FERC, CalISO, there's a lot of players that the IID has to answer to for water, I mean for power. For water, there's a lot of... For raw water, it's the IID. For domestic water, it's the individual districts. So just like our air district manager stated earlier, there's a whole lot of rules and regulations and upper Escalon checks and balances. But what about the noise? I think that we need to get back to our questions that we have because... Could you please answer that because that's very important? But we're not talking about a specific project. Correct. Let's go back to that. Okay. Let's regain control. We'll go to the next speaker because we have another speaker who's waiting. |
| Rodney Williams | 1:58:11 | Next speaker, Rodney Williams. Okay. [ASR loop artifact: phrase repeats 3x, 7095-7098s] Thanks for having us this evening. Thank you for having us this evening. I'm Rod Williams. I am an owner of Mesquite Lake Water & Power. and the other partner that's here this evening is also the owner of MLEP. These are land heavy industrial zone properties in the old Mesquite Lake area. That land was there's approximately six to seven thousand acres that was set up several years ago for heavy industrial and industrial zoning. It was promised at that time that there would be electrical service there'd be septic service provided for those industrial developments that's never occurred. I'm gonna go over just quickly there's many other locations in this county that are highly susceptible to having data centers in the future and not just data centers. I was in a meeting in Taipei Taiwan where there were cities from Long Beach that were searching for payments for the first week of January of last year, sitting before a group of gentlemen that were willing to come to the Imperial Valley, and they had billions of dollars to invest. They were in the solar panel manufacturing, battery manufacturing, the only batteries that the Department of Defense buys that are fireproof, drone production, and they continually call. The one gentleman was not in favor of coming to the Imperial Valley because he'd already tried to do a project here, and he didn't want to put up with the BS. Now, what I'm going to tell you this evening, water is not an issue. You folks are sitting on top of four billion acre feet of recoverable grass. Groundwater. A billion acre feet is highly recoverable and could be utilized. We've all been sitting here for over 100 years siphoning off the fruits of our grandfathers and fathers from all of the water that's come out of the Colorado River. I'm actively working today on many other types of water for Southern California. We have electrical. If you have a problem with electrical, all of your you people that are here that are opposed to this should be at the IID board meetings. Everyone should be. I'm sorry. All of the people that are here that are in opposition to this should appear at the IID board meetings, especially the ones that have been through a blackout. There's not been any very, very small amount of new generation equipment put in here in the last 20 years. I thank you all. I'm out there every day slugging. I have for 13 years. Thank you. I have no more speakers in my queue. Thank you. We got through the list of speakers that we had. Went a little bit over time. Thank you for your patience in that. We'll resume. Thank you. Thank you for attending this evening. We're done now. Thank you. |