Jake Tison / Mt Signal Media

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

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.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Board of Supervisors, Madam Chair, I'm Jake Tyson. So about this letter, item 19. You know, one of the things you guys all signed on, you know, you guys are all agreeing to it. So, I mean, anyway. You're all agreeing to it, the whole premise of the whole project and everything. But you guys added this into the letter. It says, to be clear, the county of Imperial did not solicit Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing LLC to develop the Imperial Data Center project in the unincorporated area of the Imperial County. Well, we know Tim Kelly did, right? Your cousin did. And IBEDC. We know this because, you know, he sat at this podium and he said we were, he said the public and the private sector came together with, I'm sorry, the business and the private sector came together. Mr. Tyson, that's not true. He sat here and said it. That is not true. He said it. Hold on, hold on. No, no, let me correct this quickly. Let me, please. Can I have my tie back, please? I've asked the chair. Yeah. So IBEDC is not a county organization. That's right, they're not. It is a separate organization. You're exactly right. So let's be clear. It is not the county that solicited or talked to any development. Right. They came to us. It was not us. And did I do have a cousin? Yeah. And I also have a sister and a brother. I got five sisters. Okay. I have family. But there's no financial interest in my part. Right. Okay. I'm not talking about. That is absolutely true. Mr. Kelly, I did not say anything about your financial interest. You did make inference that the county of Imperial solicited by having an association with IBEDC. Mr. Timothy Kelly stood here and said it was part of the plan. Okay. Let's get back to the comment. Mr. Scurries. Mr. Scurry. It's in your letter, though. Okay. Mr. Tyson, you can continue. I'm sorry? You can continue. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. So it's in your letter, right? And so he said it was private and the public for the people. It was a plan for the people. They've been working on it forever. And then he tells the story how he found the project, you know, when he was in L.A. on another business trip or something, you know? So, you know, it's just amazing you guys signed it and you guys state that. It's impeachable. It really is. Because, you know, the documentation of, okay, okay, so if he did it, great. That's cool. He was awarded that contract. Where's the RFP for that? Where's that? Where's the public? Where's that item on the agenda to get him to do that job? Mr. Tyson, can you get back to your point about the letter, please? Well, my point is in your letter it's saying you guys didn't solicit it, but you were part of the plan to do it. And that was just clarified to you. Anything else, please? Oh, go ahead. Anything else on the letter? No, let's do it. Anything else? No. You're finished with your public comment? Yeah. Thank you.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Next speaker, Jake Tyson. Mr. Tyson, is this a general public comment? Yes. Thank you. Mr. Tyson. Okay. Madam Price. Supervisors. I'm Jake Tyson. Good morning, audience. I have a couple things to say. And it won't take long. Number one, the IVDCPA, the Imperial Valley Data Center Prohibition Act, this was submitted last Thursday. It will be on the November ballot. And when this passes, it will ban all data centers in the Imperial Valley, including that horrible project proposed in Imperial. It will restart. And I will be back in the community once and for all. Oddly enough, the next day, I was sued for protecting this community by the developer of the same dumb data center project in Imperial. Number three, I want to say that I have a multi-agency packet prepared regarding the developer of this project, including emails, communication, and meetings with this agency. Including the executive staff and the planning commission and their efforts to push this project forward behind public view. This will be submitted to the DA, the Attorney General, the FPPC, the California State Auditor, and the Imperial County Civil Grand Jury, and various news agencies like the New York Times, The Guardian, LA Times, and others, which I'm friends with. And also, the last thing I want to say. Chairwoman Price, I want to be the first to inform you that a recall position for your public service is now official. And the signature campaign is underway. I think my old friend Carla Moore would be proud of me. She would. Totally. Thank you. And you guys have the day you deserve.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Next speaker, Jake Tyson. I don't have much to say. Hi, I'm Jake Tyson again and again and again. And so I'm not going to talk too much about it. But from what I know, the owner of this road has recently passed away. There's somebody actually owns the road and their siblings and their siblings that that are now in mourning of this person that passed away. Am I right? I think I'm correct, right? That the person that actually owns the road just passed away. I mean, like, personally, I think it would be appropriate to wait at least three or four months until the family gets over the grieving part. Instead of trying to push. I think that's a good point. Some sort of lot merger. I think, you know, I could be wrong. I don't know if I'm wrong. Maybe ask this gentleman here that works with the that pushed it right now. I don't know. Am I wrong? I'm trying to figure it out. Am I wrong? Does a woman own that or the person that owned that? Did she die? So because I can't imagine their, you know, what they're feeling here in this, you know, so soon after the death. And, you know, if there's multiple children. They're going to have to agree on that. But other than that, you know, when you when you think about the project or this lot or I'm sorry, this this road, this road leads to a bigger project. Right. And we all know what that project is. I mean, let's not kid ourselves. But there's sequel guidelines. You know, the lot, the lot merger, for instance, later on this road. OK. That grading permit that was already given. Those are all separate pieces. And the state of California calls it piecemeal. And it's against the law. And they're going to come in and shut this down. They will come in and shut it down. And all this will be a waste. A waste of government funds. All of it. So. So the sequel code, you know, 15378 project means the whole of an action which has the potential of resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment or reasonable. I'm sorry. Reasonably. Feasible and direct physical change in the environment. So, you know, also, like, what's what's the story? What's the potential if the road remained? You know, what are we removing if the road of the road remains? What's going to be there? You know, what? What's the possibilities there? We don't know. We're going to just take it out for this one project that does nothing for the community. Zero for the community. No reason to do it. Thanks.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Good morning, Board. I'm Jake Tyson, Madam Chair. I'm a little slow today, a little tired. We had a little party last night. About 150 people showed up at the old Eucalyptus School, and we had a little shindig, and we got a lot of signatures. And that's news that will come. But today I am formally submitting a demand to cure and correct under the Brown Act regarding your April 7th vote on Agenda Item 17, Part 3, regarding the lot merger. Peter just asked, how do we fix this? And so that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to submit a letter. May I submit a letter? Here you go. And for the record, I have submitted this electronically by email as well. At the meeting, the public was repeatedly told we could not speak about the data center, only the lot merger. People were shut down. People were like, keep talking about the lot merger, not the data center. I mean, time after time again. It's on record. But your own record tells a different story on agenda. Item 17. Part 3 clearly referenced a 330 megawatt data center project, the very thing the public was prohibited from discussing. You cannot rely on a project in your record and then silence the public when they speak about it. That is not transparency. That is compliance. So today I'm requesting this letter be entered into the official record, and I am formally demanding that this board void that vote and rehearse. The item with full public participation. So it was it was a little weird seeing all these guys from the union here, and they weren't even from here. But it it's like, is that is that what we are? That's what we told everybody. It's like we're telling, oh, we're going to hire locally. But none of those guys were locally. So we are hiring from outside this county if this project goes forward. So that was a. Absolute. Just a just a conflict of information getting out there. What you see and what you hear were two different things. So it was it was very upsetting. And by the way, I don't know why I was I was let out. I have no idea why. I have zero idea. I was sitting there. In fact, Mr. Rodriguez was sitting next to me. He goes, What's going on? What's what's happening? I had no idea. I was just like, OK, I got up and left when the officer came and got me. You know, I'm never going to have a issue with. A police officer ever. But, you know, I'm going to submit something. I'll probably submit an incident report with the ACLU and go from there. But it was very upsetting. Thanks.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Good afternoon board. I'm Jake Tyson. Um I'm here to talk about what we all are talking about lately is data centers because that's kind of been on my plate since November. Um you know, Imperial County's been asked to sacrifice its air water land power grid, public health and democracy. So so big tech can come and build industrial. Build industrial. Uh machines and call it innovation. Um that is not progress that is industrial scale harm with a press release. So um you know, I got like 10 things here just on the top about data centers in general. Right? And I think they affect this body because what we're seeing around the county, um like from Coachella all the way to the to the border even in Yuma, you know, lots of people have been contacting me. What do we do? What do we do? But you know, the data centers. The demand itself is astronomical. And what are we producing? You know, what are we producing? I don't it's just there's nothing tangible we're producing. We're we're just we're just bringing this energy in using all this water and we're not giving anything back to the public. There's nothing for anybody. So which is you know, when they don't when they're when they when they have this non-firm grid, they you know, their diesel or their natural gas generators kick on. Because these things can't shut off. So what are we doing? They call it tech progress. But this is not clean. That's not a clean digital future. Right? Because now we have these fossil fuels in the air from this thing. And once again, the public is suffering. Lately, I think this last week, the US News and World Report said it's up to $25 billion a year now. And in environmental costs and and the the Harvard School or the Harvard Journal, they said something like it's $20 billion a year. Out of pocket costs for for health insurance or not health insurance, just out of pocket costs for extra health. So these are these are big issues. Right. And as we're this county, you know, inviting this stuff in or we're looking at this stuff, we need to understand this. This stuff might not just be for us because, you know, I have it right here. We have we all have it in our phones. We already have AI in our phones. We don't need to cater to everybody else. We already have other stuff. We have geothermal. I mean, we need to be good with what we have. Right. And we have agriculture. And this is very important because that is not protecting geothermal. That is not protecting agriculture. That's threatening agriculture and that's threatening geothermal. So and plus, you know, fires were fire capacity. Response capacity is nonexistent in this county with BSS. So I didn't get through all the list, but it just it just there's things to think about as we go forward. Here's, you know, especially, you know, South Imperial Calipat in Imperial, you know, Imperial. I don't know. We just we need to slow down a little bit and maybe talk with the county in enforcing a moratorium. Thank you.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Good morning, Madam Chair and Board. I'm Jake Tyson, and this kind of feels like a moratorium. It really does without being forced onto us or voted in. And I was here on December 9th, and I heard the presentation then, and I learned a lot that night as well. And since then, history has kind of... shown itself. So today, the IID is telling the truth. The county has been trying to hide. Large-load data centers are not normal development. IID says these projects can require major transmission, distribution, generation, power supply, and system upgrades. And now IID is proposing a large-load tariff to protect ratepayers from subsidizing private industrial projects, data centers, AI, industrial infrastructures. Okay. So IID's draft tariff says large-load service would be interruptible at IID's sole discretion, and the customer would not be entitled to compensation to reduce charges if IID cuts power. So that's kind of why they plan non-firm grid. So the question is like, you know, what hyperscale AI data center can actually operate on interruptible power? If they cannot tolerate interruption, then what comes next? More generators, more batteries, more industrial infrastructure, more air, noise, fire, safety risks pushed onto our communities. And we just found out through a geospatial analysis through the CEO of the county, Dr. Lang, with her emails, you know, stating that catastrophic risk. It was pretty bad. So and also today, we're also witnessing data center interests entering the IID District 1 race. Okay. A candidate publicly tied to the developer's political messaging. So as we go to the polls, we should all be asking ourselves, is this race about protecting IID rate payers, farmers, families, and the grid, or about helping a private data center developer get access to public power? IID's own tariff proves the risk is real. I hear it. I think everybody I know that we've been involved in this data center have really been hearing it. You know, no backroom. No backroom. No backroom politics. No rate payer bailout. No candidate pipeline for data centers. Imperial Valley's power belongs to the people, not hyperscale developers. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tyson.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Okay. Good morning, Board, Madam Chair. I'm Jake Tyson. I got four things to talk about. It's been a long two weeks. Okay. The Sierra Club is now suing over the illegal lot merger vote that we had here on this April 7th, light item 17 part 3. The exact issue I warned this Board about. My cure and correct demand was a lifeline. And I told this Board that for this county to fix this violation before the damage got worse. Well, the damage happened. You know, more money is going out the door. Government code section 54960.1 requires that legislative body within 30 days of receiving a cure and correct demand. No, to either cure or correct the challenge action or notify me in writing or notify me in writing of its decision not to cure and correct. Your silence does not erase the Brown Act violation. It shows the public exactly what we already know. This county continues to ignore the residents while pretending to do the public's business. Senator, number two, Senator Padilla helped secure a $10 million Lithium Valley grant. And my CPRA request has now gone unanswered. Why has it taken seven months to show the public how that money was spent? How do you lose track of $10 million? So once again, you're ignoring me the same way you ignore the cure and correct letter. Number three, Derek Desert's signature appears on documents tied to the LLC pushing a second data center in Supervisor Price's district. The Mesquite Lake data center appears connected to Tim Kelly and Allison Miola, Supervisor Price's district. Supervisor Ryan Kelly, they are your cousins, right? Yes, they are. Great. So, and where does the IID candidate, Carlos Duran, fit in all this? Well, Derek Desert owns the Airbnb Carlos Duran is using to place himself inside the district to qualify as a candidate for IID director. A position that could influence the water and power decisions these data centers will need. So the public deserves to know, is Carlos Duran actually living there? Or is this just a temporary address to qualify? For the election? If he loses, is he staying there or is he moving back to Calexico? And number four, Imperial County's budget is what? It's about $755 million and it relies heavily on federal funding, local assistance and tribal consistency funds. While fire protection and emergency services are already underfunded. So, yet this board continues pushing industrial scale data centers that would increase risk, increase demand on emergency services, exposes taxpayers to more litigation. The longer this board executive staff and planning leadership remain in place while ignoring the public, ignoring legal warnings and ignoring agency concerns, the deeper this hole gets. So, Tyson, your three minutes are up. Great. We just probably need to wrap this up.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Jake Tyson. Okay. Line item 18. I'm Jake Tyson. First off, I'd like to submit, you know, the guidelines. I mean, come on. Who are you guys trying to fool here? Where'd you get a thousand feet from? Who wrote this, by the way? Who wrote it? Who wrote it? It's vacant on the slip. Who wrote? These guidelines. Who came up with this stuff on these guidelines? Nobody wants to take responsibility for it? So here. I would like to submit this to the records, please. It's kind of how it works around here, huh? Let's keep the accountability under the table, right? Let's create terminologies that sound great, right? They're kind of like rationalized, rationalized, things that sound like the truth but are not. So here we are. Guidelines. Guidelines are not enough. Imperial County needs enforceable ordinances, not suggestions, checklists, or voluntary promises from developers. Yeah. Banned data centers, right? And banning data centers would cause some lawsuits as well. But there's other things to do, right? You can remove data centers from by right use everywhere. Require discretionary review from every data center. Require a conditional use permit. Development equipment agreement and board level. Public hearings. Require a full sequel review on every data center coming into this valley. Every one of them. It would stop the lawsuits. Create an environmental justice protection overlay zone. You guys have the power to do this and you're squandering it. Expand sensitive receptor setbacks. A thousand feet. How about let's start with ten miles. Require water neutrality. Expand water neutrality. And water positivity. IAD's already doing the rape and protection thing. Create strict best separation rules. You guys can do this, but you're not. You're standing up for your family. For familial projects. And they're here waiting to talk too. Ranchos Los Lagos. Gone. And now Mesquite Lake. You guys are trying to push. It's trying to get out from underneath it and trying to deceive the public. Instead of working for the public. That is what we're doing. That is taxpayer dollars being wasted. Right here doing this right now. This whole thing is a waste of taxpayer dollars. I don't care if you're Republican, Democrat, independent, or libertarian or anything. Just being here. Require a super majority vote. Adopt a cumulative impact cap. If there's industry in various areas in that, in that, you know, within however many square miles, put a cap on it. You can't put one there. And be okay with it. So anyway. The county already has tools. And Imperial Valley. Okay. So Imperial Valley is not a sacrifice zone or hyper computing. The public is not asking the county to manage data centers better. But we are asking the county to ban them. Thank you.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Good morning, Board, audience. I'm Jake Tyson. I'm calling for the resignation of Supervisor John Hawk, Supervisor Ryan Kelly, Chair Peggy Price, Supervisor Jesus Escobar, County CEO Dr. Kathleen Lange, Assistant County Executive Officer Barry Beane, and Planning Directors Jim Minnick and Michael Abraham. This is no longer just about a data center. This is about public trust. And Bureau County residents have been asking serious questions about air quality. Water generators, fire risk, the power grid, CEQA, public records, and taxpayer dollars. And instead of giving this community clear answers, county leadership has continued pushing data centers forward while facing lawsuits and public outrage. Yeah, so public records and county emails have exposed what residents were never told clearly. Dr. Kathleen Lange requested GIS analysis connected to Atten and Clark Project that provided catastrophic risk to citizens of this valley. You know, Barry Beane was involved in strategic discussions with developer-side consultant Tom DeBose. Jim Minnick was emailed directly on a Sunday where DeBose warned that the fur is flying. And what followed was the county treating a massive data center grading permit as ministerial, as if this was just routine paperwork. And we're in court for it right now. Again, we have one day left. We have one data center and two court cases. That is the problem. Now you are spending taxpayer dollars defending this agenda in court, promoting this agenda in public, and even traveling to compare Imperial Valley to Loudoun County, Virginia. A place already dealing with data center noise, air contamination, transmission lines, substations, water pollution, grid strain, and resident backlash. That is not leadership. That is a warning sign you refuse to read. Our tax dollars should not be used to clean up private strategy. They should not be used to defend backroom decisions. They should not be used to protect billion-dollar developers while residents are left fighting for clean air, water, transparency, and basic respect. Imperial Valley deserves leaders who protect the people, not leaders who hide behind paperwork after the damage is already in motion. We are way beyond taxation without representation here. Way beyond it. So today, I'm asking clearly and publicly, John Hawk, Ryan Kelly, Peggy Price, Jesus Escobar, Dr. Kathleen Lang, Barry Beane, Jim Minnick, and Michael Abraham, resign. Step aside. Step aside so Imperial County can rebuild trust, restore transparency, and finally put the people in the right place. We are the people first.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Good afternoon, board. You guys are going to hate this. The proposed moratorium is policy violence. It's garbage. You guys are going to bring in some rules, but you're going to allow the destructive stuff to still come in the building. Forming a committee means you are not going to do the work yourselves. You're going to have the no accountability act again. It's kind of like how you guys function around here. Let's have somebody else take care of it. Data centers should be banned in the Imperial Valley because they are not compatible with life here. This valley already carries more than its fair share. We live with extreme heat, stress, water supplies, poor air quality, asthma, agriculture pressure, and power grid that should be serving families, farms, schools, hospitals, and small businesses. Not billion dollar tech companies looking for the cheapest place to dump their industrial footprint. They call it innovation. They call it progress. They call it economic development. But what kind of progress threatens our air, our water, our homes, our health? And our peace? The American promise is supposed to include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But how can families pursue happiness when industrial scale data centers are placed near neighborhoods? How can children pursue happiness if their air gets worse? How can workers pursue happiness if water and energy are redirected away from the people who actually live here to those disgusting and harmful data centers? The pursuit of happiness is not just about the health. It is a phrase. It means the right to live in peace. A right to raise a family without industrial harm at our doorsteps. The right to breathe clean air, sleep at night, and trust that your elected leaders are protecting you, not sacrificing you. This is not Data Center Alley. This is the Imperial Valley. Imperial Valley is our home. And we refuse to continue to be an industrialized sacrifice zone. Ban these disgusting data centers in the Imperial Valley. Protect the people. Protect our water. Protect our health. And protect our American pursuit of happiness. It's obvious the lack of leadership skills in this room by the number of data centers in the project system as we speak. We have Kashan, Atena Clark, Sinclair, Ranchos Los Lagos, Mesquite Lake, Lithium Valley, Hell's Kitchen, YK America, and we found one yesterday off a Highland Canal. It's like every week. There's another one. And that's just to name a few. So find some courage, you know, for once. Find some courage and lead and ban these violent and disgusting industrial infrastructures and start protecting the lives of this county. Thank you.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Good morning, Board. Madam Chair, I'm Jake Tyson. I have been clear from the beginning, I do not support this data center committee at all. I'm not a member of the data center committee. I support a ban. I feel like this right here is government waste. This right here. You guys are trying to invite a violent entity into this community at the taxpayer's expense. That's what I feel. It's a dead end. Some applicants have already made it clear they favor data centers, and the public deserves to know whether this committee is being formed to protect our community or simply manufacture political cover for a decision that has already been made. So let me be equally clear. The public will be watching every appointment, every meeting, every recommendation, and every vote. Anyone placed on this committee must be prepared to defend their position with facts, not slogans, promises, developer talking points, or fantasies about economic development. The advisory committee cannot become political cover. Every meeting, presentation, conflict of interest, or conflict of interest is not a political cover. This is developer communication, draft recommendations, and supporting document must be public. Committee members must follow the evidence, not arrive with a predetermined plan to approve the stat or to prove data centers period because there's a lot of them. If you support bringing a massive industrial facility into our county you must explain the consequences of our water, air, farmland, health, electrical grid, and the quality of life. You have to come correct because you will be held accountable. Thank you.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Jake Tyson. Mr. Tyson. Jake Tyson. I'm Jake Tyson, high board and audience. Madam Chair, I support extending this moratorium, but I do not trust this process unless it ends with a permanent ban on industrial scale data centers. Item 19 admits what the public has been saying for months. Data centers present a current and immediate threat to public health, safety and welfare. It admits the county has lost the ability to provide the public with the necessary services and services that they need to provide. It admits that the county has limited ability to review these facilities because they were treated as permitted by right. It admits several applications are already pending, including projects connected to Mesquite Lakes. Yet the ordinance still allows applications to be accepted and processed during the moratorium behind the scenes. So they may be positioned for approval when the clock runs out. [ASR repetition artifact removed: "Thank you." x16] industrial water consumption, backup generators, battery storage hazards, transmission infrastructure, round-the-clock noise, and develop development pressure near homes, schools, farms, and sensitive communities. We should not sacrifice agriculture land because public health, grid reliability, water security, or community peace for speculative projects offering limited permanent employment and extraordinary private profit. Extend the moratorium today. Stop all processing though, not merely final approvals. We require independent studies of water, energy, air, noise, fire, agriculture, public health, and cumulative impacts like CEQA would have done and we wouldn't even be here today. Thank you. Then bring back a permanent prohibition. A moratorium without a clear destination is only a delay. The destination must be must be protection and protection means banning industrial scale data centers from Imperial County.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

I see Mr. Kelly's gone. So, last week, Supervisor Kelly said, just because some people say there is no trust in this board doesn't make it true. Well, respectfully, trust is not something government declares for itself. Trust is earned through lawful decisions, complete records, and independent audits and honest answers. Right now, opening briefs from the City of Imperial and the Sierra Club challenge how this county processed the Hyperscale AI Data Center. They raised serious questions about the grading and preparation. They raised questions about approval, lot merger, ministerial permitting, and whether one massive project was divided into smaller pieces to avoid full sequel review. Piecemealing. Then there is the KPBS defamation case involving reporter Corey Suzuki. A judge granted the anti-SLAPP motion and struck the developer's complaint. That ruling matters because public reporting and criticism concerning this data center are protected matters of public concern. And while the county's decisions are being challenged. In court, it introduces so-called CEQA updates that do not update CEQA. They restrict who may appeal, where appeals go, how quickly residents must act, and what fees the public must pay. That does not rebuild trust. It restricts public participation. I submitted a CPR request about the county's Calipatria office. Who is meeting there? What public money is paying for it? And what is the public's response? I asked the county whether a data center and lithium value business is being conducted there. And the county never responded to me. So when millions of dollars are involved and basic public records requests are ignored, the public has every right to ask, what is happening there behind closed doors? Who authorizes it? And where is the money at? Where is the detailed ledger for the $10 million grant I CPR-ed on? Where is the consolidated accounting for more than $100 million? Where does everyone benefit if information directly resonates across communities across [ASR garbled ~2:49:13-2:49:28] transparency. Trust is a complete permit file. Trust is a timely CPRA response. Trust is an open appeal process. Trust is an independent audit. Trust is a ledger showing who received the money, how it was spent, and what remains. The public trust is absolutely broken here. Where are the records and where are the audits? Where is the ledger and where is the money? And until those questions are answered with documents, the lack of public trust is not just something people are saying. Supervisor Ryan Kelly, it is the direct result of the county's actions and Ryan is the leader of this stuff.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

I don't know what's going on here. It feels a little bit like whack-a-mole in this place. So now you are holding a workshop to explain to the public why it should become harder for the public to be heard. Think about how backwards that is. Your press release says that this workshop will give us a clear understanding of the CEQA appeals process. We understand it perfectly. CEQA guidelines 15022 says your local percentage of procedures must remain consistent with state CEQA law. Public resource code 21177 says CEQA issues must be presented to the public agency during the comment period or before the close of the public hearing. But your proposal goes further requiring appeal grounds to first be presented to a non-elected decision maker opposing a 10 calendar day appeal window. It's a very important point. I'm sorry, imposing a 10 calendar day appeal window, demanding detailed allegations and restricting how previous comments can be used. Then you bring on an outside counsel to hold a workshop explaining why all this is supposedly good for us. No, it's not. CEQA is an information disclosure law, not a government obstacle course. It should never become wrong words, wrong hearing, too late, you didn't repeat yourself, appeal denied. Sections 21055 and 21168.5 exist because courts can examine whether government actually followed CEQA as required by law. So let's stop pretending this is about educating the public. The public understands what you're doing. You're not teaching people how to participate. You're teaching them how easily their participation can be disqualified. CEQA was created to hold the government accountable, not to teach citizens how to survive government-created technicalities. So I do have a couple questions. My first one is, how much is the taxpayer paying for this legal services? Is he making $7.50 an hour, $1,000 an hour? I mean, what are we spending on this guy? And where is the money coming from while the county is having financial trouble? And so also, what is the purpose of changing the appeal rules here? He states everything from Riverside County or from Shasta, but he's not talking about the Imperial County problems. He didn't say anything from here. And also, is this an order from Ryan Kelly? Did Ryan Kelly want this? Is this what we're doing? Because why are we doing this? And what are the projects being pushed through that we need to get him through? You know, what's the purpose of this stuff? Your three minutes are up, Mr. Tyson. Thank you. So I'll read back the different questions that you stated, Mr. Tyson. A few of these I will be directing to you, Mr. Sahagi, online. To the first questions of how much is the taxpayer paying for the legal services? And where is the money coming from? That's something that we can take back to the Office of the Information to be able to provide back. But I can't provide that to you at this time. The next question, what is the purpose of changing the appeal rules? If you could touch on that, Mr. Minnick, if you have any comments of why we review our appeal rules. And then also, Mr. Sahagi, in terms of how it aligns with state changes that get made throughout the year. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. All right. The current rules of guidelines that we use to implement CEQA was adopted last in 2017. Since then, the state has updated its rules. It has adopted rules to implement rules and guidelines, as well as there has been a number of court cases. So in order to be consistent with CEQA and court law, court regulations or court cases, we've asked consultants to come and take a look at it. These are some of the points where we were not consistent with the most up-to-date court cases or rules. And so I hope that answers your question. It doesn't. Okay. I'm sorry. It doesn't answer your question. I'm asking about the Imperial Valley. Why are we changing the rules here? So that we're consistent with state. I get that. But why? I mean, you're not. Is there a reason why? What happened here in the Imperial Valley? Is something coming through this door that you guys don't want people to talk about? We're updating it because it's 10 years old. Sure. I get it. Jim, I get it, man. I totally get what you're saying. But you're not answering the question. Mr. Tyson, can I ask you to just pause briefly? Because nobody online is hearing the comments that you're making. So they're just hearing one side of the dialogue. Periodically, we do update. This happens to be an update. Just like we update Title IX, we update the error codes, we update everything. Absolutely. We have to be consistent. If we're not consistent, we still have to follow the law. Right. Okay? So even if we're out of date, we still follow CEQA. But from time to time, we have to update it. Same with our building codes and stuff like that. It's been quite a few years. We're updating it. There's no specific. There's land. There's building codes. I'm trying to explain. My job is building and planning. Right. Okay? So I have a lot of different regulations, just like the other 20-something departments. Right. But from time to time, we have to update it. This is time to update this. I'll be updating the general plan in the next few months, adding an environmental justice element because the state requires it. In 2029, I have to update. 2028, I have to update the traffic circulation element. In 2030, I have to update the housing element. These things happen over time. And so this hasn't been updated in a long time. We looked at it. We found that we were deficit in some of them. Some of it. Some of it's minor. Some of it's the fact that we're citing things that are no longer relative to the state. Other stuff is laws have changed. So we're providing a comprehensive update on it so that we are consistent. That's all we're doing. Yeah, but it doesn't sound comprehensive. It's . On my part, there's no conspiracy or anything like that. We're just updating the code. Yeah. Well, I didn't say conspiracy. Sorry. I didn't say conspiracy. You asked if there was a certain project . Well, I mean, yeah. Is there some . I mean, like, for instance. For instance. The Lithium Valley EIR. You know, it's a draft, right? We're trying. You want, you guys got to get it through the door, right? And, you know, if the word is on the street, you don't want it to look like what happened on December 18th in here, right? You don't, right? For instance, you know, like, for instance, here. Where's my? I had a question about, like, what would it look like? Say, like, there's a project like, like a data center that comes through here, right? So we, you know, if you don't get to, if you don't bring your, if you don't write 10 days before to the planning commission, right? And then, so you're not going to be heard when the board sees it? [staff interjection: "I don't think that's how it's. That's not the way I understand it's being written."] Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying. There's no redlining here. We don't see anything side by side. You just kind of threw that up there, right? So it is kind of confusing. So when people. No, no, the project. People that don't come to, I'm sorry, people that don't come to this, this event here tonight, this workshop tonight. And so when there's projects in, I don't know, like a year from now, right? Things are coming through the door. People want to appeal. But we can't. We're just, we got to, we're being restricted to appeal in the way, we got to do it a certain way. And if we don't do it a certain way, we won't even be listened to. Right? Even before the end of the day of that hearing. Right?

Official source · Corpus workbook

Unofficial transcript text; check the official recording

Jake Tyson. Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez. I have a lot to say, I have a lot to say, to the people. that happens in the future. I hope maybe some of these questions might, I don't know, ring a bell later on. This tariff reaches beyond hyperscale AI data centers. Depending on their electricity demand and operating patterns, it could cover cryptocurrency mining, lithium processing, and other major industrial facilities. I oppose hyperscale AI data centers in Imperial Valley because our communities should not shoulder their demands for electricity and water or the pollution from their generators. This tariff must protect the people who pay the bills, depend on our water, and breathe our air. Senator Steve Padilla's state bill 887 offers a starting point. Its proposed conditions for data center streamlining include no increase in statewide fossil fuel consumption, four hours of zero carbon storage at full forecast peak demand, and developer-funded grid investments. I'm asking you to strengthen four specific provisions. And this is just from the PDF, so I don't know, I didn't get all the actual numbers and stuff, but page 45, characteristics of the interruption require reduced operations on non-combustion resources during curtailment. Do not protect the electricity by sacrificing our air. On page 44, large load interconnection process. Prohibit energization until adequate water supplies are verified and required environmental reviews and permits are completed. Kind of added in there. In page 46, electric service agreement. Make these protections binding in every agreement with monitoring public compliance reports and consequences for violations. Individual contracts must not weaken them. In page 52, collateral requirements require security covering potential exit fee exposure. Do not leave that protection discretionary. Residents must not inherit a failed developer's unpaid obligation to protect their energy and water resources. Do not leave that protection to the anv, a � community. So my suggestion is to write that obligation into the tariff. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tyson. Third and final speaker, Gilberto.

Official source · Corpus workbook

Catalog summary (not verbatim letter text)

Twenty written objections request continuance, public legal analysis, side-by-side explanation of changes, clarification of effects on pending projects and the data center project, stronger notice and appeal protections, anti-piecemealing language, and inclusion in the administrative record.