Locals speak out on data central approval for Imperial County
Karina Bazarte
IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA) – The City of Imperial says it’s aware of plans for a 950,000 square-foot data center to come to Imperial County.
Last week, the City of Imperial shared information about a large-scale date center complex that could be built in the area of Aten Boulevard and Clark Road.
In the Facebook post, the City shared that the County of Imperial has approved or is in the process of finalizing the project.
“I think the County needs to give us an explanation. What was the reasoning behind this? What was the thinking process, the logic behind saying this is the perfect ideal site right? [I] have seen all over the news that these just bring harm to communities, ‘specially to the people close by,” said Francisco Leal, an Imperial County resident.
Many locals on social media expressed their concerns, including one local who would be right next to the center.
“These facilities create a lot of contamination, air pollution, they create also noise pollution and not just the kind of noise that you can hear but also the noise that you can feel…vibration,” said Leal.
A local activist who share this project would be bad for Imperial County.
“We are talking about 24 computer center that are notoriously famous for using an insane amount of water in a desert region like us. They’re always telling us that we gotta take care of our water and conserve water because we only help so much with the Colorado River, but then they go ahead and bring industries of our water intensive, so like it doesn’t make sense,” said Gilberto Manzanarez, founder of Valle Imperial Resiste.
He also says a petition has been created to bring more attention to the issue.
The Imperial Irrigation District says it’s also aware of the project and is encouraging residents to understand the growing interest in data centers.
We reached out to the Imperial County Board of Supervisors and we are waiting to hear back.
To find both petitions, click here for the first and here for the second.