The nationwide controversy surrounding high-tech data centers, and impact and energy and water supplies, turned into a police matter not far from the U.S.-Mexico border.
A man speaking out against a proposed data center said he was removed and arrested at an Imperial County Board of Supervisors meeting this week for a vote related to the project.
Ismael Arvizu, 26, said he was charged with trespassing, disturbing the peace, resisting arrest and threatening a public official.
“The fact that this happened shows the extremes that they are reaching to keep our voices suppressed,” Arvizu told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.
Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing wants to develop a 950,000-square-foot facility in the county that would be among the largest data centers in California. The county has exempted the project from undergoing a state environmental review — a point of contention for many residents who are concerned about the health and environmental impacts.
The debate over the project has grown fierce, and Tuesday’s board meeting drew a large crowd. During public comment, resident Ramon Chavoya expressed frustrations with the county and Board Chair Peggy Price for letting the project progress.
“Peggy Price, we have the signatures right here to recall you,” Chavoya said, holding up a sheet of paper. “Count your days.”
After Chavoya’s statement, Arvizu said he cheered and applauded, which can be heard on a video recording of the board meeting. Arvizu said a law enforcement officer then forced him to leave the meeting without providing an explanation. He was arrested outside the chambers.
Clinton Erro, the public information officer for the Imperial County’s Sheriff’s Office, said the case has been submitted to the district attorney’s office for review.
Arvizu earlier during the meeting told board members he was against the lot merger for the data center because the project would benefit billionaires at the expense of local residents.
“In this age of unchecked capitalistic corporate projects, communities of color have always been on the front line organizing to protect themselves because no one else will,” said Arvizu, speaking loudly into the microphone.
Price asked Arvizu to lower his voice.
“I want to yell,” said Arvizu, who spoke for the remainder of his allotted three minutes before sitting down. “You really thought you would pass this project without the community fighting back?”
Arvizu told The Times that an officer at the jail said he was being charged for threatening Price, which he denied.
Imperial County board members did not respond to a request for comment.
Christopher Scurries, a lead organizer with Not In My Backyard Imperial — a community organization formed to protest the data center — said he joined others to raise $5,000 bond to get Arvizu out of jail.
Scurries said the meeting had a heavy police presence. Several other residents were forced to leave but not arrested, he said.
The board this week ultimately approved the lot merger with a 4-1 vote, combining several parcels of land on the corner of Clark and Aten roads where the proposed center would be built.
Community meetings about data centers nationwide are growing chaotic and contentious, with reports of police dragging residents outside and council members being threatened. Some developers have paused plans or pulled out of projects amid the backlash.
A city in Missouri recently ousted every incumbent council member who supported a data center project in favor of candidates who opposed it.
An Indianapolis council member said bullets were fired at his home, and a note stating “No Data Centers” left under the doormat, this month after he supported a data center project.
Earlier this year, a farmer who opposed a proposal in Oklahoma was arrested for tresspassing after he spoke slightly longer than three minutes during public comment at a council meeting. Three women were also arrested in Wisconsin after refusing to leave a meeting and chanting “recall” at council members who supported a center for tech giants OpenAI and Oracle.
Data centers have existed for decades but are rapidly changing and expanding due to the worldwide boom in artificial intelligence. The facilities can generate significant revenue for local governments due to sales and property taxes, but also require immense amounts of water and energy.
During an interview with Mathias Döpfner at the World Economic Forum meeting earlier this year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warned that the public could turn against AI due to the natural resources it consumes — unless tech companies demonstrate it will improve communities.
“At the end of the day, I think that this industry to which I belong needs to earn the social permission to consume energy,” he said. “It needs to result in economic growth that is broad spread in the economy.”
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