BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – A Democratic candidate for Congress in the Central Valley is calling for a one-year moratorium on new data centers following outcry from local residents and communities across the country in recent weeks.
Randy Villegas, who is challenging Republican Rep. David Valadao in California’s 22nd Congressional District, released a new platform outlining measures Congress can take to give more oversight to data centers in communities.
He called for a pause on new ones in the San Joaquin Valley in the meantime. It’s unclear how prevalent data centers are in the Valley, but according to one independent database, Data Center Map, there are at least nine between Fresno and Bakersfield.
The five-point platform calls for making data centers pay the full cost of electricity where they build, protecting water resources near neighborhoods, using union labor to build any future data centers, using revenue from data centers to fund local schools, and regulating how corporations use data and artificial intelligence.
This proposal comes nearly a week after Villegas held a town hall in Bakersfield where he also released his plans for healthcare.
Communities across the Valley are grappling with potential plans for data centers ever since a company known as Global Stack LLC began inquiring about space at county fairgrounds. The Tulare County Fairgrounds Board expects to hear more details from Global Stack LLC in January about the plans to place its systems on its property.
The company, though, doesn’t specifically refer to its plans as data centers. Instead, the company refers to them as “resilience” systems that will help maintain communications for first responders, among other services.
But residents across the Valley have been skeptical and have protested in recent weeks over ideas about any data centers.
At least one city council, in Hanford, said in a statement it would not permit data centers that do not go through a proper review process. Officials in Visalia, where Villegas is from, were also in the early phase of discussing how to address data centers.
‘Get this right before it’s too late’
At Villegas’ town hall in Bakersfield last week, voters questioned him about his plans to address the facilities.
In a statement where he released his platform, Villegas said he wants to go after “unchecked big tech developments” that could “make life even more expensive.”
“A moratorium gives the Central Valley the chance to get this right before it’s too late,” Villegas said.
A main concern from residents over data centers has been water.
The Valley is already grappling with groundwater regulations and making decisions about its future due to a landmark regulation known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. It calls for a significant decrease in groundwater pumping.
The consumer advocate and environmental activist Erin Brockovich has also jumped into the national data center debate, most recently launching a website where residents can “self-report” data centers.
The website is part of a campaign to track the expansion of data centers, but it’s not clear how accurate the self-reported sites are.
Villegas, the congressional candidate, said he has had conversations with local leaders and voters in the Valley in recent weeks to inform his policy platform on data centers.
“I believe decisions about new data centers getting built should rest with the people of the Central Valley,” he said.
