Data Centers - are they affecting you?

One of the growing concerns among people today is the proliferation of data centers across the country. With the growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) everywhere, data centers are necessary to supply the massive computing power, special equipment, and high-speed processing power required for these AI programs. 

Google Data Center, Council Bluffs, Iowa

Photo Credit: Chad Davis, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

However, concerns have been raised about noise, electricity usage and their affect on household electric bills, air pollution, and the impact on water supplies.

There have been many news articles about these facilities and reports that over 300 data centers are proposed for California alone.

One particular project has been prominent in the news. It is a facility proposed for the Imperial Valley. The proponents of the project have filed a lawsuit objecting to the denial of the use of Colorado River water for their project.

Some people think that these facilities are not regulated enough while proponents believe they have just as much right to be built as any other industrial or commercial facility.

What do you think? Are you aware of any data centers that have been built, are being built, and/or have been proposed near where you live or work in California?

Please let us know in the comments below whether you think these facilities will positively, negatively, or have no impact on you.

California files another Notice of Intent to Sue the federal government over cancelled offshore wind farm projects

Today California once again threatened to sue the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) for what it claims was an illegal buyout of a company that had previously agreed to develop a wind farm energy project off of the coast of Morro Bay, CA. That company, Invenergy, was also threatened in the potential lawsuit.

Photo Credit: U.S. Department of the Interior

The Notice of Intent to Sue - PDF was sent by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Energy Commission (CEC) Chair David Hochschild. They claim that DOI violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act by illegally reallocating more than $111 million in federal taxpayer dollars to pay a subsidiary of Invenergy to abandon its offshore wind energy project and make an equivalent investment in geothermal and fossil fuel projects elsewhere. 

DOI announced the agreement with the Invenergy subsidiary on June 17, 2026.

California previously filed a similar Notice of Intent to Sue last month related to a previous buyout of another company by DOI for a project in the same offshore area. That buyout of $120 million was with Golden State Wind LLC, which we previously reported on here.

It is not only California offshore wind energy developments that have been affected by these federal actions. Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont also sent a joint Notice of Intent to Sue - PDF today to challenge additional lease buyouts between DOI and Invenergy subsidiaries that were announced at the same time. Those taxpayer-funded buyout deals cover three leases off the coasts of New York, New Jersey and Maine at a total cost of $653 million.

 

“Using taxpayer money to strike backroom buyouts that make clean-energy projects disappear is illegal,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. "Make no mistake: California will continue to hold the Trump Administration accountable for illegally striking deals to kill offshore wind projects.” 

 

“This unlawful agreement is another reckless attempt by the Trump Administration to deny Californians the benefits of offshore wind,” said California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild. “Offshore wind isn’t just about domestic, clean energy – it’s about creating the good-paying jobs and industries of the future.”