aceInside the long, bitter fight over one man’s quest to build the biggest AI datacenter in California
Sebastian Rucci zoomed in on a map in late 2024, looking closely at a large block of brown earth. The barren plot sandwiched between sprawling alfalfa fields and sleepy desert suburbs was exactly what he’d been searching for – the perfect place to realize his dream of building the largest artificial intelligence datacenter in California. The dusty expanse wasn’t an obvious location. It was in the Sonoran desert, just north of the Mexican border, where temperatures regularly rose past 100F (37.8C). Water was scar…
Residents say a proposed AI datacenter threatens air, wildlife, power and water in a hot desert county, and a judge has paused it pending a full environmental review.
The developer denies the project will have the feared environmental effects, and the article gives no completed review or measured impacts. Google's involvement is also unconfirmed.
Evidence
- JournalismThe Guardian2026-10-17
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Truvace Impact Record TRV-2026-1705, v1: “Inside the long, bitter fight over one man’s quest to build the biggest AI datacenter in California.” Truvace, 2026-10-17. /record/TRV-2026-1705 (accessed at citation time). sha256 ac9ab4e2785bb8d3…
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