In Santa Clara County, some Gilroy residents found out about a permitted Amazon data center only after it started construction due a secretive permitting process that doesn’t involve the public. NBC Bay Area reports: “A data center is a facility the city can approve for its industrial zone by the city’s community development director rather than through a public City Council process.” A city council meeting June 15 will consider how these type of permits are granted.
Meanwhile, in Monterey Park near Los Angeles, voters approved a ban on data centers after the city council placed it on the ballot, following public input.
Erin Brockovich has taken this on as a focus area with a new website studying and tracking data centers.
A coalition of Wisconsin organizations has provided a data center toolkit called Big Tech Unchecked.
Industry groups aren’t taking this lightly. An pro-data center editorial appeared in the Monterey Herald this weekend and in other California newspapers, purportedly from a “watchdog” group. Unfortunately, the group has long been associated with the tobacco industry and is an arm of the pro-business Atlas Network.
Given all the significant issues around these data centers including high energy use leading to increased electric bills for the public, extremely high water use impacting aquifers, pollution, noise, impact on farmland, use in surveillance, and health effects, Monterey Park’s action is a wise step for every community. The money and lobbying influence from giant corporations like Amazon is difficult for politicians to resist, regardless of the impacts.
Will the Monterey Bay region counties and cities to emulate Monterey Park leaders? Or will this region’s leaders allow its land, air, water, and electric grid to be compromised by data/surveillance centers?
Information on health effects:
https://ehsciences.org/data-centers-increase-electromagnetic-fields-emf-exposure/
Sources:
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/gilroy-amazon-data-center/4091984
Click to access Big-Tech-Unchecked-Toolkit_final_rev19Dec25-resized.pdf
https://www.ocregister.com/2026/06/04/watchdog-group-busts-myths-about-california-data-centers/
https://www.tobaccotactics.org/article/taxpayers-protection-alliance/
Monterey Bay Matters 