Siskiyou supervisors seek to reduce community fears about rumored data center
Late last month, an unnamed company approached the city of Mount Shasta with questions related to developing a data center. This week, Siskiyou supervisors said they’ve had no such inquiries, while encouraging a town hall to discuss public concerns.
All the way up in Yreka, this week the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors addressed constituents concerned about the possibility of a data center coming to land near Mount Shasta, a tiny city an hour north of Redding.
“We are well aware of the community’s opposition,” one supervisor said this week, referencing fears among residents about an inquiry posed to the city of Mount Shasta last month. The county allayed such fears during the board meeting saying no inquiries about data center development have been made to county officials or departments thus far.
The news of an enquiry about data center development became public during a routine update by Mount Shasta City Manager Todd Juhasz during a council meeting last month. He said an unnamed entity had contacted the city’s planning department about developing a data center at an industrial site once owned by the Crystal Geyser Water Company.
That information prompted some community members to sound the alarm about the environmental risks of such a project, especially in a place like Mount Shasta, known for its crystalline water. Community opposition to even the potential for such a project quickly veered into threats against city staff, leading to a public statement from the city’s chief of policy and a plan for increased security at city meetings, Juhasz said today.
He confirmed for Shasta Scout that the majority of the former Crystal Geyser site is currently within the county’s jurisdiction, though he said a small part of the property also straddles the city of Mount Shasta. Asked about why the company had reached out to the city of Mount Shasta, rather than Siskiyou County, he speculated that it may have been due to “confusion.”
The real estate listing for the site had initially noted the land’s water access was “ideal for data centers or other uses with high water needs.” While it still cites water access as a selling point, the listing’s language has been edited to remove explicit mentions of data centers and now reads, the site is “is ideal for an end-user or investor seeking a high-capacity industrial asset with significant land control.”
As Juhasz noted, any kind of industrial development would require an environmental impact review or similar legal process that includes community input on the proposed project.
“However, it seems that the person trying to sell the property seems to have gotten the message that a data center will never be approved,” Juhasz added.
During yesterday’s board meeting, Siskiyou County supervisors also discussed the possibility of a future town hall in Mount Shasta, to create space for residents to publicly discuss their concerns. Nothing is scheduled yet, but Mount Shasta Mayor Casey Glaubman said today that he’s generally supportive of the idea.
Around California, the arrival of data centers has elicited concern from both state legislators and municipalities, with the Southern Californian suburb of Monterey Park to be the first in the nation to officially ban them. California, Texas and Virginia are the three states with the most data centers already in operation. The majority of planned data centers are slated for rural parts of the country, according to the Pew Research Center.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
Comments (1)
Leave a comment
Related Articles
Two Forest Service employees released safely after 15 hours held hostage in Shasta-Trinity National Forest
After a long standoff yesterday, two Forest Service employees being held hostage at Gumboot Lake in Siskiyou were safely released. Local agencies in Northern California, alongside law enforcement agencies across the state and nation, worked to respond to the crisis.
A third of Shasta’s jail deaths in recent years have been ruled suicides. A policy change could save lives
Two dozen people have died while incarcerated at the Shasta County Jail over the last six years. A review of postmortem investigations indicates more intensive monitoring of high-risk individuals could prevent deaths.
Inside the protests dividing the Redding Senior Center
Members of the senior center are calling for regular meetings and greater transparency after proposed bylaw changes that would eliminate statutory voting membership. Center leadership says the protesters represent only a small share of members.
Thank you for this update of what’s happening with Mount Shasta City politics and that data center that we just won’t allow to be built in our Sacred city or anywhere within Siskiyou County.