Mount Shasta police chief condemns threats against city officials over possible data center

“The Mount Shasta Police Department will investigate, arrest, and prosecute anyone making such threats to the fullest extent of the law. That is not a warning, it is a commitment.”

That was the message conveyed to the public on social media yesterday by Robert Gibson, the chief of the City of Mount Shasta Police Department. He was responding to what he says have been death threats and other threats of violence against city officials over concerns that a data center could be coming to the area. 

Community concerns erupted after Mount Shasta City Manager Todd Juhasz informed the council last week that the city had received an inquiry from an unnamed entity earlier this month, expressing interest in developing a data center at the former Crystal Geyser Water Company facility.

The site is located near a coveted water source and some community members have responded with concerns, and even outrage, noting the immense environmental impacts that data centers have had elsewhere.

The Crystal Geyser facility was sold to One Shasta LLC in 2022. Its registered agent could not be reached for comment but the property is for sale, as documented in a listing by Northern California real estate company Haedrich Group. The real estate agency lists the property as “ideal for data centers or other uses with high water needs.” 

Chief Gibson said in his social media announcement yesterday that he welcomes the public to use their voice to participate in public forums, but that threats of violence will not be tolerated. He added that threats over a project like this are an unprecedented occurrence in his tenure as chief.

“This is the first time I can remember as chief of having city staff and council receiving death threats to them and their families over an infrastructure project,” Gibson told Shasta Scout. Noting rumors that were spread on social media about the project, he urged the public to always verify information they see on social media, and to make their voices heard in a nonviolent way. 

The council discussed the possibility of a data center only briefly last week, in response to remarks from the city manager, and it’s not clear what, if any, jurisdiction the city would have over the possible location — which city officials have said is on land outside the city limits. 

Mount Shasta Mayor Casey Glaubman told Shasta Scout today that he was “disheartened that some people see threats of violence as a way to achieve their aims.” He said that those who have been threatened are on the “same side” as the people in the community who are opposed to the project.

“It’s not the threats of violence that would deter us from pursuing a given project. In this case, it’s the fact that nobody wanted or wants an AI data center to begin with,” he said by email. 

The city’s mention of threats comes as federal intelligence agencies have begun to monitor incidents of “anti-tech extremism,” a new category of violence that law enforcement agencies have observed with the rise of AI. 

Some community members have been mobilizing online to speak up against the project at upcoming city and county public meetings, including a July 7 supervisor meeting and a July 13 council meeting.

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