By Sophia Moreno
Editor-in-Chief
Hundreds of Monterey Park residents filled City Hall on Jan. 21, protesting the city’s AI data center proposal. In tandem with San Gabriel Valley Progressive Action, No Data Center Monterey Park urged the City Council to place a citywide data center ban on the primary elections’ ballot, resulting in a 45-day halt on data center development.
Australian investment firm HMC StratCorp purchased 247,000 square-feet of land in Monterey Park to develop a new AI Data Center less than a thousand feet from a local park and residential neighborhood.
Civillians worry about the data center’s economic, environmental and public health impact due to the city’s lack of input with community members.
“My kids and grandkids live about 50 yards from the center so I have a big concern,” Nick Kezman, who has lived in Monterey Park for 75 years, said. “It’s loud, it causes mass pollution and I don’t think it’s appropriate to have it close to a residential area. The city says they’re going to bring in new jobs with the data center, but there’s a vacancy in Atlantic Square with little to no businesses, and they need to address those problems first.”
The city published an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration environment review, allowing for HMC to avoid rigorous analysis of a full Environment Impact Report for projects that may have significant long term environmental effects.
The study indicated that the facility would consume as much as twice the city’s electricity intake, using massive amounts of Southern California Edison’s energy, in which over three-fourths is fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are known to have a high carbon content, which traps heat in the atmosphere and contributes to global warming. They also emit toxic pollutants that are known to cause health issues such as asthma and lung cancer.
Through a closed-loop cooling system recirculating water, the IS/MND would use 12 million gallons of water annually. The analysis does not include the initial fill volume of the facility’s 23 industrial coolers, a plan for system flushes if the water is contaminated and a spill response protocol or containment measures for coolant leaks.
Local union workers and city council are in support of the data center, arguing they are essential due to their increased job opportunities and revenue. The center is estimated to receive a recurring five million dollars, a $200,000 trail extension deposit and 26 permanent jobs.
“It’s jobs like this [the building trade] that made it so that I could support my family,” Richard Wong, a 46 year San Gabriel resident and Communications Workers of America labor union worker, said in a city council meeting on Feb. 4. “I am your neighbor, I am representing the few Asian people in the metal trade. Let’s do this the right way and build with the skilled and local workers done by CWA.”