A heated debate over data centers descended into disorder at a Central California county meeting, where a woman was removed by police after protesting the proposed facilities.
The incident occurred Tuesday during a Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting in Visalia. Officers escorted the woman from the room after she disrupted proceedings while objecting to AI data centers.
“Talk about the data center! This is a global problem, not a local problem!” she yelled in video published by FOX 26.
The meeting followed a July proposal to build a data center at the Tulare County Fairgrounds. Local residents swiftly opposed the plan, prompting the County Board to impose a 45-day moratorium on new data center projects in unincorporated areas.
Supervisors voted unanimously, 5-0, on Tuesday to extend the moratorium by another 10 months and 15 days. The additional time will allow county officials to consider potential regulations for the facilities.
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“Tulare County communities are living paycheck to paycheck, to survive a cost-of-living crisis that’s only getting worse,” Joe Delgado of the group Power California told The Fresno Bee. “Residents here need economic relief. Instead, our representatives fast track profitable project, while failing to address critical and urgent solutions…”
Global Stack, the company proposing the project, sought to lease between two and five acres of fairgrounds property for 100 years. The request triggered a significant backlash from the public.
The company has also promoted data center development at fairgrounds in other California counties. In its materials, Global Stack describes fairgrounds as underused public land that could provide a source of revenue.
The controversy comes as a poll from The Economist and YouGov found that nearly two-thirds of Americans oppose building new data centers in their communities.
