Valley Solutions

Amazon’s stealth data center

Wall Street Journal. How Amazon built a data center in a CA town without anyone noticing. 
Synopsis: Residents of Gilroy are furious after learning the city has authorized the building of a $2 billion data center in their midst without telling anyone. Few knew the purpose of the building until after construction began on 56 acres just outside town. “With no public meetings and scant media coverage, few residents even knew the project was under way.” Amazon even required government staff to sign non-disclosure agreements to help keep their secret as they approved variances in zoning laws and non-conforming design features. The mayor says that’s how business has been done in the community for years. Amazon has built a pipeline to deliver treated wastewater for cooling and footed the bill to bring the Garlic Festival back to Gilroy. The mayor thinks that justifies the secrecy. Others disagree: “We shouldn’t have to watch over their shoulders.”
MAD Take: First, there is no longer a credible newspaper in Gilroy to watchdog city government. More importantly: Why is it legal for any public employee to agree to keep secrets from the public? The courts should declare all non-disclosure agreements involving workers in public agencies null and void. They’re called “public” agencies for a reason, after all.

Wall Street Journal. Data centers are moving in next to American homes, changing neighborhoods. 
Synopsis: An increasing number of rural and suburban residents are finding themselves living near new, huge data centers of 50 megawatts or larger. Centers are increasingly moving away from urban hubs to more compliant suburbs. A center that opened in 2017 was within 23 miles of the nearest major urban center. This year, it will be 27 miles, and those opening next year will be 34 miles away. “It means more data centers in lower-income communities,” reports the Journal. In 2025, household income in nearby communities was 11% above median. In centers opening this year, household income is 2.1% below median, and next year’s openings will be in areas where the income is 5.7% below median.

Modesto has 2 tiny data centers

Modesto Focus. Modesto leaders reassured public that data centers aren’t allowed; city already has two.
Synopsis: Garth Stapley last week broke the story that a data-center developer has been sniffing around for a location in Modesto. The city promptly intoned that such facilities are not allowed under city codes. Turns out, there are already two in operation downtown. But “not all data centers are created equally.” Both are “tiny compared to what could be built at the Graphics Drive site eyed by a major data center developer.” The city didn’t respond to his request to clarify the differences. But Lumen Technologies’ data center is in a 3,400-square-foot building on Tenth Street; the Ayera Technologies server farm is entirely contained to the sixth floor of City Towers, also on Tenth. “Both companies promote their facilities as data centers, though they’re not the kind consuming immense amounts of water and power,” explains Stapley. The Graphics Drive proposal would be 200x larger than either of the existing centers, covering the 20-acre site that once housed the FMC plant. It would require up to 50 megawatts, or the power it takes to run 50,000 homes. The city council will meet tonight to discuss data centers.
MAD Take: Having read the Journal’s story about Gilroy and the movement to poorer communities, it might be nice if someone asked Modesto’s city manager if any member of his staff has been required to sign a non-disclosure agreement with anyone. And why.

Medics have Merced covered

Merced Sun Star. All 5 of Merced’s fire stations now have paramedics on duty 24/7. 
Synopsis: Merced joined most California cities in providing paramedic coverage across the district at all times. Round-the-clock coverage began Monday when a paramedic clocked in at Station 52 in south Merced. Medics provide advanced life support services from heart monitoring to med administration. Funding came through a federal grant. Medical emergencies accounted for 70% of the 12,700 calls handled by Merced Fire last year.
MAD Take. Providing funding for such services highlights the importance of effective representation in Washington. What those living outside the region might not realize is Merced’s history of sparse medical coverage by ambulance companies. Just last year a single ambulance was tasked with covering the entire county. Now, through reciprocal agreements, Merced residents and many living nearby will have access to life-saving care in time to do them some good.

Piping in gas from Texas

Wall Street Journal. An oil refiner that fled CA is back – with a giant pipeline from Texas. 
Synopsis: Phillips 66 is building a 900-mile pipeline to carry refined gas, diesel and jet fuel from Texas to LA. Gov. Gavin Newsom is among the fans of the Western Gateway Pipeline, which will push up to 230,000 barrels a day through Arizona to a terminus in Colton, about an hour east of LA. The state has lost 20% of its refining capacity in the last two years, and the war with Iran has diminished imports. Even with the highest number of electric vehicles in the nation, CA drivers consume 1.8 million barrels of fuel a day.

All aboard high-speed train!

Cal Matters. Is CA’s slow road to high-speed rail worth chipping in $1 billion a year?
Synopsis: Dan Walters jumps onboard the criticism train after reading a column by Joe Mathews describing Morocco’s new high-speed trail project. CA and Morocco are roughly the same size with similar populations and even topography. But CA is much, much, much richer. Morocco finished its 201-mile high-speed line in seven years, including 286 engineered structures, 13 viaducts and a landmark viaduct stretching 2.3 miles. Here in CA, our 171-mile “pilot project” from Bakersfield to Merced has taken 18 years and is … stuck asking for more money. The HSR Authority wants the state to guarantee $1 billion a year to complete it (and likely even more to operate it).
MAD Take: Rep. Adam Gray asked his staff to all read Ezra Klein’s book “Abundance,” which basically posited the question: “Why can’t we get big stuff done anymore?” As a state, we need to find out why bureaucratic bloat and perpetual planning gets in the way of doing anything. Let’s form a committee or two and talk about it.

Full lakes … and drought

Sierra Daily News. CA’s water picture split down the middle; full reservoirs and rapidly drying landscape.
Synopsis: It’s a tale of two seasons in a single moment. After two wet winters, California’s major reservoirs are near their historical high-water marks for August. Yet a summer heatwave has dried out the ground and vegetation, shoving much of the state into conditions of near drought. Roughly 65% of the state is “abnormally dry” according to the US Drought Monitor. Humboldt, Siskiyou, Modoc and Lassen counties are already classified as being in drought.

KJZZ (Phoenix). Lake Mead, nation’s largest reservoir, hits record low.
Synopsis: Water levels at Lake Mead are the lowest since the reservoir was filled 90 years ago. Power production is falling, cutting electricity to Los Angeles and Phoenix. Water will not be available from the reservoir for those cities and Las Vegas. Upstream, at Lake Powell, the water level is only 20 feet above dead pool. The water left in both lakes is “unusually warm,” which is harming fish.

The Guardian. Peter Gleick: Drought, water rationing and dry rivers – our water crisis is here. 
Synopsis: One of the world’s pre-eminent climate scientists, Peter Glieck, looks at news from across the globe and says the impacts of climate change are visible everywhere. There is severe drought in Puerto Rico and historic drought along the Rhine and Po rivers of Europe. The Colorado River is running dry, and its reservoirs are fast approaching dead-pool. Hungary’s only nuclear plant is shutting down because there’s not enough water in the Danube to cool it. On the horizon there’s El Nino, water-guzzling computers, and war in Iran. All of this is “the direct consequence of accelerating human-caused climate changes on top of decades of neglect and underinvestment in our water institutions and infrastructure.” Key to solving all these ills: Abandoning fossil fuels.

Now will you consider desal?

California Policy Center. Large-scale desalination could help resolve Colorado River shortage.
Synopsis: Water writer Edward Ring says that despite the dire situation on the Colorado, negotiations over a new seven-state compact have utterly failed. As Las Vegas and Phoenix consider rationing, it is time to consider desalination. Thought to be too expensive in the past, dire need will make it seem cheaper every day. The cost for electricity to desalinate 1-million-acre feet of ocean water is roughly the same as the cost to pump 1 million acre feet 400 miles from the Delta to LA.

Teaching the future of ag

Ag Net West. Merced College builds the future of agriculture.
Synopsis: Interviewer Nick Papagni talks to Merced College director Cody Jacobsen about the new AgTEC food-processing facility where students learn state-of-the-art techniques for meat production, nut processing, fresh-market produce and other technologies. The students have access to a 10-acre almond block and 35 acres of row crops. The story mentions several partners, including the Almond Board, Dave Wilson and Duarte nurseries, and Pacific Farm Management.
MAD Take: The partnerships in education are crucial for teaching tomorrow’s food-industry leaders. But there were other partnerships that made the AgTEC center possible. It doesn’t get built without the millions in federal funding secured by Rep. Adam Gray or additional grants brought in by state Sen. Anna Caballero. That’s why they were invited to the groundbreaking two years ago.

New police chief in Firebaugh

Westside Express. Fernando Campa sworn in as Firebaugh’s top cop.
Synopsis: Fernando Campa has spent 23 years as a member of the Firebaugh police; now he’s the chief. He took the oath from Mayor Fred Valdez and was pinned by his wife, Terry. Campa replaces Sal Raygoza, who retired earlier this year. “It’s obvious that I believe in much of the same philosophy as Chief Raygoza,” said Campa. That includes keeping a close eye on the department’s budget while keeping up with police technology.

Burning big rig doused in time

Merced Golden Wire (Facebook). Firefighters quickly contain big-rig fire on southbound Hwy 99.
Synopsis: Chowchilla volunteer firefighters rolled to assist CalFire with a vehicle fire on Hwy 99 just north of Road 15. While the tractor was lost, much of the cargo was saved and the fire not allowed to spread into the grass on the side of the road.

20 years in, Hawks have roost

Modesto Bee. Home of the Hawks: Central Valley High in Ceres celebrates anticipated stadium.
Synopsis: Central Valley High opened its new sports complex with a new field, stadium, all-weather track, locker rooms and concession stands. It will be the home venue for soccer, football, flag football and track meets. The $24.5 million project has been a “dream for 20-plus years” said AD Greg Magni. The first game will be flag football on Aug. 24 against Atwater then boys football Aug. 28 vs. Pitman.

Three hours of the condor

Fox26. Two CA condors spotted on ALERT CA camera near Bear Valley Springs.
Synopsis: Two California condors were spotted on the ALERT California camera looking toward the Bear Valley Springs community early Tuesday morning. A tag on one of the massive birds clearly identified it as 37. He was hatched in the Los Angeles Zoo on April 24, 2022. The pair remained on the tower from 6:40 a.m. to 9:33 a.m. Apparently, brunch was being served somewhere.