Imperial County CA CEQA ruling, 330 MW data center EIR (2026)

Imperial County Superior Court (Cal.) — TENTATIVE RULING of JUDGE L. BROOKS ANDERHOLT dated SEPTEMBER 1, 2026 concerning IMPERIAL VALLEY COMPUTER MANUFACTURING, LLC's 330 MW data center on approximately 75 ACRES southeast of ATEN ROAD and CLARK ROAD, Imperial County, California. GOVERNING LAW: CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA). HOLDINGS: (1) THE COUNTY IMPROPERLY TREATED ITS APPROVALS AS 'MINISTERIAL'. Ministerial approvals are exempt from CEQA review because they involve no exercise of judgment; characterising a discretionary approval as ministerial removes the environmental review obligation entirely, and is the single most consequential classification decision in California land use. The court rejected that characterisation. (2) THE COUNTY RELIED ON A 2017 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW THAT DID NOT ADDRESS THE CURRENT PROPOSAL \u2014 nine-year-old analysis of different facts cannot serve as the review for this project. (3) ANTI-PIECEMEALING: the project encompasses INTEGRATED INFRASTRUCTURE that must be evaluated COMPREHENSIVELY RATHER THAN PIECEMEAL, specifically a 330 MW SUBSTATION, an 862 MWh BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEM, EMERGENCY GENERATION COMPRISING 132 NATURAL GAS GENERATORS, and WATER TREATMENT FACILITIES. THE ANTI-PIECEMEALING HOLDING IS THE TRANSFERABLE ONE: segmenting a hyperscale facility from its substation, storage and on-site generation, and reviewing each component as a separate minor project, is the standard route by which large data centers avoid a full EIR. A court identifying the substation, the 862 MWh of batteries and 132 gas generators as one project with the data center closes that route in California. THE 132 NATURAL GAS GENERATORS ARE WORTH NOTING INDEPENDENTLY: on-site combustion at that scale is an air quality question of a different order from the diesel backup at issue in Lowell MA Markley data center diesel generator injunction (2026), where a Massachusetts court enjoined FOUR generators. RELIEF: the tentative decision PREVENTS GRADING, CONSTRUCTION OR PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT from proceeding until proper environmental review occurs, and requires a full EIR before approval. STATUS: TENTATIVE ruling; no final judgment or appellate action is reflected in the located source. Imperial County separately has indexed data center measures (Imperial CA Data Center Moratorium, Imperial County Data Center Moratorium (45-day, adopted June 16, 2026), Calipatria CA Data Center Moratorium (introduced)).