Editor’s Note: A version of this article originally appeared on the website of Food & Water Action (our affiliated organization) at an earlier date.

For many Californians, County fairgrounds are a place of history, fond memories, and tradition. Where I live in Ventura County, the fairgrounds are walking distance from my home — they’re right next to the beach and were gifted to the community by the Foster family, who envisioned a “pleasure ground for the amusement, health, and pleasure of the general public.” But this gem and all 70 of the state’s fairgrounds face a new threat: a ridiculous proposal to build a data center on each and every one.

Until recently, much of California has been spared from the data center boom that has taken over the country. At the same time, the tech industry has a vicelike grip on its home turf, with many of the nation’s biggest AI corporations headquartered in Silicon Valley. 

In 2025, AI and cryptocurrency giants spent $39 million to sway California politics; Meta alone has dropped $20 million on a California-specific super PAC. Big Tech has spent big to support allies and policies it favors.

But the tide is changing as the movement against data centers grows. Now, across California and across party lines, people are rallying around the same demand: “No new data centers!”

Global Stack’s Scheme for California’s Fairgrounds

What started as a few ridiculous proposals for a few County Fairgrounds quickly revealed itself to be even bigger. The developer, Global Stack, has proposed to build a data center on all 70 of California County Fairgrounds by 2030. 

The company has no experience building data centers and was founded less than a year ago. The proposals show a “one-size fits all approach” with a small data center, a parking garage, and a helipad for each County fairground. But this is especially nonsensical in a state with as many diverse environments and communities as California. 

Moreover, these proposals are calling for 100-year leases, and Global Stack has no concrete plans for where it’s going to get the electricity or water for these data centers, or even the funding to build these.

To make matters worse, in August, the San Francisco Chronicle uncovered a damning conflict of interest — the daughter of California’s deputy secretary for fairs and expositions works for Global Stack. 

Data Centers Are a Bad Deal for California

The Global Stack scheme and data centers more broadly have no place in California. In a state stricken by climate-fueled drought for years, data centers promise to guzzle and pollute our precious water supplies. 

The Central Valley in particular has long suffered from water shortages. Big Oil and Big Ag have contributed to a groundwater crisis. From 2016 to 2026, over 2,6000 wells have run dry across Fresno, Kern, Kings, and Tulare counties.

One 99MW data center in Kern County is proposed for the small desert community of Inyokern, which already experiences water shortages. The project there may draw 12 to 16 million gallons of water a year.

Along with the concerns over water quantity, data centers risk polluting the water with PFAS and worsening water quality as they drain aquifers. Additionally, they require massive amounts of electricity, which may drive up electricity prices during the Central Valley’s affordability crisis. Even the “small” data centers proposed by Global Stack, at 8 to 10 MW, would consume as much electricity as several thousand homes. 

To meet these vast energy needs, many data centers are turning to the quickest, cheapest, and dirtiest energy sources. In Inyokern, developers are proposing to use 44 diesel generators to power the data center there. These generators are notorious for their air pollution.

Already, the Central Valley faces some of the worst air quality in the country thanks to pollution from Big Ag, Big Oil, and heavy industry. Data centers and their fossil-fuel power will only make this problem worse.

California Fights Back Against Data Centers

One of the first counties to fight back against Global Stack’s outrageous scheme was Tulare. The community quickly moved to action, and on August 19, the County board unanimously passed a 45-day moratorium on data centers. On September 22, they renewed it for 10 more months. 

Across the Central Valley, grassroots groups and concerned residents are banding together to fight these fairgrounds proposals. Food & Water Watch has provided research and participated in town halls; created petitions and toolkits for residents to use to pressure their local officials. We’ve connected groups and people with each other so they can learn from each other’s fights.

I also learned that Global Stack was working to move on a proposal in my home county of Ventura. With allies Indivisible and Ventura County Justice for All, we immediately began to mobilize our community.

In September, we rallied more than 200 residents to a Fairground Board Meeting, where the Board voted 5 to 3 to reject Global Stack’s proposal. 

The CEO and President had shown up with a condescending presentation and made the comment that if we didn’t want this, “It’s no skin off our nose,” because they had the other 70 proposals going. Well, by the end of the meeting and after getting put in their place by resident after resident, the cockiness left their faces as their proposal was shut down.

Our organizing didn’t just help move the Ventura Fair Board. We’re also building momentum toward a county-wide moratorium in Ventura and strengthening data center resistance in the Central Valley and beyond.

California Leaders: Say No to Data Centers!

Despite the growing resistance to AI data centers, many California leaders haven’t caught up. That includes Governor Gavin Newsom. Last year, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required data centers to disclose how much water they use. That bill would have given communities much-needed information about the harms these facilities inflict. 

Newsom has sided with the tech industry in vetoing several other AI regulatory bills in recent years. As this legislative session comes to a close and several AI bills await Newsom’s signature, the governor has an opportunity to end his time in Sacramento on the right side of this fight.

Across the state, Californians are showing up to fight data centers. In June, Monterey Park passed a ballot measure 88%-to-12% to permanently ban data centers. So far, 26 resolutions, moratoriums, or bans on data center development have been proposed across California.

Now, Food & Water Watch and our allies are preparing to fight for a statewide moratorium when lawmakers return to Sacramento in December. And we won’t stop fighting until leaders heed the demands of their constituents and press pause on these facilities across California.