Greetings Fair Board,
Last month, nearly 150 community members showed up to let you know that they don’t want you to move forward with discussions with Global Stack. This month, we’ll be back again with the same request.
Thank you for being transparent and discussing this publicly.
Marketing Doublespeak
As you listen to Global Stack’s proposal, please understand they will be using marketing doublespeak to try and mask their polluting, unwanted proposal. Pay close attention when they say it’s a “closed-loop” cooling system. From Food and Water Watch:
- Some industry leaders have also touted their use of closed-loop cooling systems that “consume zero water” (meaning that none of the water withdrawn is discharged back into the environment). However, this is just clever advertising.
- Closed-loop systems can use either air cooling (requiring giant fans) or evaporation, and it’s common for them to lose 25% of their water volume per month.
- Since cooling systems require a level of clean water for efficiency, closed-loop systems also introduce a cocktail of noxious chemicals into cooling water to prevent bacterial growth and corrosion, which will eventually be released when the water systems are flushed.
- Systems that rely on air cooling end up consuming more energy, especially in hot climates — and, as we know, electricity generation incurs its own massive water footprint when fueled by fossil fuels. Closed-loop cooling doesn’t even come close to addressing data centers’ outsized water demands.
Public Safety
Global Stack markets its proposed fairgrounds data center as an “emergency preparedness hub” that “backs up public safety.” But Ventura County’s emergency communications already meet the standard Global Stack claims to offer, independently, with dedicated infrastructure, and without a 100-year land giveaway. The “public safety” framing should not be the basis for approving this lease.
Ventura County already has blackout-proof emergency communications & it isn’t Global Stack’s.
The Ventura County Regional Radio System (VCRRS) is a Project 25 (P25) Phase II trunked radio system, the national standard for public safety interoperability. It runs on dedicated 700/800 MHz spectrum across five simulcast sites (Northern, Western, Central, Eastern, Sisar Peak), with its own towers and its own backup power. It does not touch commercial data or cloud infrastructure. Every major agency already has dedicated channels on it: County Fire, Sheriff, Oxnard PD/Fire, Ventura City PD/Fire, and more. The system works in tandem with the CalOES radio system. A private AI data center adds nothing to this system’s resilience.
“Blackout-proof operations” means diesel generators on-site.
Environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Food and Water Watch, have already raised concerns about diesel backup generators at Global Stack’s proposed sites. In a county that faces regular wildfire and red-flag conditions, adding diesel fuel storage and combustion equipment is a fire and air-quality liability, not a safety asset.
The land Global Stack wants is the land the county already relies on in emergencies.
The fairgrounds are currently used as an emergency services command post and evacuation center during disasters. An 8–10 MW data center, multi-level parking structure, and helipad under a 100-year private lease would permanently reduce the open, flexible public land that emergency responders actually use today. You can land multiple helicopters at the same time on the site now. Also, evacuation by helicopter is laughable when we have Hwy. 101 less than 100 yards away.
And finally, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office is investigating the connection between Michael Flores, his daughter, and Global Stack, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. I hope as Ventura Fair Board members you would not want to be part of any alleged “insider” deals that will tarnish your reputations, as well as that of our beautiful seaside fairgrounds.
The community said no. The proposal is disingenuous, and this smells like a scam. Please vote to end talks with Global Stack. More detailed information and research can be found at IndivisibleVentura.org.
Thank you,
Beth Mansfield
Indivisible Ventura, organizer