MEETING NOTES: Desert groundwater agency seeks information on proposed AI data center

Meeting: Indian WellsValley Groundwater Authority board of directors

Date: June 10, 2026

Agenda and Packet: CLICK HERE

A proposed Inyokern artificial intelligence data center dominated public comments and concerns for the second month in a row at the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority.

Though the authority doesn’t have the power to approve or deny the project, it is working on fact finding.

Residents concerned about the data center’s potential water consumption in the already overdrafted valley asked the authority for several actions.

• Send a letter to the California Energy Commission outlining residents’ water concerns.
• Push to get the full scope of the project being proposed by RB Inyokern as some believe its full buildout will be much larger than what is currently proposed.
• Have a third party investigate information provided by RB Inyokern so far.

Though the project has not been presented to the Kern County Board of Supervisors, Authority Chair Phillip Peters, also a supervisor, made a motion to ask the county for a memo outlining what sorts of conditions it could impose on a data center.

He also moved to send a letter to the California Energy Commission, relaying residents’ concerns and updating the commission on conditions in the Indian Wells Valley subbasin.

Both motions were approved.

Authority Chair Scott Hayman asked whether the authority could also pursue legislation related to data centers but the rest of the board felt such advocacy would first have to be approved by the respective government entities they each represent.

Authority legal counsel Keith Lemieux said he would look further into this and bring something back at the next board meeting.

The authority also approved a motion to have Capital Core Group, its legislative and water marketing consultant, continue to investigate various data center bills at the board’s behest as stakeholders, without taking an advocacy stance.

“I believe this board needs to defend the water that is left in our groundwater basin, and in order to do that you are going to have to pursue all those proposed legislations that will defend and protect groundwater basins from such intensive water use,” said area resident Judy Decker.

Michael McKinney, with Capital Core, also suggested the board look into intervenor status with the California Energy Commission, which he said would help the authority gain access to the proceedings in a more formal manner. 

The board did not take action on that suggestion.

The California Energy Commission has oversight of the proposed data center because it would potentially run 44 diesel-powered generators to produce 99 megawatts as backup to power that an investment website says it will get from Southern California Edison.

That makes it a power plant, bringing it under the Energy Commission’s authority.  RB Inyokern has applied to the Energy Commission for a small power plant exemption.

As part of that process, the Energy Commission “will conduct a full CEQA review that considers the potential impacts of the whole project, including issues like water use, land use, air quality, etc.,” a staff member wrote in response to questions from SJV Water.