Prop 45 in California could be hiding a loophole for data centers
Data centers have a way of showing up in unexpected places, and Proposition 45 could hand them a fast lane in California. The measure is pitched as a way to speed up essential infrastructure, but the definition of essential is doing a lot of work. Shorten the environmental review timeline and make court challenges harder, and suddenly the practical question is who gets to call their project essential.
I get the frustration with California's environmental review process. It is slow, and it is sometimes weaponized by people who simply don't want anything built near them. But Prop 45 is a blunt instrument. Data centers are enormous power and water consumers, and they are multiplying fast. Giving them the same streamlined treatment as a hospital or a transit line would be a major policy shift, decided at the ballot box rather than through the public scrutiny the measure would limit.
I'd want to know exactly how "essential" gets defined and who does the defining, because that's where the loophole lives. The proponents may be sincere about housing and transit, but a measure like this doesn't get written in a vacuum. It gets written with an eye to who benefits.