County moratorium, lawsuits, and protests follow proposal
IMPERIAL, Calif. — The 950,000-square-foot data center proposal sits on dusty lots in an abandoned industrial area next to a Homeland Security complex and a housing development. Rucci, 65, said he gained preliminary approvals for his 330-megawatt venture and began suing anyone he believes has wronged him, including county officials, the local utility, a local activist, and a public television station covering the project.
Rucci’s past has become a central theme in the fight. He owned an Ohio strip club called Go Go Girls Cabaret and was charged, though not convicted, with money laundering and promoting prostitution. He spent 30 days in jail for selling beer without a license, a case he called politically motivated — a characterization the now-retired prosecutor disputes. He also ran California Palms Addiction Recovery Campus, a drug-treatment center that was the subject of a federal probe; no charges were filed. Rucci said he forced the government to return $600,000 it had seized in that probe, which prosecutors said focused on Medicaid billing issues.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Rucci said his history makes him perfectly suited for the job because he is unafraid to fight back against the growing opposition to data centers. “I realized early on that the government doesn’t always do things correctly and the government could favor sides,” he said. “You could be on the nonfavored side and then you better get used to using the courts.”
Christopher Scurries, a high-school band director who lives behind the proposed site, googled Rucci and was alarmed by what he found. “You have this guy with this sketchy legal past and the cherry on top is…he’s never been a developer of a data center,” Scurries told the Journal. Scurries formed an opposition group, Not In My Backyard Imperial, and wrote a folk song chastising players in the saga with lyrics calling Rucci “super douchey.” He unveiled the melody ahead of a critical board vote in April during which deputies arrested one NIMBY Imperial member, though charges were later dropped.
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors, which enthusiastically welcomed Rucci last year, in June voted for a 45-day freeze on data projects and in July extended it to a year. Rucci has sued over the moratorium. The Sierra Club has also filed suit to force a full environmental review. The Imperial Irrigation District in May nixed Rucci’s plan to buy farmland, leave it fallow, and use the allotted Colorado River water to cool the data center. Rucci sued the district and mounted a political challenge by backing a candidate for its board, a race he lost to a longtime incumbent.
State Sen. Steve Padilla, D-Chula Vista, whose district stretches from the coast to the desert, has introduced bills to regulate data center building and pass energy upgrade costs onto developers. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Padilla said. “I’ve never seen someone, a developer who has that sort of experience and perspective and approach.” Rucci called Padilla “a buffoon.”
Online vitriol escalated. On April 16, a 22-year-old from nearby El Centro was arrested after posting an anonymous threat reading, “Kill Rucci.”
Rucci said he learned about data centers from YouTube, calling people in Silicon Valley, and touring facilities. He has sunk $5 million of his own money into the project. The development promises an estimated $28 million in annual tax revenue and 1,600 construction jobs. Rucci said he secured interest in the project from Google. A Google spokesperson told the Journal: “We are not involved in a data-center project in Imperial County.” Rucci said he would say the same thing if he were Google. “I mean, who wants to be in the middle of all this bulls—?”
A judge dismissed Rucci’s defamation claim against the news station earlier this month, writing that “the defamation claim is not legally or factually supported.” His defamation suit against the activist was also dismissed.
“Do I look like a guy that’s going away?” Rucci said. “Just give me my damn data center.”