CITY OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
200 East Santa Clara Street, Tower 14th Floor
San José, California 95113
Telephone (408) 535-1260
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Office of the City Clerk
Toni J. Taber, MMC
City Clerk
Date: 4/20/2026
RE: Data Center Mass Mailing Template--item 3.4
The City Clerk’s Office received over 260 letters from members of the public with substantially the same content as is in the attached letter. The individual letters may be viewed upon request by contacting the City Clerk’s office.
____________________________
Toni J. Taber, MMC
City Clerk
TJT/tt
Outlook
Fw: Item 3.4 Data Centers and PG&E Partnership Status Report – Public Comment From City Clerk <[email protected]>
Date Mon 4/20/2026 8:35 AM
To Agendadesk <[email protected]>
Office of the City Clerk | City of San José
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Subject: Item 3.4 Data Centers and PG&E Partnership Status Report – Public Comment [External Email. Do not open links or attachments from untruste d sources. Learn
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RE: April 21, 2026 City Council Meeting
Agenda Item 3.4 Data Centers and PG&E Partnership Status Report Measure I was approved by voters in 2022 to transform public decision-making. Under Charter Section 608 [1] and the Equity Values and Standards Council Policy [2] the City is obligated to center equity, accountability, and meaningful community engagement in its decisions. To date there have been no public study sessions on the cumulative public health impacts of bringing this many data centers online in San José. For a buildout of this scale and consequence, Council must exercise proper due diligence by holding a public study session on the cumulative public health impacts.
At a minimum, the City must address the following:
4/20/26, 3:23 PM Mail - Agendadesk - Outlook
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1 Robust public outreach proportionate to the scale of this historic buildout 2 An independent cumulative impacts analysis covering all proposed and anticipated data center projects, rather than fragmented project-by-project review 3 A comprehensive study of air pollution from all backup power sources, fuel types, annual testing hours, outage scenarios, and emergency operating assumptions with clear mitigation requirements 4 Legal assurances regarding water quality and water use, including risks tied to closed-loop system blowdowns, failures, and backup water sourcing
5 Clear penalties, enforcement mechanisms, and accountability for violations of public health mandates 6 Full public disclosure of projected electricity demand, transmission and distribution upgrades, and any long-term cost risks to ratepayers
7 Baseline and ongoing public health monitoring for nearby communities, including impacts related to air quality, noise, and heat
8 Concrete job guarantees for permanent jobs, with local hire and labor standards 9 A community benefits framework with enforceable public accountability, not vague promises of economic growth
The memorandum from the City Manager’s office makes clear that the City is advancing a historic buildout tied to 2,000 MW of new regional transmission capacity and a growing pipeline of large-load projects. At the same time, it states that no additional City Council follow-up is expected beyond annual status reports, that no board or commission input is associated with this action, and that the entirety of the stated public outreach is that the memorandum will be posted on the City Council agenda website for the April 21, 2026 meeting. That is not meaningful public outreach for an item of enormous consequence.
A buildout of this scale demands public engagement proportionate to its impact. It is not enough to market San José to industry, hold press events, attend conferences, and meet with more than 50 potential developers while residents are treated as an afterthought and receive only an agenda posting after key frameworks are already underway. That imbalance is unacceptable, especially for infrastructure and land use decisions with potentially long-term consequences for public health, environmental quality, neighborhood conditions, and utility systems.
Residents deserve a dedicated public study session before San José moves further down a path that could lock in major pollution and public health burdens. If the City believes its safeguards are sufficient, then those claims should withstand public scrutiny, independent analysis, and questioning on the record.
Anything less would fail both the spirit of Measure I and the public the Council is sworn to serve. ---
[1] https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/95973/638574336991130000 [2] https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/114681/638627814182829342 This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources.
4/20/26, 3:23 PM Mail - Agendadesk - Outlook
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