The Cassia County Data Center Proposal

The Cassia County data center is the most talked-about project in this course with the least public paper behind it. Thin paper calls for knowing exactly which facts come from where, because a project like this can move from rumor to rezoning hearing in a few months.

Who is behind it

The developer is TerraVolt Infrastructure, Inc., a subsidiary of a small public company that was called CalEthos, Inc. and now files with the SEC as TerraVolt Holdings, Inc. Because it is public, it has to report its plans and its money every quarter. Those filings are the best primary source available.

Its fiscal 2025 annual report (Form 10-K) says the company abandoned an earlier site in Imperial County, California and moved to a "business-friendly Northwestern U.S. location": flat, buildable agricultural land outside the 100-year and 500-year flood zones. Trade press in May 2026 placed the campus in southeast Idaho on the Northwest natural gas pipeline. The More Than Just Parks data center tracker names it the "Cassia County Data Center Campus" and lists it as proposed at 240 MW. BoiseDev reported in April 2026 that the campus was proposed in the Raft River area between Twin Falls and Pocatello, and that the governor's office referred questions to Cassia County's economic development agency. Neither SEC filing reviewed for this lesson names Cassia County, and this course found no Cassia County agenda item on it. Treat the county as likely but unconfirmed until a county record shows up.

What the filings say

Item	What the record shows	Source
Power plan	A behind-the-meter gas plant on site; initial campus phase of 200 to 240 MW	10-Q (plant); DCD, May 12, 2026 (MW)
Gas contract	55,000 MMBtu a day from an unnamed marketer, signed April 2026; reservation fee of $3,832,500 paid in May 2026	10-Q
Growth plan	Gas sized for an initial 300 to 350 MW; a planned 2030 pipeline expansion for another 300 to 600 MW	10-K
Delivery dates	Start-date notice by April 30, 2028; start date no later than July 31, 2029; each extendable up to eight months	10-Q
Collateral	$6 million standby letter of credit delivered August 2026 (expires March 31, 2029), backed by a cash deposit; a delivery-period letter of credit of up to $50 million required before deliveries begin	10-Q
Land	Not secured as of June 30, 2026; negotiating with several landowners, expecting site control within 60 days	10-Q
Approvals	Land-use applications and zone changes with the county planning department, with approvals expected by year-end 2026 (10-K); environmental reports before end of 2026; all construction approvals targeted for the second quarter of 2027 (10-Q)	10-K; 10-Q
Money	$15 million advanced in April 2026 by a related-party trust; a $16 million 8 percent note due April 30, 2028; cash of $10,689,000 at June 30, 2026; total liabilities of $16,623,000	10-Q
Viability	No recurring revenue; accumulated deficit about $40.6 million; management states substantial doubt about continuing as a going concern; says it needs "substantial additional financing"	10-Q

Read that table twice. The company has a firm gas contract and real money at risk on it. It also has no land, no revenue and a going concern warning. Both are true. A project in this condition can still file a rezone, and a county can still approve one, so the financial picture belongs in the hearing record.

What it still needs

A behind-the-meter gas data center skips some steps that a grid-served one takes, but not the local ones.

• Land and zoning. Site control, then a zone change or conditional use permit under the county code and Idaho's Local Land Use Planning Act. The company told investors it expects conversion to light industrial zoning in under 12 months.
• Air permit. A gas plant of a few hundred megawatts needs a permit to construct from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality before building. The 10-K said design and environmental documents for the plant would go to state agencies by mid-2026.
• Water. Cooling a 200 MW campus takes water unless it uses air or closed-loop systems. House Bill 895, signed April 2, 2026, added Idaho Code 42-252 on data center cooling water. Any new use also runs into Idaho's water rights system, where new appropriations can be denied in areas that are fully claimed, under a moratorium, or designated critical or ground water management areas.
• Utility. Behind-the-meter does not always mean off-grid. If the campus wants backup or exchange service from the local utility, that contract would go to the PUC or, for a cooperative or municipal utility, to its board. For a PUC-regulated utility, a contract adding 50 MW or more signed on or after July 1, 2026 falls under Idaho Code 61-335, which requires commission approval and full cost of service.
• Roads, fire and emergency service. The county will need agreements for road impacts and for fire protection at a site with gas lines, turbines or engines, and large battery or diesel backup.

The arguments

The case for, as the company makes it: a self-powered campus that does not lean on the Idaho Power system, on flat farm ground near an existing pipeline, bringing construction work, capital investment and a new tax base to a rural county.

The case against, as made by data center critics and in Jeff Pierson's Feeding the Beast series: a large gas plant's air emissions in an agricultural valley, water use, conversion of farmland, few permanent jobs relative to the investment, and the risk of a half-built project from a developer that reports substantial doubt about its own survival. Pierson's broader point, that projects land where the fence is lowest, applies directly: a county without a data center ordinance is deciding under rules written for warehouses.

Where the evidence points: the financial risk is documented by the company itself. The environmental and land effects can't be judged until a site and a design are on file.