LAS CRUCES — Over 300 people packed into a meeting room Tuesday to voice concerns to their state senators about the potential impacts of a massive data center planned for Santa Teresa.
The listening session, co-hosted by Las Cruces Democratic Sens. Joseph Cervantes, Carrie Hamblen, Jeff Steinborn and Bill Soules, took place in the wake of debates over transparency on the part of Doña Ana County commissioners over Project Jupiter and the same day plans for a data center moratorium that could be coming in 2027 were discussed at a state legislative hearing.
“We understand the frustration and the anger and the disappointment and the fear that this has caused our community,” said Hamblen, who has promised to sponsor a data center moratorium. “We understand that trust has been destroyed and that you have felt betrayed by the process that is supposed to involve public discourse.”
Members of the public raised questions about finances behind the project, jobs, water use and its pending air quality permit. Following two hours of public comment — virtually all vehemently against Project Jupiter — senators presented steps they plan to take in response. Those included a statewide data center moratorium, urging full lobbying disclosure and passing a bill Steinborn unsuccessfully sponsored during this year’s session to tighten regulations on microgrids.
Hamblen noted law enforcement and security was present at New Mexico State University’s Corbett Center, where the meeting was held, but “we are not going to do what we have seen before,” she said.
Hamblen was referencing a rowdy County Commission meeting on Project Jupiter two weeks ago that saw three opponents to the massive data center arrested. Some speakers repeated calls for Doña Ana County Commission Chair Manny Sanchez to resign in response.
Local artist Bob Diven asked why county commissioners and state agencies are “very much in support of this, in spite of the growing public opposition.”
Cervantes posed a simple answer.
”This is all about money,” he said. “This is a predatory project, taking advantage of people like us that are the least able to fight it. … If this had been proposed in Santa Fe, there would be a new county commission and an entirely new county staff.”
Others pressed senators on what they’d offer as an alternative.
“If it’s not Project Jupiter, if it’s about economic development, what are you four doing to bring jobs in to the good poor people of the great state of New Mexico?” asked Adam Amador of Las Cruces.
“There is no guarantee that this is any of the jobs you’re hearing at Project Jupiter are going to go to New Mexicans,” Hamblen replied. “We do need to be creating more economic opportunities here. I do feel it also needs to be driven by the people in the communities.”
Air and water
Some attendees expressed concern about data centers driving up utility costs. According to Steinborn, Meta’s data center in El Paso wants to spike El Paso Electric’s rates by 50%, affecting Las Cruces residents in the company’s coverage area.
”This is why we need state legislation to protect us from similar hikes,” Steinborn said.
Steinborn pointed to his Microgrid Oversight Act as a solution, which passed the Senate this year but never got a hearing in the House. The bill, he said, would require microgrids to meet the same renewable energy standards as utilities and require transparency on their water use. It would also give the Public Regulation Commission oversight over microgrids and stop utilities from passing the cost of their power onto ratepayers.
Daisy Maldonado, a community organizer and County Commission candidate, raised concerns about Project Jupiter’s water use. An emergency well drilled for the project went through 74 million gallons of water in 2½ months from April to the end of June, she said, citing figures from the Office of the State Engineer.
”What are you all going to do to ensure that the Office of the State Engineer is not only monitoring the amount of water [but] regulating it, so that we are not going to give away … the water in that aquifer that is intended for people, for agriculture, for animals, for the environment?” Maldonado asked.
“We clearly need tougher restrictions on what the Office of State Engineer is allowed to do with water rights,” Steinborn said.
Another environmental issue that has become the project’s most immediate hurdle is its air quality permit.
“How are all of you going to continue to help us to build the political will to stop this project? Because we have a governor who claims to be a climate leader, and yet she is rolling out the red carpet to allow this highly polluting project to come into our state and into our communities,” said Gail Evans with the Center for Biological Diversity.
In late July, a hearing on Project Jupiter’s air quality permit scheduled for Oct. 19 was moved up to Sept. 14, two days after officials with Oracle, one of the companies behind the project, met with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. In an email responding to a question about this, the governor’s spokesperson Leah March wrote Lujan Grisham “takes seriously the concerns Doña Ana County residents have raised about Project Jupiter — including on air quality and groundwater use — and expects any data center operating in New Mexico to meet the state’s rigorous environmental standards and use water responsibly.”
“As with any major economic development project, the governor routinely takes meetings with companies like Oracle to stay informed, as she did in July for a general update,” March wrote. “The governor does not interfere in state agencies’ regulatory decisions and has made no effort to influence the outcome of Project Jupiter’s air permit application. Instead, it is her responsibility to ensure that state agencies meet their statutory obligations for a fair, transparent and independent process.”
Senators also called for more transparency around the lobbying, noting the statewide ad campaign undertaken by backers of Project Jupiter. The State Ethics Commission recently reached a settlement agreement with Elevate New Mexico, the secretive limited liability company behind the campaign, requiring it to disclose its spending.
“How many of you received a little door hanger about how Project Jupiter is great? How many of you have seen folks outside of our local grocery stores?” Hamblen asked.
Most of the audience raised their hands.
“Our lobbying is kept opaque,” Steinborn said. “So we need to demand full transparency.”
