LAS CRUCES — A developer behind the massive and controversial Project Jupiter in Southern New Mexico said construction can continue on the data center even after the New Mexico Supreme Court in late August paused two key permitting proceedings.
Construction is 26% complete at the site near Santa Teresa, according to Mahesh Thiagarajan, vice president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, who spoke at a recent Doña Ana County Commission meeting.
This marks an increase of 17 percentage points from Oracle’s construction update in July, he added. The significant progress follows the Supreme Court’s orders to halt a critical permit related to water use and an air quality permit for a proposed natural gas fuel cell system to power the facility — decisions that came in response to petitions from environmental groups claiming a lack of due process.
Oracle noted this week, however, there is no holdup on Doña Ana County construction permits for buildings at the site that don’t require air quality permits — which is why work on those structures is advancing.
“We continue to work with state and local officials in New Mexico and Doña Ana County to deliver a responsible data center that will bring billions of dollars in investment and significant job opportunities to the local community,” Julia Allyn Fishel, a spokesperson for Oracle, wrote in an email.
A county spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An air quality permit proceeding before the New Mexico Environment Department for the project’s fuel cell power system was set to begin Monday in Sunland Park before the high court’s order.
Along with the lack of a permit for the microgrid, the data center also has not received authorization from the New Mexico State Land Office to run a natural gas pipeline for the project through state trust land.
While Oracle continues to spend billions of dollars on data centers, the company has been laying off thousands of workers in a restructuring effort, with another round of cuts announced Monday. The 6 a.m. termination emails — effective immediately — followed 21,000 layoffs, or 13% of Oracle employees, in fiscal year 2026, news site Tech Times reported. The number of workers terminated Monday was not yet clear.
Still, the Project Jupiter site, not far from the U.S./Mexico border, was bustling during a visit in late August and employs some 3,500 workers.
State Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, decried the ongoing construction. “The Project is entirely greased and is following the Trump game plan of building without legal authority and then getting so far, like the ballroom, that nobody would dare stop,” he wrote in an email.
Environment Department spokesperson Drew Goretzka indicated in a statement, however, some construction can continue despite the court order.
While the New Mexico Administrative Code states “no construction, modification or installation shall begin prior to issuance of the permit,” Goretzka said. The provision “only applies to the construction of specific equipment that requires an air quality permit — in this case, the construction of the microgrid belonging to Yucca Growth Infrastructure, LLC.”
The data center’s proposed microgrid is 10% complete on an adjacent site, due to “limited notice to proceed,” according to Project Jupiter’s July 28 annual compliance report.
“Dynamic compaction is 90-95%, clearing and grubbing 86%, and mass grading/ponds approximately 26%,” the report states.
The Environment Department did not issue a “limited notice to proceed,” according to Goretzka.
But Fishel said in a statement the “language appears to be being taken out of context.”
“The ‘limited notice to proceed’ is restricted to what work crews may perform that follows NMED’s preconstruction work guidance. The activity the report describes is preconstruction work — earth clearing and leveling ground that [the agency] allows any applicant to conduct while an air quality permit application is pending,” she added.
Goretzka confirmed the preparatory site work is allowed “under standard regulatory practice.”
“What it can’t do is build, modify, or install the actual emissions equipment before the permit is issued,” he said in a statement. “NMED does not have jurisdiction over the company’s construction of anything but the specific location for the proposed microgrid.”
Although President Donald Trump’s administration has proposed loosening restrictions to allow for more construction prior to approval of an air quality permit for such a project, “New Mexico is taking the opposite approach,” Goretzka said.
“NMED will continue enforcing New Mexico’s existing requirements, which prohibit construction, modification or installation of equipment subject to 20.2.72 NMAC until the required air quality permit has been issued,” he added.
Julia Gentin is a reporter for The Las Cruces New Mexican, The Santa Fe New Mexican and Searchlight New Mexico through a partnership with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. She covers the Southern New Mexico region. Learn more about Report for America at reportforamerica.org.
