Project Jupiter’s overall economic impact to New Mexico is anticipated to be over $4.7 billion, including $360 million in schools, infrastructure and public services and $6.9 million in community workforce programs, according to Oracle’s presentation at a July 28 county meeting.
Several Doña Ana County organizations have already received funds directly from companies behind the massive data center.
The Boys and Girls Club of Las Cruces received one of the first Project Jupiter contributions: $1.5 million to build a new facility, as part of developers’ “payments in lieu of taxes.” Casa de Peregrinos, a Southern New Mexico food pantry, has received about $400,000 in total from Project Jupiter affiliates. Oracle has also pledged to commit tens of millions to local school districts over a 30-year period.
Plans for the $500 billion Project Jupiter data center campus — intended to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence forcompanies like Oracle and OpenAI — have spurred protests, lawsuits and fierce pushback from the public over concerns about its environmental impact. Project developers in turn have pointed to the hefty economic benefits they bring.
Some advisees to the local organizations’ spending voiced concerns about what these funds represent. But no one has refused the money, clarifying that accepting a check does not mean they are endorsing Oracle or the controversial data center.
Boys and Girls Club
The latest fault lines exposed by the Project Jupiter saga manifested at a state senator listening session last week.
Las Cruces resident Jay Choate demanded “more limitations on conflicts of interest when we have legislators married to lobbyists,” in reference to Sen. Bill Soules’ wife, Kasandra Gandara, who owns a consulting and policy lobbying firm.
Gandara was part of the Boys and Girls Club capital campaign, so she also engaged in discussions on whether the organization should take the Project Jupiter developers’ check — a decision Soules defended during the meeting last Tuesday.
The Boys and Girls Club ended up with $1.5 million from STACK Infrastructure and Borderplex Digital Assets. The funds, which were pledged in January and finalized at the end of June, are going toward building a new facility. Phase 2 construction for the building starts next month, according to CEO Ashley Echavarria.
“I don’t blame the Boys and Girls club when somebody comes and gives them money when they can’t get it from us,” Soules, a Las Cruces Democrat, said during the meeting.
Others disagreed.
“When a local business or group takes funds from outside groups, it’s important that they reflect community values. As a father raising two kids in the Mesilla Valley, it’s disheartening to hear that the Boys and Girl’s Club took the funds to begin with, but to hear that decision defended in the senators’ meeting was further salt in the wound,” Taylor Axtell, a local photographer, wrote in a message to The New Mexican after speaking out on the issue at last week’s listening session.
Gandara in an interview clarified that she was initially against taking Project Jupiter developers’ money.
“It was a really tough decision,” she said. “… I didn’t quite agree with it. I felt it was a hot button issue and one that could really hurt in the long run. They have gotten some flack, but I want to be clear I’m not the one making those decisions.”
Still, she said, “I want what kids deserve in the community. …The kids need a state-of-the-art building that supports their social emotional needs,” Gandara added.
Oracle paid for the facility’s groundbreaking ceremony in April, and donated to the Boys and Girls Club’s breakfast fundraiser in May — which amounted to $15,000.
“The county saw this as a great opportunity to help launch a really important project for the community that’s going to have lasting years of impact on kids and families,” Echavarria said in an interview.
Casa de Peregrinos
For Lorenzo Alba Jr., executive director of Casa de Peregrinos, a Southern New Mexico food pantry, the “aim is not to be political. That’s not good for any nonprofit.”
Casa de Peregrinos received $345,000 from Oracle to buy three electric vehicles to deliver food, open pop-up pantries and support its soon-to-be opened Sunland Park facility, just miles away from the Project Jupiter construction site. Oracle reached out to Alba last fall, and funding started flowing in December, he said. Casa de Peregrinos also received a $50,000 check “signed by Project Jupiter,” Alba said in an interview.
“We’ve seen a great increase in the amount of people that we’re serving, especially with all the uncertainty with the SNAP program throughout the state, and then the cost of food has just been crazy for us, so we’re trying to keep up with all of that,” Alba said. “We’re very serious about making sure that we’re able to take care of more people and meet the demand. We really can’t do it without donations and funding coming from different methods.”
Alba said that in three pop-ups in Sunland Park and Santa Teresa — which Oracle employees have volunteered at, he added — Casa de Peregrinos has delivered “well over a million pounds of food.”
Scholastic support
Oracle also recently awarded 25 scholarships of $1,000 each to the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico, according to an Aug. 10 news release. The scholarships were allocated to Gadsden Independent School District graduates, and unlike the Boys and Girl’s Club investment, did not require board discussion, Terra Winter, president and CEO of the foundation said in an interview.
“Each scholarship represents more than financial assistance. It’s an investment in a student’s future and in the future of our community,” Winter said in the news release.
Gadsden schools are slated to receive another $24.6 million over 30 years in annual payments starting Dec. 31, an Oracle spokesperson said. Las Cruces Public Schools will get $7.2 million over that same period, while Hatch Valley Public Schools is set to gain $4.4 million.
It’s not clear what those funds will be used for.
“Las Cruces Public Schools has not received any funding from Oracle or Project Jupiter. Should funding be proposed for LCPS, it would need to be formally accepted and approved by the LCPS Board of Education during a public meeting, with the item appearing on an agenda in accordance with the New Mexico Open Meetings Act. Any proposed use of those funds would be discussed as part of that public process,” spokesperson Kelly Jameson wrote in an email.
In response to Oracle’s proposed commitment of $4 million to a workforce development fund supporting a Career and Technical Education facility for Las Cruces schools, Jameson wrote “LCPS currently has a Career and Technical Education facility project at Rio Grande Preparatory Institute that is out for bid and is being funded through state-appropriated dollars. That project is not dependent on funding from Oracle or Project Jupiter.”
“Every young person deserves the support and resources to pursue their goals and reach their potential. That belief is at the heart of our investments in Doña Ana County and the social impact work Oracle has done around the globe for decades,” Colleen Cassidy, global head of social impact at Oracle, wrote in a statement.
