Friday marks the anniversary of the Doña Ana County Commission’s approval of $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds for Project Jupiter — a massive artificial intelligence data center campus in Santa Teresa under development for companies like Oracle and OpenAI.
In the past year, the data center, with a campus larger than New York’s Central Park, has spurred protests, lawsuits and fierce pushback over concerns about its environmental impact and transparency.
The New Mexico Supreme Court had put a pin in state regulatory proceedings for air quality and water use permits for the project in response to petitions from environmental groups claiming a lack of due process. However, the court lifted the stay on the permitting processes Thursday. Meanwhile, construction on the hyperscale data center has continued, employing some 3,500 people at a 1,400-acre site.
Following is the development of Project Jupiter, from its start as a nebulous “digital infrastructure campus” under another name.
2024
June 4: Borderplex Digital Assets forms, first under the name El Paso Digital Assets LLC. It would subsequently change its name to Borderplex Digital.
2025
Jan. 20: BorderPlex Digital hires its first lobbyist in New Mexico, Vanessa Alarid, the wife of state Sen. Moe Maestas, an Albuquerque Democrat.
Feb. 25: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announces plans for a “digital infrastructure campus” in Santa Teresa, after signing a memorandum of understanding with BorderPlex Digital Assets. It promises 1,000 new jobs.
July 16: BorderPlex presents its plans to build a hyperscale data center in Santa Teresa to lawmakers on the interim legislative Transportation Infrastructure Revenue Subcommittee. The “leadership section” of the company’s website lists Alicia Keyes, the state’s former Cabinet economic development secretary, who was appointed by Lujan Grisham, and George Prescott Bush, son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Aug. 19: Doña Ana County commissioners announce they are considering issuing $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds to assist with the construction of Project Jupiter, saying the data center will provide 750 local jobs. The consulting firm aci environmental also has published the first phase of an environmental assessment. The company gives the project an “all clear” to proceed without a soil and groundwater test.
Aug. 26: Dozens of people speak out against the gargantuan project, but county commissioners vote 4-1 to advance the $165 billion deal. They approve measures declaring the county’s intent to issue the bonds and provide other tax breaks.
Aug. 28: STACK, a Denver-based data center developer backed by investment firm Blue Owl, announces its collaboration on Project Jupiter without disclosing its role.
Sept. 3: Doña Ana County announces a series of five public meetings before taking a final vote on the industrial revenue bonds.
Sept. 8: The Camino Real Regional Utility Authority, a public water and wastewater facility for Santa Teresa and Sunland Park, discloses it has a nondisclosure agreement with STACK, one of the major companies behind the data center. The commissioners also have entered into an NDA with the developers. They do not provide copies of the documents.
Sept. 19: Commissioners enter a closed meeting and subsequently vote to pledge $165 billion worth of industrial revenue bonds for Project Jupiter.
Oct. 2: The county issues a grading permit to Project Jupiter, allowing the developers to significantly reshape the land — estimated at 1,400 acres.
Oct. 17: Empowerment Congress of Doña Ana County, José Saldaña Jr. and Vivian Fuller, represented by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, file a lawsuit against Doña Ana County, contending the county violated both state law and its own rules in approving the tax incentives. The complaint also asks a judge to declare the measures authorizing them “invalid and contrary to law.” Another lawsuit filed by resident Derrick Pacheco says the approval of the bonds was not conducted properly.
Oct. 21: The State Engineer’s Office grants a request from a company that plans to sell groundwater to the project to drill a new emergency well. The application draws protests.
Nov. 14: The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government sends a notice of violation to Doña Ana County, claiming commissioners violated the Open Meetings Act in their Sept. 19 closed session. Acoma LLC — now known as Yucca Growth Infrastructure — has submitted air quality permit applications to the New Mexico Environment Department. The estimated greenhouse gas emissions for planned natural gas turbines to power the facility are 14 million tons per year in carbon dioxide equivalent.
Dec. 17: The New Mexico Environment Department deems the air quality permit applications incomplete and asks for more information.
2026
January: The 30-day public comment period for the natural gas-powered microgrids for Project Jupiter opens. More than a dozen organizations write to Lujan Grisham and Environment Secretary James Kenney requesting an extension to the comment period and a public hearing. A statewide public relations push, led by a group known as Elevate New Mexico, sends statewide mailers touting the project’s job opportunities and private investments in county water systems and local schools.
Feb. 3: State Sen. Jeff Steinborn, a Las Cruces Democrat, introduces a bill that would regulate emissions for microgrids, like the ones needed to power Project Jupiter, a massive artificial intelligence data center for companies like Oracle and OpenAI. The bill ultimately dies in the House Judiciary Committee.
Feb. 6: The New Mexico Environmental Law Center files a lawsuit accusing Doña Ana County commissioners of violating the Open Meetings Act in their Sept. 19 meeting.
March 20: State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard denies Project Jupiter developers right-of-way permits to run a portion of a natural gas pipeline through state trust land.
March 23: Kenney gives the green light for an air quality permit hearing.
April 17: The State Ethics Commission sues Elevate New Mexico, accusing the company of violating state law by failing to register with the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office.
April 20: Attorneys for the Pueblo of Acoma press Acoma LLC to change its name; the name is changed to Yucca Growth Infrastructure.
April 27: Oracle and BorderPlex Digital Assets announce a new plan to power the data center with natural gas fuel cells by Bloom Energy rather than gas turbines. The project would emit about 10.1 million tons of greenhouse gases a year.
May 6: The U.S. Bureau of Land Management authorizes a nearly 18-mile natural gas pipeline for Project Jupiter under a 14-day emergency environmental review process.
May 26: Oracle launches a new ad campaign extolling the economic, environmental and community benefits of Project Jupiter in Doña Ana County, describing it as “a better kind of data center.”
June 4: A public comment period on Project Jupiter’s power source opens.
June 10: A previously advertised community town hall on the data center shifts to a “community open house and career fair,” leading project opponents to crowd the Doña Ana County Commission meeting wielding signs with slogans like “We Can’t Drink Data.”
June 22: The Foundation for Open Government files a lawsuit against Doña Ana County, alleging it denied access to emails and communications related to Project Jupiter by claiming they were confidential under an exception to the public records law meant to prevent tactical response plans from being used to “facilitate a terrorist attack.”
July 2: Four Democratic state lawmakers say they plan to propose legislation to enact a moratorium on new data center development in New Mexico.
July 9: The New Mexico Department of Justice announces it is opening an investigation into “fraudulent public comments” submitted in support of Project Jupiter. Individuals, including state representatives, say their names were used without their permission to advocate for the data center.
July 14: Garcia Richard doubles down on her denial of a Project Jupiter-related application to run a gas pipeline through state trust land.
July 20: Environmental groups and individuals file to join the Project Jupiter air quality permit hearing. Jennifer Bradfute, an attorney for the developers, requests an emergency hearing in August or early September so they can meet a November deadline. Critics oppose the move, citing insufficient time to prepare.
July 21: Doña Ana County commissioners unanimously vote to terminate County Manager Scott Andrews’ contract. Andrews supported Project Jupiter and was present at the closed session when the industrial revenue bonds were approved.
July 28: The first open discussion between Project Jupiter leaders and county commissioners takes place at a rowdy public meeting where three people are arrested.
Aug. 23: The New Mexico Supreme Court issues orders in response to two petitions challenging the permitting processes for the data center, pausing the facility’s water use permit as well as the contentious proceeding over its air quality permit.
Aug. 24: Max Shepherd, who was appointed to serve as hearing officer for the Environment Department’s air quality permit proceeding, recuses himself from the proceeding in response to calls from several parties for him to be disqualified.
Sept. 17: The Supreme Court lifts its stay on Project Jupiter’s permits and denies petitions from environmental groups, allowing permitting processes to move forward.
Staff writer Nicholas Gilmore contributed to this report.
Julia Gentin is a reporter for 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.
