Doña Ana County resists pressure to delay Project Jupiter vote

LAS CRUCES — A dozen county residents and representatives from local community organizations gathered in front of the Doña Ana County Government Center Wednesday morning, pressing commissioners to postpone a key vote on an enormous AI-training data center proposed for the Santa Teresa area.

“This fight … is not just about jobs and water, but in fact it’s about trust and transparency,” Daisy Maldonado, director of the Empowerment Congress of Doña Ana County, said, accusing public officials of negotiating proposals “in back rooms during secret meetings under nondisclosure agreements.”

Participants in the news conference varied from outright opponents of the project to individuals who wanted more time for the community to assess the proposal’s benefits and impacts before the county commits to a project that would have large consequences for the region’s infrastructure, environment and economy.

State Rep. Micaela Lara Cadena, a Mesilla Democrat, delivered a rebuke to the developers and politicians of her own party she said were listening more closely to corporate interests than residents.

“When the communities in the borderland needed access to clean drinking water, we couldn’t seem to find the money for the fix,” Lara Cadena said, “but when you say it’s economic development, all of a sudden the world is possible.”

BorderPlex Digital Assets and Stack Infrastructure, the developers behind the development nicknamed Project Jupiter, say they plan to invest up to $165 billion in a campus comprising four data centers, power-generating facilities and office space.

On Friday morning, county commissioners are expected to approve an industrial revenue bond and other tax incentives to help finance the project. Developers have said the vote is crucial to the development staying in New Mexico, putting promised capital investment and jobs on the line.

The developers have said they are in talks with a prospective tenant they would not identify, although there were multiple reports earlier this summer that OpenAI was evaluating New Mexico and other states as sites for data center development. Oracle, the database company venturing into AI infrastructure, which recently announced a partnership with OpenAI, has indicated to investors it, too, is eyeing locations for new data centers providing cloud storage to AI clients.

State Rep. Nathan Small, the Las Cruces Democrat who chairs the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, is among the legislators supporting the project. He told the Journal he was “excited about the potential this proposed data and technology center has to create thousands of good paying jobs in our region and bring much-needed investments to our communities, while allowing us to continue our progress on our clean energy transition and water conservation goals.”

On Monday, BorderPlex Digital Assets announced an additional commitment of $50 million for area water infrastructure plus nearly $7 million for community projects.

State Rep. Sarah Silva, D-Las Cruces, said in an interview that she helped negotiate those commitments and planned to pursue matching funds from the state Legislature next session, aiming to secure $100 million for clean drinking water in Sunland Park and Santa Teresa.

“I wanted to help the county negotiate on behalf of constituents for what we could,” she said. “People might disagree with me taking a more pragmatic, practical approach on this, but we’re going to get $50 million that we didn’t have before for clean drinking water, and I’m going to work my butt off to get that matched.”

The project came into public view in February, when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham jointly announced it with BorderPlex Digital Assets Chairman Lanham Napier. Doña Ana County commissioners first discussed the project publicly at their Aug. 26 meeting, where they approved a notice of intent to approve the industrial revenue bond.

The lone dissenting vote was Commissioner Susana Chaparro, who raised questions about transparency and public input.

Although discussions with the county had evidently been underway for months, trade secret protections and nondisclosure agreements signed by county officials inhibited the release of much information about the project, leaving the public with promotional materials produced by the developers, who hosted five town halls to field questions and promote Project Jupiter.

On Monday afternoon, the county posted nearly 350 pages of legal documents pertaining to the IRB — three days before commissioners vote.

Many questions residents posed about the water and power required for the data centers, and plans to power the campus with natural gas before transitioning to renewable energy, did not have clear answers, raising alarm bells in a community struggling with sinking groundwater levels, insufficient infrastructure and a history of industrial pollution.

Community pressure to postpone the vote and allow time for independent assessments of the developers’ plans and promises has grown. The City of Sunland Park passed a resolution last week asking for more time to study the project’s implications for housing, water supply, roads and other impacts.

County spokesperson Ariana Parra indicated the measure would move forward as scheduled Friday.

“The scheduled vote follows public engagement to ensure the project reflects community input,” she told the Journal. “Should this project be approved, the county is committed to ensuring substantial progress in water quality, quantity and safety, along with various other key investments outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding.”

Commissioners Manuel Sanchez, Gloria Gameros and Chaparro all told the Journal they would take the Sunland Park resolution under consideration, but gave no indication that they would support postponement.

Commissioner Shannon Reynolds, a vocal supporter of Project Jupiter, pushed back against the border city in a written statement declaring: “I believe Sunland Park’s motivation is to annex the entire area; the more territory we manage, the less access they would have. … Placing a 30-year bond in the area we control would help prevent annexation of that property.”

Reynolds stated this was his personal opinion and that he did not speak for the county. He has served as a county commissioner since 2019 and is currently in his second term.

“Sunland Park’s focus is on the impacts to our residents,” a spokesperson for the city responded to Reynolds. “This is what our community is asking for, and we are listening. We want decisions of this size to be transparent, coordinated, and in the region’s long-term interest.”