State lawmakers ask to see Project Jupiter's water, energy plans

LAS CRUCES — As Doña Ana County prepares to finalize $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds supporting a data center complex in Santa Teresa, nine local legislators are seeking answers about the project’s water and energy demands.

Last month, county commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the historically large IRB issue to help finance the private development, including four data centers supporting AI technology development, a local power generation facility and an office building.

Styled “Project Jupiter,” the proposal drew opposition from community organizations and residents concerned about impacts on water supply, utility rates and air quality. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is set to lease the facility for 18 years with OpenAI as its primary client.

Three state senators and six House members signed a letter to the county commissioners Tuesday seeking answers to outstanding questions “regarding power generation emissions, water usage, and utility rates that we encourage be addressed prior to the issuance of economic incentives and industrial revenue bonds.”

The signers were state Sens. Jeff Steinborn, Bill Soules and Carrie Hamblen of Las Cruces; and state Reps. Micaela Lara Cadena of Mesilla, Ray Lara of Chamberino, and Las Crucens Joanne Ferrary, Angelica Rubio, Sarah Silva and Doreen Gallegos. All are Democrats.

Rep. Nathan Small, D-Las Cruces, who chairs the powerful House Appropriations and Finance Committee, is a public supporter of the project. Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, has not weighed in publicly about it and did not respond to a query from the Journal.

“To date, neither the community, nor the county that we are aware of, has been provided with a power generation plan,” the letter states. “Given the tremendous amount of power needed to operate this facility, it is essential that the county and citizens conduct meaningful due diligence to evaluate this power generation plan to ensure all appropriate efforts have been made to minimize negative impacts to air quality and the climate.”

Over a series of five town hall meetings in September, representatives of developers BorderPlex Digital Assets and Stack Infrastructure fielded questions about how much water would be needed for construction, cooling and daily operations at the complex, the intersection of its power generation facility with utility El Paso Electric and whether rates might increase, as well as potential backsliding on New Mexico’s zero-carbon-emission targets.

Developers said the cooling would be accomplished by a closed-loop system requiring a single fill-up. They projected daily domestic water use by an office staff of 750 full-time employees to average 20,000 gallons of water daily, or no more than 60,000. They also disclosed that the facility would be powered by natural gas, which burns carbon and is also water intensive, for a period of time before transitioning entirely to renewable energy by 2045.

The developers pledged that the project would not affect electricity rates, but the lawmakers pressed on the claim Tuesday, noting a new law in New Mexico that would permit the utility to purchase power from Project Jupiter and seek higher rates. The microgrid law also allows energy purchased from a microgrid to be counted as renewable energy until 2035 under the state’s carbon-elimination targets.

”Doña Ana County residents should not be asked to subsidize the costs of Project Jupiter’s microgrid, now and in the future,” the lawmakers wrote, seeking a meeting to discuss the energy plan, water consumption and details on promises from the developers to improve water infrastructure serving the Santa Teresa and Sunland Park area; and they asked for those disclosures before the bonds are issued.

”We are definitely willing to facilitate that meeting,” County Chairman Christopher Schaljo-Hernandez told the Journal Wednesday, to include project developers, the state Economic Development Department and county officials. “We are committed to doing that … and to making sure that legislators as well as everyone else understands the agreements and the commitments that are binding.”