The Project Jupiter Community Monitoring Committee finally has commission appointed members.
Last month, the Doña Ana Board of County Commissioners voted to create a Project Jupiter community monitoring committee. Anyone interested in being a part of the committee had to apply, and the commissioners had to officially appoint the members.
Commissioners each appointed two people from their district. Chair Manuel Sanchez appointed a third person totaling 11 committee members. This week, commissioners named their appointments.
Commissioner Susana Chaparro will announce her picks in two weeks.
The committee will bring in subject matter experts and possibly Project Jupiter representatives to address air, water, energy and any other topics concerning Project Jupiter. The meetings will serve as learning sessions for the community.
Commissioner Gloria Gameros said she would prefer it if all meetings were held in the southern part of the county to make it more accessible for people in Santa Teresa and other communities more directly affected by Project Jupiter.
“If we have meetings in Las Cruces, they're not going to show and they are the people that are going to be affected by this," Gameros said.
The idea for the creation of the community monitoring committee was brought to commissioners by county resident Lynn Moore during a work session. She said she had seen similar committees formed during her time working in Nebraska and Pennsylvania.
Reports detailing what happens at the meetings will be transcribed by a court reporter and posted on the counties website for the public to access.Members will also present a summary of the meeting along with expected subject matter for the upcoming meeting during BOCC meetings.
Funding for food, certified Spanish interpreters, and other committee expenses will be provided by the county.
The first meeting has yet to be scheduled.
It cannot be a BOCC meeting without a large number of public comments opposing Project Jupiter. Out of the 29 people who spoke only one comment was in support of the project and two other ones had nothing to do with the data center.
During one of the comments the audience started to hum. They did this to emphasize the noise that the massive ai data center campus is expected to emit.
Once public comments concluded, sheriff’s deputies escorted some people out of the meetingfor disruptions. Others against the project followed the deputies out chanting,“Injustice, and greed, we’re fighting for our peace.”
One of the demonstrators was detained and given a citation.
