Youth United for Climate Crisis Action and other activists from across the state participated in a rally against data centers.
Jonathan Juarez is a Campaign organizer with Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA) who spoke at the rally.
During his speech he criticized the billions of dollars that are being invested in data centers. He thinks that money should be used for schools, hospitals, and community resources in the state.
“So that children who are born here in New Mexico will have clean air to breathe clean water to drink and you know a community that they can thrive in,” Juarez said.
Doña Ana County Commissioners approved a $165 billion Industrial Revenue Bond package for Project Jupiter last year. It is “one of the most significant private-sector infrastructure initiatives in the region’s history,” according to the county website.
YUCCA hosted a three-day meeting for data center organizers from across the state, said Esperanza Chairez, YUCCA policy manager and member of grassroots organizations Stop Project Jupiter and Fight Chihuahuan Desert Extraction.
The three-day gathering was hosted for organizers to meet and learn how to organize against data centers.
Lee County, Raton County and Sierra County are also facing hyperscale data center proposals, said Chairez.
“We arrived to the conclusion that we need a ban on data centers in New Mexico to really protect our communities our water and our air and our land,” Chairez.
Chairez says that data center companies invest millions of dollars in ads to try to sway the New Mexicans who are either uninformed of against data centers.
“We’re here to organize our communities to understand the risky nature of this type of supposed economic development that comes with a lot of costs that are truly in reversible,”Chairez said.
Juarez explained why the rally and gatherings were hosted in Las Cruces.
“We shouldn't be paving the way for billionaires who have never even stepped foot in New Mexico let alone Doña Ana County to make the decisions that are going to be generational consequences here,” Juarez said.
A statewide school walkout to protest data centers is expected to happen on Tuesday, said Juarez.
