COMMENTARY:
Honorable County Commissioners,
Good governance is at the heart of public trust in our institutions. The Board of County Commissioners is violating that trust in its rush to approve the $165 billion Project Jupiter data center Industrial Revenue Bond in mid-September.
To put the magnitude of this decision in perspective, the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank pegs Dona Ana County’s annual GDP at between $10 and $11 billion. The public deserves transparent, thorough, and independent vetting of the proposed project. Financial viability, management history, environmental impacts, agreements with utilities, and impacts on county infrastructure and budgeting should all be a matter of public record with adequate time for public review and comment before a vote is taken.
Rushed economic development proposals based on faulty assumptions and misrepresentations of fact have become commonplace in our community. Verde Realty’s proposed 2007 Santa Teresa development, 2009’s Vistas at Presidio proposal, 2020’s Royal Crossings Tidd proposal at the former Las Cruces Country Club, and NMSU’s recent annexation and development proposal all fit the profile. Only public demands for independent evaluations and more transparency revealed the flaws in each of these proposals.
Introduction of Project Jupiter on August 26 with a final vote scheduled for Sept. 19 leaves no room for the kind of review that has proved crucial to avoiding mistakes in the past. There has been no explanation for the rush. A trustworthy enterprise would welcome the opportunity to preemptively weed out flaws in their proposal. At this stage, the public is unaware of the source of funding for the newly formed companies leading the project.
Public representations by Project Jupiter have been cagey at best. They proudly proclaim full compliance with the Renewable Energy Act (REA) without informing folks that newly enacted legislative loopholes allow them to build as many fossil fuel power plants as they like. The massive energy needs of Project Jupiter could easily match the current energy consumption of all Dona Ana County and turn carbon emission restrictions into a toothless joke.
Project Jupiter touts conservation of water resources with the use of closed loop cooling systems at the data centers. They don’t tell us that any natural gas power plants they build to power those data centers consume massive amounts of water. A thorough review of potential water impacts is required.
The County Commission should require Project Jupiter to detail its power generation plans, examine the environmental impacts and negotiate any necessary conditions prior to approving massive financial incentives.
The same type of scrutiny is required to examine presumed economic and budgetary benefits to the county. How have data centers impacted other communities? Do the numbers make sense? This is where so many past proposals have failed the smell test once more carefully evaluated.
The hastily assembled group of public meetings scheduled to promote Project Jupiter cannot possibly identify and meaningfully address the public’s many concerns prior to the scheduled September 19 vote. A two to four month delay to gather information, air out, and resolve critical issues is required.
Ready, shoot, aim is a poor decision model. Please implement sound governance protocols and insist on the kind of thorough and independent review that can improve Project Jupiter and inspire public confidence.
Steve Fischmann was a member of the Public Regulation Commission from 2019-2022 and chair from 2020-2021. He also served as New Mexico State Senator district 37 from 2009-2012.
Steve Fischmann's opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of KRWG Public Media or NMSU.