We got snookered.
The Dona Ana County Commission gave the green light to Project Jupiter, a massive $165 billion data center being built in the south county, based on its belief that the project would use an average of 20,000 gallons of water a day, capped at 60,000 gallons.
Reporting by the Santa Fe New Mexican, along with planning documents by the State Engineers Office, estimate the usage at nearly 1 million gallons a day. The word “potable” was slipped into the original agreement, allowing for the huge increase in water usage, independent investigative reporter Heath Haussamen explained during a recent community radio interview.
The final agreement states, “the daily operational potable water use for the full data center campus buildout will be an average of 20,000 gallons per day with a maximum peak use capped at 60,000.”
The word “potable” was not in the original agreement voted on in September. It was added after other commissioners had abdicated their responsibility and authorized the chairman to negotiate the final agreement.
The sales pitch was about water usage. We were told it would be unfair to compare Project Jupiter to other data centers because of its amazing closed-loop system that would dramatically reduce water usage. All water in the desert is precious. It is the use of nonpotable water for agriculture that led to the Supreme Court case between New Mexico, Texas and Mexico.
County Attorney Carl Neal appears to have been caught flat-footed. In an interview with KRWG, he dismissed the New Mexican article as “misinformation,” but acknowledged that the county does not have enough information yet to determine if the report is accurate.
County officials said they were aware that Project Jupiter had purchased water from a nearby sod farm, but believed it was only for the construction phase. It’s not clear what recourse, if any, the county would have if it determines that the reporting by the New Mexican is accurate.
There are ways to use the regulatory process to throw roadblocks in front of projects that the state and local governments don’t want. Plans were made and contracts signed to store all of the nation’s nuclear waste in southeast New Mexico before the state made it more of a financial burden than organizers could bear.
But that would require cooperation from the same people who orchestrated the sneaky move in 2024 to give Project Jupiter an exemption to the state’s clean energy rules by tacking an amendment onto unrelated legislation.
This has been an inside job from the start. And it’s not hard to understand why. A $165 billion investment in a part of the state that has historically struggled to provide good jobs and a high standard of living could, theoretically, make an enormous positive difference.
I wrote a column in September, after the County Commission had voted to approve an agreement with Project Jupiter following the minimal amount of public input required by law (and there are questions if they even cleared that low bar), that this felt like commissioners had succumbed to the tactics of a high-pressure resort time-share salesman warning that this was a one-time offer and if we didn’t act now we would never have this opportunity again.
We haven’t even settled into the hot tub and are already having buyer’s remorse.
Walter Rubel can be reached at waltrubel@gmail.com
Walt Rubel's opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of KRWG Public Media or NMSU.