Nick Seibel, editor and publisher of the Silver City Daily Press, covers top stories each week in the Silver City Report. This week, he talks about a potential data center in Grant County, a potential moratorium on data centers in Silver City and more.
Susan Morée:
Nick, you've got a lot of news for us about data centers. What's going on in Grant County?
Nick Seibel:
Yep, nothing compared to what you all have got going down there with data centers, but it kind of took folks by surprise. And we've talked about this when a legal notice appeared in the Daily Press a couple months back for a data center proposed way down in the tail end of Grant County, really closer to Deming and Lordsburg than actually to Silver City. So, you know, the folks have been kind of trying to figure out who's behind that. The entity that was listed in that legal notice was an LLC that folks couldn't really track down a lot of information about initially. Basically, the company behind that proposal, known as Granite Renewables, made a presentation to the Grant County Commission. at their meeting last Thursday and talked about what their plan is.
Susan Morée:
And what is the plan?
Nick Seibel:
Well, the company emphasized that this is still feasibility phase. And they said only one in every 10 projects actually emerge from that phase to actually become a reality. And so there's not a lot of details because it's basically all still a theoretical thing. They do have an option on that property where they'd like to locate it. They're starting the process for some of these applicants. But there's a lot of unknowns for everyone here, including the company that's making these proposals. They emphasized that, although the thing that put this on everyone's radar was the application for an air quality permit to the state, which is what that legal notice was for. They said the land that they plan to use, a lot of that land, they plan on actually using for solar panels for renewable energy generation, instead of the actual data center itself should it come to pass. So they feel like that generation that they're doing that is an important part of the sustainability of their project. Of course, a lot of folks turned out in public input at that meeting to criticize the idea, and the county is considering when a moratorium on data centers in general within the county and that's supposed to come up for consideration here at the next meeting.
Susan Morée:
And the county's not the only entity thinking about a moratorium on data centers. Tell us about what happened at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
Nick Seibel:
Yeah, so the Town of Silver City began the consideration of that at their meeting last night. The town had asked last week's Planning and Zoning Commission to look at that proposal, and basically the commissioners signed off on it, gave it their stamp of approval. It was emphasized by everyone involved that there isn't a proposal at all, but the idea behind all of these moratoria is basically communities want to take a look at the ordinances, the other laws, regulations on their books so that they can get ahead of the idea of data centers since they have been so disruptive in some communities and so controversial. So the town, even though no proposals have been made, maybe it's unlikely that one will be made, they want to make sure that they look at the laws on the books and see how they can be better prepared just in case. So it's something I guess every community is dealing with at this point.
Susan Morée:
And you've also got a story about one of your journalists at the Daily Press. Tell us about Dean Thompson, who's been there forever.
Nick Seibel:
Last weekend, of course, was homecoming at Western New Mexico University and they did in fact win their homecoming football game. So congratulations.
Susan Morée:
Absolutely.
Nick Seibel:
Lots of things happen, of course, during homecoming weekend. One of them is the induction of new members to the Athletic Hall of Fame at Western New Mexico University. This year, there were several honorees, one of whom was Dean Thompson, who's the sports editor of the Daily Press, who actually began working as the Daily Press sports editor back in 1982 while he was still a student at Western New Mexico University. A big deal there. A lot of folks in the community really happy to see him get that honor, although he was deeply unhappy himself, because as he told me on Monday at our newsroom budget meeting, 'I just try to keep my name off of everything I can.' He never puts bylines on his sports stories, but it was nice to see him stand up in front of that room of people. The lieutenant governor was the guy that actually introduced him, and it was nice moment and a certainly well-deserved honor there.
Susan Morée:
All right. Well, congratulations to Dean, even if he is a bit shy about it. And where can readers find these stories, Nick?
Nick Seibel:
There's lots more at scdailypress.com.
Susan Morée:
All right. Thank you.
Nick Seibel:
Have a great one.
