New Mexico environmental groups’ fight against Oracle’s Project Jupiter data center complex in Santa Teresa will continue despite the New Mexico Supreme Court rejecting their requests to intervenein the permitting processes for the huge campus under construction.
The plan is “to continue to fight against this enormous new source of (air) pollution,” Mariel Nanasi, executive director and senior attorney for New Energy Economy, said in a phone interview.
New Energy is looking at another possible court action, which Nanasi said Sept. 18 she can’t yet discuss. It also will continue to be an active participant in the state air-permit process in this "highly scientific and technical case," she said.
Colin Cox, senior attorney for the Center for Biological
Diversity’s New Mexico office, said in a statement that the group will “continue to fight until our governor and regulators act in the interest of all New Mexicans rather than shills for giant corporations."
More: Meta hires El Paso political insider to build data center trust
The multibillion-dollar project is located on about 1,400 acres in the Santa Teresa, New Mexico area, an El Paso suburb.
New Mexico’s high court Sept. 17 issued two short orders denying requests made by the two environmental groups, but gave no reasons for the denial.
One order lifted the court's Aug. 23 freeze on the New Mexico Environment Department's (NMED) air-permit process for Project Jupiter’s proposed microgrid; the other lifted a temporary freeze on Project Jupiter's use of a new water well, which has not yet went through a state permit hearing.
This means the air-permit process will proceed and a new date scheduled for an air-permit hearing. A Sept. 14 public hearing was canceled due to the Supreme Court freeze.
Project Jupiter also can use the very productive, new water well during the Office of the State Engineer hearing process, which, Cox said, has only barely begun. No hearing has yet been set, Cox said on Sept. 18.
Work on the massive data center complex did not slow or stop during the Supreme Court freezes. The project has two older water wells it was able to access during the freeze, Cox said.
Nanasi said, "We asked for a fair (air-permit hearing) and we were hoping they (Supreme Court) would decide that certain things were necessary to meet a fair hearing."
"But perhaps through (the court) process and the media attention on it, the (environment) agency will provide a better forum for actual testing of the Project Jupiter claims that this (microgrid) is just fine to do, which we don’t believe."
The NMED needs to appoint a new hearing officer, and then post a 30-day public notice before a new hearing can be held on Project Jupiter's air-permit application.
"NMED is working to make that appointment but cannot provide an exact timeline for when a new hearing officer will be named," Drew Goretzka, an agency spokesperson, said in an email.
Oracle is proposing to use natural gas fuel cells to power its 2.45-gigawatt microgrid being built next to the data center complex.
That's more power than used by PNM (Public Service Company of New Mexico), the state's largest elecricity provider, Nanasi said.
More: Power hungry: Wiwynn adding 120MW power plant for Socorro factories
Oracle officials have said in a statement that Oracle and its Project Jupiter partners are "meeting applicable permitting requirements," and "stand ready to proceed with the departments's public hearing process."
Oracle officials in a Sept. 14 statement said construction of the data center campus could continue during the Supreme Court freeze because the buildings require no air-permit approvals.
Meanwhile, another company, Yucca Growth Infrastructure, is following NMED guidance on preconstruction activities for the microgrid to "ensure that it stays in compliance with NMED's rules, regulations, and guidance," according to the Oracle statement.
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 915-546-6421;vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on X, and @vkolenc.bsky.socialon Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: NM Supreme Court rebuff won't stop Project Jupiter data center battle
