A Community Already in a Water Crisis
Project Jupiter is one of the largest proposed data center projects in the nation. The growing concerns to public water supplies, among other environmental concerns like air emissions, energy consumption, soil contamination, ecosystem impacts, and noise pollution, make this data center campus a significant threat to Sunland Park and Santa Teresa community members and their families’ access to clean and safe drinking water.
Project Jupiter & the Fight for Clean and Safe Drinking Water
Case: Since Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s first announcement of Project Jupiter (though not named at the time) in February 2025, NMELC, alongside our clients and community members in Sunland Park and Santa Teresa, have been relentlessly working to uncover the truth behind Project Jupiter and what it means for all of New Mexico.
Throughout the spring and summer of 2025, we engaged in a number of public records requests to every state agency in New Mexico and in August 2025, supported Sunland Park and Santa Teresa communities’ launch of their public opposition to Project Jupiter. Through litigation and the creation of public education materials and an ongoing public advocacy campaign, our goal is to keep Project Jupiter in the public eye, so that no more deals or decisions about New Mexico’s future can be made in secrecy.
The Project Jupiter site located in immediate proximity to the communities of Santa Teresa and Sunland Park, New Mexico.
Litigation Against Doña Ana County
Following the Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners’ decision to adopt three ordinances approving over $165 billion in tax incentives and public financial support for Project Jupiter, NMELC, on behalf of its clients, filed two separate lawsuits against the Board.
The first lawsuit, filed on October 17, 2025, challenges the Board’s decision to adopt the Ordinances, alleging the Board adopted the Ordinances based on an incomplete application and in violation of state and local law.
The second lawsuit, filed on February 6, 2026, contends that the Board violated the New Mexico Open Meetings Act when it abruptly moved into a closed meeting, without proper notice, during the hearing in which the Board adopted two of the ordinances.
Both lawsuits seek to void the ordinances that provide Project Jupiter with billions of dollars in tax incentives. Two of the largest multi-billion dollar corporations behind Project Jupiter – Oracle America Cloud Services, LLC, and Stack Infrastructure, LLC, – are now involved in each lawsuit, which remain ongoing.
Fight for Air Quality Against Project Jupiter’s Massive Proposed Pollution Emissions
Air Permitting Process
Based on the air quality permit application submitted for Project Jupiter, Project Jupiter intends to emit more than 10 million tons of greenhouse gases per year – despite being located within only a few miles of schools, residences, and large neighborhoods with already unsafe levels of air pollution.
Project Jupiter has now partnered with Bloom Energy to use solid oxide fuel cells, which are the furthest thing from “clean” energy because they solely rely upon natural gas for combustion to generate energy to power the Project. As a result, Project Jupiter is also seeking to build a pipeline, alongside Energy Transfer, to provide the natural gas for the microgrid.
Send a comment and urge NMED to DENY the new air pollution application for Project Jupiter. Comments are due July 6, 2026.
History of Water Quality Work in Southern NM
For years, the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) has provided Borderland residents in Sunland Park, Santa Teresa, and surrounding colonias with unsafe drinking water. On multiple occasions over the past several years, arsenic contaminant levels in CRRUA-provided consumer water have remained well-above federal health standards, significantly jeopardizing and harming families’ health and safety.
This ongoing water quality crisis hit its peak in the late winter of 2023, when residents began reporting, via social media, of slimy, discolored, odorous, and foul-tasting water. While CRRUA failed to respond or act for days, a later investigation by the New Mexico Environment Department uncovered arsenic contamination in the CRRUA water supply, as well as three CRRUA arsenic treatment plants that had been “offline and bypassed” for more than a year. To this day, Sunland Park and Santa Teresa communities continue to lack access to clean and safe drinking water, while also being expected to pay some of the highest rates for water in New Mexico.
Since February 2024, NMELC has been representing and working alongside Sunland Park and Santa Teresa community members in the fight for clean, safe, and accessible drinking water. From assisting in community protests to spurring investigations and inspections by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, New Mexico Department of Justice, and New Mexico Office of the State Auditor, this fight has been multifaceted, spread far and wide, and remains ongoing.
Take Action!
Send a comment to NMED voicing your concerns about the new air pollution permit applications for Project Jupiter! Comments are due July 6, 2026.
Related News & Media
-
Read news from BorderReport about the Project Jupiter IRB lawsuit.
-
Read news from KRWG about the Open Meetings Act Lawsuit.
-
Read news from KTSM about NMELC’s victory surviving a motion to dismiss.