Project Jupiter site work continues, despite high court’s pause on permits
Site work continues for Project Jupiter, a massive data center supporting AI for Oracle and OpenAI in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, despite a state Supreme Court order pausing key permits. The project faces criticism over its high water usage, environmental impact, and failure to meet local hiring promises, as reported by Oracle.
Construction is ongoing at Project Jupiter, a significant data center campus in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, intended to support artificial intelligence operations for Oracle and OpenAI. This work proceeds even though the New Mexico Supreme Court recently ordered a pause on two critical permitting processes: an air quality permit for a power plant from the New Mexico Environment Department and a water use permit previously granted by the State Engineer’s Office. The Supreme Court's order has temporarily halted groundwater pumping from a new well, which had already supplied over 103 million gallons for the data center since April.
The project, developed by Oracle and STACK, has drawn controversy, particularly regarding local hiring. Despite Oracle stating that local hiring is a top priority, the company identified only 189 Doña Ana County residents out of over 2,100 construction workers as of June 30, with approximately 1,600 worker records lacking verifiable ZIP codes. This data gap has sparked criticism from local lawmaker Rep. Sarah Silva, D-Las Cruces, who questioned the corporation's commitment to the community. Additionally, workers, some relocated from out-of-state, expressed concerns about the data center's significant water consumption in the arid region. The project also faces challenges with a proposed natural gas pipeline through state trust land lacking authorization from the State Land Office, and developers withdrawing an application for a contentious gas-fired microgrid in favor of a fuel cell system, which would still emit substantial greenhouse gases.