New Mexico Supreme Court pauses Project Jupiter air permit
The New Mexico Supreme Court has issued a temporary stay on the air permit proceedings for Project Jupiter, a hyperscale data center in Santa Teresa. This decision follows a petition by New Energy Economy, which argues the New Mexico Environment Department cannot proceed with a public hearing until the data center's methane fuel source from a proposed pipeline is secured. Developers Oracle and OpenAI are involved in the project, which faces environmental and legal challenges.
The New Mexico Supreme Court has granted a temporary stay on the air quality permit proceedings for Project Jupiter, a hyperscale data center under construction in Santa Teresa. The unanimous order comes as the court reviews a petition from New Energy Economy, a clean energy advocacy organization, which argues that the New Mexico Environment Department cannot hold a public hearing on the permit until the project's methane fuel source is definitively established. The data center, developed by Yucca Growth Infrastructure and intended to house AI training technology for Oracle Corp. and OpenAI, plans to use an on-site microgrid powered by a methane-fueled cell system.
The fuel source, a proposed 18-mile natural gas pipeline from El Paso by Energy Transfer, has faced setbacks, with the New Mexico State Land Office twice rejecting routing requests due to concerns over "minimal revenue" versus "extreme burden" on New Mexico's water and natural resources. Energy Transfer has indicated the pipeline may not be ready until 2027. Separately, the Center for Biological Diversity and the New Mexico Environmental Law Center have sought to disqualify the hearing examiner, Max Shepherd, citing "arbitrary and inconsistent rulings" during pre-hearing procedures.
New Energy Economy Executive Director Mariel Nanasi described the Supreme Court's order as an "extraordinary and necessary intervention," alleging the public was being "railroaded" through a process driven by political pressure. The temporary stay ensures the court has time to review these procedural challenges before the scheduled September 14 public hearing on the air quality permit.