Red States Join Fight Over Pipeline for Oracle AI Data Center
Attorneys general from 12 Republican-led states are urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve Energy Transfer’s proposed Green Chile natural gas pipeline in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. The pipeline would supply power to Oracle’s Project Jupiter AI data center, while New Mexico argues that regulators must review the pipeline and data center’s combined environmental effects.
Attorneys general from West Virginia, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio and South Carolina told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that they have a stake in the approval of the 17.8-mile Green Chile pipeline. The Energy Transfer project would deliver up to 400 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to generation facilities serving Project Jupiter, an Oracle data center campus planned for Doña Ana County and intended to support OpenAI.
The dispute has become a test of how regulators assess large AI data centers that include dedicated power generation. New Mexico is seeking a broader environmental review of the pipeline and the facility, while the 12 states argue that FERC lacks authority to regulate the data center itself. Oracle has considered trucking in natural gas after losing a key pipeline permit and says a proposal to limit Bloom Energy fuel-cell output would reduce projected emissions by 35%.