El Paso City Council to Start Work on Limiting Datacenters Next Week
El Paso City Council is set to discuss a policy framework next week to potentially limit future hyperscale data center development, driven by concerns over increased electricity and water demands. This comes amidst ongoing community opposition to the Meta data center expansion and a lawsuit against Project Jupiter in Santa Teresa, NM. Additionally, the Texas Agriculture Commissioner has called for a temporary statewide moratorium on data center construction.
The El Paso City Council is preparing to address growing concerns over data center development, with an agenda item scheduled for next week to consider a policy that would discourage the recruitment and incentivization of future hyperscale data centers. This move is spearheaded by Councilman Chris Canales, who, despite having voted for the Meta data center in 2023, now advocates against generative AI data centers in El Paso due to their high demands for electricity, water, and infrastructure.
The existing Meta data center, initially a $1.5 billion project, has ballooned to $10 billion with a pivot to AI tools, significantly increasing its projected water usage from 400,000 to potentially 1 million gallons per day. This expansion has intensified local opposition, including a coalition called Sembrando Esperanza, citing stress on the region's water supply managed by the El Paso Public Service Board (PSB). While the PSB CEO initially stated they could sustainably supply Meta, updated forecasts for the expanded facility have not been released.
The El Paso situation is part of a broader trend of data center-related controversies. In Santa Teresa, New Mexico, the Project Jupiter AI data center faces two lawsuits: one alleging illegal government benefits and another from the New Mexico State Ethics Commission against a company, Elevate New Mexico, for unregistered lobbying. Furthermore, the New Mexico State Land Commissioner rejected Project Jupiter's application for natural gas pipelines. Across Texas, there are calls for a statewide temporary moratorium on data centers by Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, and residents in Temple, Texas, have launched recall petitions against council members over a data center development. These events underscore increasing statewide concerns about water and energy resources, with Texas water planners forecasting potential shortages by 2070.