Santa Fe County enacts 18-month moratorium on data center development

Santa Fe County elected officials unanimously passed an 18-month temporary moratorium on data center developments, effective immediately. The decision aims to proactively establish regulations on water, energy, and noise, as county staffers will develop these during the pause in issuing development permits. While there are no pending data center proposals in Santa Fe County, Commissioners Lisa Cacari Stone and Hank Hughes, who co-sponsored the moratorium, emphasized the importance of prevention, not permanent prohibition, citing trends in rural areas after "Project Jupiter" and developments in Socorro County. The moratorium applies to data centers using one megawatt or more, a threshold adjusted from a previous draft to prevent circumvention.

This action by Santa Fe County follows similar moves in other New Mexico communities, such as Socorro County, which adopted a yearlong moratorium after an unproven Canadian tech CEO pitched a large data center and solar array. Raton also postponed its decision on a moratorium. Supporters in Santa Fe, including Earth Care co-director Bianca Sopoci-Belknap, applauded the county's proactive stance, hoping it will serve as a model for other less-resourced communities across the state.