Project Jupiter permit application public hearing scheduled for December
A public hearing on Project Jupiter's air quality permit has been rescheduled for Dec. 7 in Sunland Park, New Mexico. Yucca Growth Infrastructure LLC is seeking approval to use a natural gas pipeline to power thousands of Bloom Energy fuel cells at the Oracle- and OpenAI-backed data center campus, while environmental advocates challenge the permit over emissions and other concerns.
The air quality permit hearing for Project Jupiter, an artificial intelligence data center campus under construction at the Santa Teresa Industrial Park, has been rescheduled for Dec. 7 at the Sunland Park Multi-Generational Center. Hearing officer James O. Browning will oversee the proceeding, while Deputy Cabinet Secretary John Rhoderick will make the final state decision.
Yucca Growth Infrastructure LLC is seeking permission to build a natural gas pipeline serving about 7,000 Bloom Energy fuel cells that would power the campus. Although the fuel-cell plan is cleaner than the project's original gas-turbine proposal, state estimates still project 8.8 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and the project is awaiting federal pipeline approval.
The New Mexico Supreme Court previously stayed the permit process while considering petitions from Santa Fe-based environmental group New Energy Economy. The court denied those petitions, but the group filed a motion to dismiss the permit after a scheduling conference revealed a 2% emissions increase and higher modeled pollutant concentrations. Written technical testimony is due Nov. 17, with rebuttal testimony due Nov. 30.