Hearing officer allows Project Jupiter air permit review to continue in Santa Teresa
A New Mexico hearing officer rejected New Energy Economy’s request to dismiss Project Jupiter’s updated air quality permit application as incomplete. The decision allows the permit review to continue, although revised emissions modeling and questions about fraudulent public comments could delay the hearing and state decision.
Hearing officer James O. Browning denied New Energy Economy’s motion to dismiss the updated air quality permit application for Project Jupiter, a planned data center and microgrid in Santa Teresa. The project’s developers, Oracle and Yucca Growth Infrastructure, revised the Bloom Energy fuel-cell design and said the changes would reduce emissions by about 35%, but state officials said the new modeling requires additional technical review.
The New Mexico Environment Department has not determined how long its review will take. A decision deadline is currently set for Nov. 23, with a public hearing scheduled for Dec. 7 in Sunland Park, though the schedule could change. Environmental advocates argue the revised application should trigger a new public-comment period, while Yucca Growth Infrastructure says sufficient public input has already occurred.
The dispute is also complicated by a New Mexico Department of Justice investigation into thousands of allegedly fraudulent comments supporting Project Jupiter. Attorney General Raúl Torrez said about 60% of the comments used a common form letter and came from roughly 9,000 email addresses. The data center buildings remain without power while the air permit proceedings continue.