‘We have to push our leaders’: Expert on Fort Bliss data center project community meeting

Fort Bliss is holding a community listening meeting on Wednesday about a newly-announced data center project -- with multiple data centers projected to be built in the region already, borderland residents are already voicing their concerns.

Residents have already spoken out against Project Jupiter and the Meta data center. Now, an engineering expert at UTEP is now concerned about the borderland's limited resources used to operate these data centers.

"I guess that's one of the things that bothers me is, we may be sacrificing our local resources for something that's going to maybe, make us worse off in the end," says Dr. Alex Mayer, UTEP civil engineering professor and water resources management expert.

The Department of Army reached a conditional agreement to enter exclusive negotiations with global investment firm Carlyle. 

The center is estimated to take up about 1,384 acres of under-utilized land to develop AI "in support of national defense interests."

Mayer says it can cause potential environmental impacts from electricity to water used to power the data center, with his biggest concern being limited water availability.

He thinks this will make water rates rise and nearby residents can expect air pollution.

Mayer believes a better use for that amount of land would be to build more schools or homes -- which he estimates 6,200 homes at a medium density could be built.

The only advantage he sees to this data center being built is potential jobs.

"As a resident, we have to push our leaders as hard as possible, and I think they're also very concerned about the lack of transparency too," Mayer adds.

As a concerned resident, Mayer says at the meeting he'd ask about the demand for electricity and water use, and what would be the best use for that amount of land. 

"I'd hate to think of this, I hate to think of these companies taking advantage of that, coming to a place, looking for places where they think the resistance would be low. I don't know if I want to be that cynical or pessimistic,," he says.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wyndham El Paso Airport Hotel Conference Center.