Doña Ana County Commissioners to appoint representatives to Project Jupiter Community Monitoring Committee

SANTA TERESA, New Mexico (KVIA) – The Doña Ana County Commission Chambers are packed Tuesday ahead of a resolution to establish a Community Monitoring Committee for Project Jupiter.

Project Jupiter, operated by Oracle, is the hyperscale AI data center being built in Doña Ana County near Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

Residents on both sides of the controversial data center spoke during public comment. While some are grateful for the jobs and economic development the site will bring, others are concerned about the long-term impacts the data center will have on the community's water and other resources.

Project Jupiter Representative Mahesh Thiagarajan says Oracle is committed to being a "good neighbor."

"Look, I think being a good neighbor and building responsible data centers includes listening to the community," Thiagarajan said in an interview. "And part of what we're learning and understanding and listening to the community is continue to address that core concerns about what matters to them. And the first thing that we become very clear is that renewables and a renewable energy strategy here at Project Jupiter matters to them," he continued.

Thiagarajan says they'll do that by:

• Creating good jobs
• Protecting land, water and air
• Invest and engaging local communities
• Empower future generations
• Deliver on committments

Project Jupiter has 3,686 total construction workers to date. New Mexicans make up 988 of those workers.

Thiagarajan says once the site is operational, it will create 1,500 permanent jobs, most of which he says he hopes will go to qualified New Mexicans.

He says part of their strategy for full-time jobs is a New Mexico recruiting spree, training people and offering them full-time jobs 3 months before the site is fully operational.

Uriel Apodaca, a field representative with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades spoke during public comment. He says they are already in the process of bringing in members on the job site.

Apodaca says people with no experience, as long as they are 18 and pass a drug test, can get free training and certifications to work on the project.

Thiagarajan says Project Jupiter will save more water than it uses, saying it will save 21 million gallons of water a year. He estimates the project will use about 128 thousand gallons annually, he compares it to the usage of nine single family households.

Thiagarajan says Oracle is committed to transparency with Doña Ana County. He says independent third party reviewers will analyze their environmental impact.

That data will be presented to the Community Monitoring Committee that will be selected Tuesday.

"AI is a groundbreaking and a breakthrough technology, right? Fundamentally, when there's a piece of technology that's grown at this scale and it's actually in the course of changing humanity, there's a lot of questions, and I completely understand and empathize all the questions and concerns that the community has raised, starting from water, starting from air, right?" Thiagarajan said.

"And so all of those questions are very valid. And but at Oracle, I care a lot about and I take pride in my work to build responsible data centers," he continued.

Doña Ana County resident, Randy Jones, says he doesn't think Project Jupiter will listen to the Committee.

"They're money, I know it. I've seen big corporations for years. I've worked with them and construction know it's all about the money. It's about the cold, hard cash. They don't care about anything else. They put on a show that they have care and they're concerned. But when it comes down to it, it's all about the money," Jones said.

The Committee will have two representatives from each district, and an 11th member appointed by the Chair. The Board will appoint those representatives Tuesday.