Doña Ana Commissioners call Project Jupiter representatives disrespectful at meeting

DONA ANA COUNTY, N.M. (KVIA) – Tuesday, Project Jupiter representatives was set to present project updates to Doña Ana County Commissioners.

20 minutes before the meeting, Project Jupiter sent out three press releases detailing information about a $13 billion economic impact on New Mexico, a $1 million flood recovery commitment to Doña Ana County and a proposed agreement with El Paso Electric to offset utility costs for New Mexicans.

While Commissioners asked for the full presentation a week prior to the meeting, all three of those press releases were sent out the morning of with no time for Commissioners to prepare questions on those specific items. Several commissioners said Oracle has done this several times, calling it disrespectful and against Oracle promises of transparency and being a good neighbor.

Project Jupiter Job Update

To date, Project Jupiter has employed 4,393 construction workers, 1,230 of whom are New Mexicans. The number of New Mexicans has gone up 24% from the last report on September 8, at 988 New Mexican workers.

However, the total number of construction workers has also gone up from 3,686 in September to 4,393. The ratio of New Mexicans to total workers has gone up from 26.8% in September to 27.9% in October, an increase of only 1.1%.

When asked where the non-New Mexican workers are coming from, Executive Vice President of Oracle Mahesh Thiagarajan says while the number of New Mexican workers on site is self-reported, project partners are not able to share that specific information with Oracle in order to protect the privacy of employees.

"We're only self-reporting the numbers of the people who elected to say that. But we also believe that the greater area of like, having over 3000 people tells a different story," Thiagarajan said. "That there's lots of workers in the region who are actually getting jobs, who are actually living here, who are back home, right?"

For LiUna! worker Raul Retana that holds true. Retana says he is from New Mexico and is grateful for the opportunity to move back here after leaving to another state to find work.

"So when I saw my people somewhat prospering, somewhat having hope, I wanted to come over here and be that push and kind of one of the big reasons I moved out here," Retana said.

He says the trainings Oracle is offering have helped push forward his career and will help out young people looking to get into the workforce.

"What they're offering people nowadays, are you kidding me? I mean, three weeks full tools, Milwaukee everything, and then put you in the in the center, pulling wires. I mean, it's a dream job for some of these kids," Retana said.

Thiagarajan says Oracle is making a conscious effort to do training.

"What we're going to do is for all of the workers that are actually at the site, the programs either made available by our contract partners or Oracle, will enable them to apply for training program or an apprenticeship program," Thiagarajan said. "And those programs is how people can graduate, apply for those jobs, get full time jobs at the site," he continued.

Project Jupiter opponent Sierra Edmister says the jobs Oracle promises to provide aren't worth the risk.

"This is built on so many promises, along with so many outs and very written down outs of how to get out of those promises. All I know is, if I'm making a promise, I'm not going to hold my fingers crossed in front of you as I'm making the promise and be like, this is just standard procedure, but I promise," Edmister said.

In public comment, one proponent of Project Jupiter criticized Edmister's public comments, saying "they have no idea what the future of this project is going to bring."

In response to those comments, Edmister said, "A very common tactic of data centers nationwide is pitting the activists or the people crying out about very real threats, pitting them against union workers. And it's one of the more sad aspects about this fight, because most of the people that are fighting these data centers come from the same, like are cut from the same cloth as like what unions came from."

Economic Impact on New Mexico

Oracle made the announcement today they will generate $13 billion in economic impact for New Mexico. That number is up from $4.7 billion in September.

Thiagarajan says that number has changed because when Oracle initially did the analysis, the project details weren't finalized. He says the primary change is the number of full-time jobs estimated to have on site over a 17 year period.

In the news release, it says:

The more than $13 billion figure was calculated using annual estimates of the total projected economic output during construction from 2025 through 2028 and the direct impacts of the first 17 years of full operations. Once fully operational, Project Jupiter is projected to support approximately $560 million in direct economic output in Doña Ana County each year. This figure does not include the more than 1,600 indirect and induced jobs expected to be created by local suppliers, contractors, service providers, and employee spending. All dollar estimates in the analysis are in 2026 dollars.

Oracle gives $1 million in funding for flood recovery

In a second press release sent out this morning, Oracle announced a $1 million commitment to support residents and communities affected by recent flooding in Doña Ana County.

That funding will be given to the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico (CFSNM) through its Greatest Needs Impact Fund for Doña Ana County.

"This is a very small donation that enables the county to do the work to to upgrade the infrastructure or help out the families that are in most need. So we're working with the officials because we do not want to we want to actually follow the due course process of making the money available to the county and not do it ourselves," Thiagarajan said in an interview.

Oracle proposes an Energy Service Agreement with El Paso Electric

In a third press release sent this morning, Oracle announced a proposed Energy Service Agreement with El Paso Electric for Project Jupiter to support late-stage construction, initial commissioning, emergency backup power at the site and to meet life safety needs for New Mexican workers at the data center.

Thiagarajan said Oracle wants to "do it right" by paying for their own way with energy.

"Oracle is proposing, and we're proposing to do $55 million annually for three years, and that could deliver up to $155 million of benefits to offset these bill credits towards these customers. So one, we're protecting, you know, offering life safety backup power for workers at the site to we're actually paying for the shared infrastructure," Thiagarajan said.

Thiagarajan said he doesn't have specific numbers on how much a typical household could save when it comes to offsetting those rate hikes.