El Paso residents, organizations seek to end Meta data center contract at City Council meeting

UPDATE (12 p.m.) -- For the public speaking session, 183 people signed up. The city called up people in groups of five to allow them to have time to have their say.

Each person is provided three minutes to address the council. That means there is just more than nine hours of public speakers signed up.

ABC-7 is at the meeting and will provide updates.

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- During Tuesday's city council meeting, residents will have a chance to share concerns about the Meta data center to possibly cancel the contract..

Item 37 on Tuesday's agenda was introduced by City Rep. Lily Limón and Rep. Josh Acevedo, who are directing the city manager and attorney to negotiate and terminate the contract, after hearing from a majority of residents who are against it.

Mayor Renard Johnson told ABC-7 last week that the agreement can't be terminated. He told abc-7 why it could come at a cost for the tax payer. 

"If you were to enter into any litigation with that particular company, and if El Paso was to lose, we would also have to pay their attorney fees. So that would be a significant amount of money that would be based on the taxpayers," he said.

He also shares that it makes a bad impression on other companies for future negotiations.

Organizations like Amanecer People's Project, who fights for clean resources, says this meeting is a huge step to reduce any environmental and financial harms from this project.

Co-founder Matthew Rodriguez says the city might have not been well aware of the scale of damage a center like this can cause to the borderland, and calls Mayor Johnson's argument to not cancel, a "scare tactic."

"This talk about 'trust' and 'we need to honor our word' and 'this will hurt our reputation,' these things just aren't fit to this situation," says Rodriguez. "Meta is is trying to extract from us, people don't want that to happen, it's very clear that people don't want it."

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. but public comment begins at 10 a.m.

You can call in at 915-212-0049 or sign up to speak in-person on Item 37 by 9 a.m.