City Council to vote to begin negotiating Community Benefits Agreement for Meta data center
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Item 35 on El Paso City Council's Tuesday agenda is to begin negotiations with Meta Platforms Inc. for a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) through the city manager and attorney. The CBA will look at regarding hiring practices, environmental protections, Meta's spending agreements and other elements.
According to City Representative Cynthia Boyar Trejo, the agreement should include "El Paso First" hiring commitments on 300 operational jobs tied to the data center in Northeast El Paso.
The agreement would direct the city manager to have community roundtables through a moderator with representatives of El Paso Water, El Paso Electric, El Paso Chamber, Greater El Paso Association of REALTORS, environmental advocate, a resident representative and Meta. The roundtables would assist in developing the final CBA, Rep. Trejo said.
Staff would then return to City Council within 45 days with a draft agreement, he added.
Regarding water, part of the CBA would include upgrading, repairing, purifying and recycling infrastructure. It also calls for a timeline to create a pipeline connecting the data center's cooling towers to El Paso's groundwater, Rep. Trejo said. He said this would help leave more water for residents in the local aquifer.
For 214 homes located a mile from the data center, the CBA would help fund sewer infrastructure.
In terms of the environment, part of the CBA negotiations included in Item 35 is to create an 'Emissions Reduction Fund' to build solar powered battery infrastructure to reduce emissions.
Another part of the CBA is more funding to imporve El Paso's solar and battery grid to reduce the amount of 'brownouts'.
There would also be a 'Ratepayer Protection Fund' for Meta to invest in and distributed by the City of El Paso to help El Paso Electric customers with any bill increases as a result of the data centers operation.
This item also includes plans for an advanced training center in partnership with school districts, Workforce Solutions and El Paso Community College to train students and workers for high-demand careers. Rep. Trejo said the careers include fiber optic technicians, utility professionals, engineers and server technicians.
If approved, item 35 gives the City Manager and City Attorney 45 days to create a draft and present it to City Council.
