Doña Ana County

Updates, newest first

1. Oct. 19, 2026 Project Jupiter · The air permit hearing was set to begin Dec. 7, 2026 in Sunland Park, with an Oct. 26 hearing on a motion to dismiss the permit case. (Source New Mexico, Oct. 19, 2026)
2. Oct. 13, 2026 Project Jupiter · Oracle told county commissioners that 4,393 construction workers had worked on the site to date; the county lists first operations for the fourth quarter of 2026 and completion of the first 400-acre phase, with the microgrid, for the third quarter of 2028. (Oracle, presentation to the Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners (posted by the county), Oct. 13, 2026; Doña Ana County, Oct. 23, 2026)
3. Sept. 24, 2026 Project Jupiter · Oracle sent a force majeure notice to STACK's owner, Blue Owl, to protect its contract rights if the campus is not online in 2028; Oracle said the project remained on schedule. (Engineering News-Record, Sept. 28, 2026)
4. Sept. 17, 2026 Project Jupiter · The Supreme Court denied both petitions without explanation and lifted both pauses. (Albuquerque Journal, Sept. 17, 2026)
5. Aug. 23, 2026 Project Jupiter · The New Mexico Supreme Court paused the air permit proceeding at the request of New Energy Economy and, separately, the emergency well authorization at the request of the Center for Biological Diversity. (New Mexico Political Report (reporting by Organ Mountain News), Aug. 24, 2026)
6. July 31, 2026 Project Jupiter · The companies reported about $4.7 billion invested through June 30, 2026, with the data center about 9% and the microgrid about 10% complete and roughly 2,100 construction workers on average. (Yucca Growth Infrastructure LLC and Oracle America Cloud Services LLC, filed with Doña Ana County, July 31, 2026)
7. May 27, 2026 Project Jupiter · The state Environment Department ruled the microgrid's air permit application (No. 10883) complete and said it intended to issue the permit, subject to public comment. (New Mexico Environment Department, Air Quality Bureau (posted by Doña Ana County), May 27, 2026; New Mexico Environment Department, Air Quality Bureau (posted by Doña Ana County), May 27, 2026)
8. April 27, 2026 Project Jupiter · Oracle said the campus would run on up to 2.45 GW of Bloom Energy fuel cells instead of the gas turbines and diesel generators planned before. (Oracle (news release), April 27, 2026)
9. March 20, 2026 Project Jupiter · A district judge ruled the residents' challenge could go forward and ordered the county to produce the full administrative record. (Albuquerque Journal, March 24, 2026)
10. Nov. 12, 2025 Project Jupiter · The developers and the county signed a community benefits agreement covering about 819 acres, tied to the bonds. (Doña Ana County, Nov. 12, 2025)
11. Oct. 2025 Project Jupiter · The New Mexico Environmental Law Center sued on behalf of two area residents, both involved with the community group Empowerment Congress of Doña Ana County, asking the court to review the county's three Project Jupiter ordinances, declare them void and pause them while the case is heard; a separate Open Meetings Act suit over a closed session before the bond vote followed in February 2026. (KVIA, Oct. 27, 2025; Albuquerque Journal, March 24, 2026)
12. Sept. 23, 2025 Project Jupiter · Officials announced the site as part of the Stargate program, with Oracle leasing the campus for 18 years and OpenAI as its main user. (Albuquerque Journal, Sept. 23, 2025)
13. Sept. 19, 2025 Project Jupiter · County commissioners voted 4-1 to authorize up to $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds for the power plant and four data center buildings; Commissioner Susana Chaparro voted against. (Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners, Sept. 19, 2025; Doña Ana County, Oct. 23, 2026)
14. Feb. 25, 2025 Project Jupiter · BorderPlex Digital Assets and the Governor's office signed a memorandum backing data center campuses with private microgrids, brackish-water treatment and state incentives. (Office of the Governor of New Mexico and BorderPlex Digital Assets (posted by Doña Ana County), Feb. 25, 2025)

Statewide

Large data center campuses in New Mexico have been financed through local industrial revenue bonds: under the County Industrial Revenue Bond Act (NMSA 1978, Sections 4-59-1 to 4-59-16) or the municipal version, the county or village takes title to the project and leases it back, and the company pays payments in lieu of taxes set in the lease instead of property tax (Doña Ana County Ordinance 367-2025; Los Lunas Ordinance 480; Lea County Resolution 26-SEP-231R). Reporting says the bonds also relieve gross receipts and compensating tax on equipment. (Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners, Sept. 19, 2025; Village of Los Lunas, Feb. 13, 2025; Lea County Board of County Commissioners, Sept. 24, 2026; Valencia County News-Bulletin, Jan. 16, 2025) Under the Local Economic Development Act (NMSA 1978, Chapter 5, Article 10), a project with more than $350 million in construction spending over 10 years can receive back 50 percent of the state and local gross receipts and compensating taxes on its construction, if the state and the local governments where it sits all agree; Doña Ana County (Ordinance 368-2025, Project Jupiter) and Lea County (Resolution 26-SEP-230R, Mosaic Ventures) have acted to use it for data center projects. (Lea County Board of County Commissioners, Sept. 24, 2026; Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners, 2025) In a Feb. 25, 2025 memorandum with BorderPlex Digital Assets, the Governor's office said the state agrees a microgrid owner that powers only itself or its tenants is not a public utility under state law, would support counting gas-fired microgrid power with emissions offsets as a 'zero carbon resource', and would offer incentives including gross receipts tax sharing and help with county industrial revenue bonds. (Office of the Governor of New Mexico and BorderPlex Digital Assets (posted by Doña Ana County), Feb. 25, 2025) Senate Bill 235 of 2026, the Microgrid Oversight Act (to bring private on-site power systems such as data center microgrids under state regulators and the Energy Transition Act), passed the Senate 22-20 on Feb. 14, 2026 and died in the House Judiciary Committee when the session ended. (New Mexico Legislature, Feb. 15, 2026; Source New Mexico, Feb. 15, 2026) No general large-load tariff was found in the sources reviewed. The Public Regulation Commission told lawmakers on July 13, 2026 that large loads reach it through special service contracts, large-customer tariffs and interconnection filings; PNM serves Meta's Los Lunas campus under special service contracts, and in Case No. 25-00048-UT (approved Dec. 18, 2025) the commission approved 290 MW of solar and 268 MW of battery storage tied to that load. (New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, presentation to the Legislature's Water and Natural Resources Committee, July 13, 2026) Four Democratic legislators said in July 2026 they would seek a statewide moratorium on new large-scale data centers in the 2027 session, together with closing what critics call a microgrid loophole in the Energy Transition Act; no bill had been filed. (Source New Mexico, July 2, 2026) New Mexico data centers →