Project Jupiter is a massive data center campus under development for use by Oracle and OpenAI to train artificial intelligence models. Located in Doña Ana County, in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, it has been under construction since September 2025. The project is being led by STACK Infrastructure in partnership with BorderPlex Digital Assets. With an estimated total investment of up to $165 billion it represents one of the most significant private-sector infrastructure initiatives in the state’s history. The minimum initial investment is $50 billion with the potential total investment of up to $165 billion over 30 years. Approximately 2,500 construction jobs will be created between 2025 to 2028, with a minimum 750 full-time jobs and 50 part-time jobs after operations begin. The average wages estimated will be between $75,000 and $100,000.
https://www.donaana.gov/about_us/project_jupiter/index.php
COMMISSIONER GARCIA RICHARD DENIES LEASE FOR SECOND TIME
The State Land Office manages over 13 million acres of state land for lease revenue benefiting New Mexico schools, higher education institutions, hospitals and other institutions.
Project Jupiter requested a five-year lease from New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard for a natural gas pipeline named the “Green Chili lateral” for the data center that would cross federal and private lands as well as a stretch of state trust land in Doña Ana County.
In March of this year, Land Commissioner Garcia Richard rejected the application from the Texas-based natural gas company Energy Transfer to build a 17-mile, 24-inch pipeline extension from El Paso to fuel a microgrid that would power the data center. On April 2 Energy Transfer asked the Land Office to reconsider its March 20 rejection of two rights of way and a business lease to create a Project Jupiter gas pipeline
On July 14, Commissioner Garcia Richard denied for a second time the request to grant rights-of-way and a lease to build a natural gas pipeline through state trust land to service Project Jupiter. In her letter denying the appeal, Commissioner Garcia Richard said this in part:
“The burden that the project will impose on New Mexico’s water and other natural resources, and on the surrounding community, is extreme. … This includes the negative impact that greenhouse gas emissions play in driving climate change, which effects the health and productivity of state trust lands throughout New Mexico.”
“The Commissioner … is under no obligation to issue any lease, right-of-way, or permit to any party, and properly does so only upon determining that a given lease, right-of-way, or other authorization is in the best interests of the state land trust which the Commissioner serves as a fiduciary.”
In her letter denying to reconsider her denial, Garcia Richard argued that the pipeline would generate “minimal revenue” for the state including nearly $32,000 in one-time payments for the rights-of-way plus approximately $217,000 over five years earned from the business lease. She stated that while Project Jupiter “undoubtedly will enrich” the project’s backers, the benefits to the land trust were unclear.
Commissioner Garcia Richard wrote this:
“In New Mexico, we truly mean it when we say ‘water is life.’ We can’t live without it and we know how precious and rare it is in our dry climate. Massive AI data centers like Project Jupiter can rapidly deplete critical natural resources like water and threaten ecosystems by generating shocking levels of emissions to power their operations. … I am once again rejecting Energy Transfer’s request because the proposed natural gas pipeline appears to offer very little benefit to the State Land Office’s beneficiary institutions, the local community, or New Mexico as a whole.”
You can read a copy of the Commissioner’s letter here.
Since Energy Transfer’s initial application, Oracle announced a revised plan for its microgrid, moving from natural gas turbines to fuel cell technology.
According to a revised air quality permit application, however, greenhouse gas emissions were still estimated at 10.1 million tons annually, lapping yearly emissions from the Albuquerque metropolitan area. Critics, including some local state lawmakers, have called for massive solar energy deployment instead.
Although Project Juniper developers proposed a shift in April to natural gas fuel cells rather than natural gas turbines, Project Jupiter is expected to emit more than 10 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, according to its permits. Garcia Richard wrote these forecast emissions, despite being down roughly 29% from the original plan, are more than double the city of Albuquerque’s annual emissions. According to Oracle, the pivot to natural gas fuel cells reduces water usage from a million gallons a day to an initial fill of 960,000 gallons and roughly 167,000 gallons per year for long-term maintenance.
REACTION TO DENIAL
Energy Transfer has an administrative right to contest the decision. Oracle issued a statement highlighting the project’s promises for construction and operational jobs and touting investments committed to by the developers for local water infrastructure and said this:
“Project Jupiter is being built for and by New Mexicans and will dramatically change the economic trajectory across the state. We’re creating 4,000 construction jobs — with more than 440 New Mexican residents already working on site today — 1,500 ongoing project-supported jobs, and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in the community, including $50 million to improve and repair Doña Ana County’s water system. Our cooling and fuel cell energy systems’ average annual water usage is less than what 9 U.S. households use in a year, and our new power strategy significantly reduces emissions compared to our prior power plan. Oracle is aiming to cover 100% of the electricity used by our AI Data Centers with carbon-free energy by 2035 — 10 years ahead of the 2045 net-zero goals set forth in New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act. The project remains on schedule, and we continue to work closely with our partners and New Mexico’s public officials to move Project Jupiter forward.”
Despite Garcia Richard rejecting the application, an Oracle spokesperson said the data center project remains on schedule. But research firm SemiAnalysis predicts power won’t come online at the data center until 2029, pushing it back from 2027, according to an article published by Hunterbrook. This shifted forecast is because Project Jupiter still has no approved air quality permit from the state and no gas pipeline for the fuel cells.
Links to quoted or relied upon news sources are here:
PROJECT JUPITER AIR PERMIT TO BE DEBATED BY NEW MEXICO ENVIRONMENTAL DEPARTMENT
An air quality permit application was filed with the New Mexico Environmental Department submitted by Yucca Growth Infrastructure, LLC for Project Jupiter. The permit pertains to a microgrid facility planned to provide power for the hyperscale data center under construction in Santa Teresa for use by Oracle and OpenAI to train AI software. The project includes four data centers, an office building and the power facility, which would be powered with natural gas and fuel cell technology. The permit application includes a projected 10.1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. For comparison, the entire city of Albuquerque produced 5.3 million tons in 2023.
On July 15 the hearing officer with the New Mexico Environment Department held a scheduling hearing and on July 16, a Scheduling Order was filed by scheduling a public hearing on October 19 at 9:00 am for an air quality permit for Project Jupiter. The hearing will be held at Sunland Park Multi-Generational Center, a community space within the Sunland Park Multi-Generational Center located at 4700 McNutt Road, Sunland Park, New Mexico 88063. The hearing is scheduled to continue as long as necessary to allow testimony.
The link to review the scheduling order is here:
The hearing notice set an October 1 as the deadline for parties wishing to present technical evidence. Notices for rebuttal testimony are to be submitted by October 12. Comments from the public will be accepted online and at the meeting, with a three-minute time limit. More time of up to half an hour will be allotted to technical witnesses to summarize their evidence.
At the July 15 scheduling, developers sought to schedule the hearing in August, but opponents argued this left too little time for attorneys to meet 30-day deadlines for filing technical evidence. The New Mexico Environment Department’s Air Quality Bureau has until late November to decide whether to grant the permit.
Critics and opponents of Project Jupiter, including some local state legislators, have called on the project to invest in a major solar power installation instead. Others, including four Democratic lawmakers, have vowed to press for a statewide moratorium on data center development, with the support of community groups and organizations such as Food and Water Watch, which has expressed alarm over impacts to agriculture in the region as well as impacts on air and water resources.
In a statement, Oracle said scheduling the hearing three months from now “defers the public’s right to hear the detailed technical facts about our project, and puts the NMED at risk of missing their statutory mandated period to make a decision regarding the permit.”
Because Public Lands Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard has twice denied permission to build a pipeline extension across state trust land, Project Jupiter has run into a significant obstacle in supplying gas to the site. The applicant, Energy Transfer, has not stated whether it would further contest the decision.
An Oracle spokesperson said this:
“Project [Jupiter] opponents have had months to prepare for the hearing and are now deliberately foot-dragging to prolong approval of a permit application that meets all air quality requirements and has been thoroughly vetted by NMED staff. … Already, thousands of workers, including more than 440 New Mexican residents are working on site. … A delayed hearing puts those jobs in jeopardy and needlessly postpones the creation of 1,500 ongoing project-supported jobs. Project Jupiter is already generating $37.4 million in tax revenue for Doña Ana County and $22.5 million for the state, and delays to the project would bring that down substantially.”
Besides the air quality impacts, the process drew controversy over complaints that supportive comments had been submitted under the names of residents, including elected officials, without their knowledge or consent.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/project-jupiter-air-permit-to-be-debated-in-october-hearing/3084513
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The decisions and actions of Land Commissioner Stephane Garcia Richard regarding Project Jupiter makes it very clear that Garcia Richard is indeed acting in the very best interest of the citizens of New Mexico and New Mexico’s public lands. No doubt Project Jupiter developers believe her decision to deny their appeal and refuse to issue permits to build a 17-mile, 24-inch pipeline extension is a major setback. There is still plenty of time for the developers to get their act together to justify the application given that power won’t come online at the data center until 2029. Garcia Richard will be leaving office and a new commissioner will be sworn in on January 1, 2027.
Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard has overseen the New Mexico State Land Office since 2019. In that time the agency has earned over $15 billion for New Mexico public schools, hospitals, and universities. Over 13 million acres of state trust land are leased for a variety of uses, including ranching and farming, renewable energy, business development, mineral development, and outdoor recreation. The State Land Office has a dual mandate to use state trust land to financially support vital public institutions, while simultaneously working to protect the land for future generations.
Land Commissioner Stephane Garcia Richard is running to replace fellow Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver as the party’s nominee for Lieutenant Governor after Toulouse Oliver withdrew her candidacy. On July 25, the Democratic Party State Central Committee is scheduled to choose the nominee. Commissioner Garcia Richard has been endorsed by Democratic candidate nominee for Governor Deb Haaland in November’s election.