The Project Jupiter data center is again drawing opposition, this time from Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury.
Citing state documents, the New Mexico Democrat said the site could consume up to 2,400 acre‑feet of water a year. That’s roughly 782 million gallons, enough water to supply about 30,000 homes or to irrigate as much as 3,000 pounds of green chiles, Stansbury said.
“We are calling for an immediate inquiry into the long-term usage of water by Project Jupiter, and believe that the state needs to do its due diligence before this project continues to proceed,” she said.
Oracle is building the Project Jupiter data center, which is expected to house both Oracle and Open AI, known for its Chat GPT generative artificial intelligence platform. The project has already been altered in the wake of criticisms about the potential environmental impacts of the proposed 1,400-acre site located in the southern part of the rural state.
In July, Julia Robin, Oracle’s head of infrastructure planning and sourcing, told the Mountain West News Bureau/KANW in an interview that the company abandoned its original plan for a gas pipeline to power a turbine and is now working with a contractor to build a fuel cell-based system instead. Fuel cells convert fuel into high-efficiency electricity without combustion.
“We're learning what's most important to folks, as well, as we build at this scale, and not everyone's perfect,” Robin said. “Maybe we didn't have the right understanding of certain hot-button topics in certain areas, but again, I think the point is, we're listening now, and we've shifted our approach significantly.”
Oracle has not yet responded to questions about the latest criticisms from Stansbury.
Stansbury said that the data center could threaten communities, agriculture and the state’s water.
She cited a letter from the Office of the State Engineer.
Stansbury added there are more than 30 protests potentially tied up in the water that Project Jupiter could access,and the state has not yet held public hearings or adjudicated the challenges. She said the state engineer’s office has also confirmed to her that no permits have been filed for the project’s long‑term operational water needs.
Citing a court‑order of responsibility of New Mexico to reduce Rio Grande water use, Stansbury called for a formal, transparent review of the data center’s potential water impacts, including to tribal nations, acequia communities, farmers, ranchers and downstream users in Texas and Mexico.
