Okay, thank you.
Okay, the time is currently 9 a.m. We
are here Friday, September 19th in our
BOCC chambers. um for our scheduled BOCC
meeting. First up is going to be an
invocation/moment of silence. Uh so if
you can all please take a few moments
today.
With that as well, I do want to take a
moment just to note um Vice Chair
Chabato did lose her father last week.
So, if you can please keep him in your
thoughts, her and her family.
Okay,
first up is the pledge of allegiance. Or
if you are able to stand and join me,
please do.
I pledge aliance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
Okay.
Um,
anyone that is uh does not have a seat,
we do have one or two multi-purpose
rooms open um towards the south end that
have live streaming capabilities as
well. Anyone that is in those rooms will
be able to join throughout public
comment and uh join the meeting as well.
Um, it will be a long one. So, I do want
to offer that to anyone that is standing
that there is a multi-purpose room open.
And with that,
Brandy, if you can please roll call the
commission for determination of quorum
this morning.
Commissioner Gometo,
present.
Commissioner Reynolds
here.
Commissioner Sanchez
present.
Vice Chair Chabaro.
Chair Sheldon
here.
We do have quorum this morning. So, the
commission convenes as the board of
county commissioners and the county
board of finance in open session. Uh,
County Manager Andrews, is there any
changes to the agenda this morning?
Morning everyone. No sir, no changes to
the agenda.
Okay,
Mr. Chair.
Yes.
Um, I would like to reiterate what
you've already said about people
standing. For those of you who are
standing who are not media and who are
not Dona County employees or security, I
ask that you would please leave this
room, go down to the multi-purpose
rooms, find a seat in there. If there's
not one available, you'll be able to
watch from the um uh TVs in the rotunda.
There will be no standing during this
meeting in this room.
I would also like to remind everyone
that um that no attendee of the meeting
shall impair, disrupt, interfere, or
obstruct the county commissioner's
ability to conduct to conduct normal
business.
Um,
so this prohibition implies, but is not
limited to persons who are visibly
intoxicated or impaired or who engage in
yelling, clapping, booing, standing, or
any other boisterous, obnoxious, or
otherwise disruptive conduct during the
board of county commissioners meeting.
If you do not comply with that, you will
be asked to leave.
Failure to leave is
a criminal offense.
Thank you, Miss Neil.
Okay. And it's everyone.
Yeah, there is a few seats.
There are a few seats. Feel free to find
them. Sorry, chair.
Claimed.
Okay. With no changes to the agenda, we
will move on to the consent agenda where
the board will be asked to approve by
one motion the following items of
reoccurring or routine business, which
is items number one through seven on the
agenda today.
Mr. Chair,
like to make a motion that we uh accept
uh all items on the consent agenda,
items one
through seven.
Okay, we do have a motion. Do we have a
second?
Second.
Okay, we have a motion and a second to
approve the consent agenda.
Commissioners, any comments or
questions?
Seeing none, Brandy, if you'll roll
calls on the consent agenda, please.
Commissioner Gomedos,
yes.
Commissioner Reynolds,
yes.
Commissioner Sanchez,
yes.
Chair Shell Jordan,
yes. Motion does carry. Consent agenda
is approved today. Brandy, go ahead with
those
resolution numbers, please.
Okay, we have item number one,
resolution number 2025-106.
That one has a second one, 2025-107.
Item number two, 2025-108.
Item number 3205-109.
and item number 42025-110.
Thank you, Brandy.
Next up on our agenda, we do have our
employee recognition where the
commission will recognize Doniana County
employees for their years of service to
Donana County. And we do have our
assistant county manager, Miss Weer,
here today to lead us in this.
Good morning. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um,
we routinely recognize our employees for
their years of service and dedication
for the county. So today we would like
to start with Mr. Joseph Vargas. He is a
multimedia coordinator in our digital
communications department and he's been
with us for 10 years.
Miss Sha Spain is the human resources
administrator and she has also been with
us for 10 years of service. Luis Salceto
is a detention officer currently
assigned to the juvenile department with
15 years of service.
and Court Security and Transport Officer
Solomon Lara has been with the sheriff's
department for 15 years of service. And
finally, Miss Erica Kazada has been with
the roads and engineering department as
an administrative assistant and has been
with us for 25 years of service. And
last but not least, I would like to
invite Mr. Bill Proance to join me up
front if he is still in the room.
[Applause]
And last, but certainly not least, I've
got Mr. William Bill Proancece with me
today.
Bill is retiring after more than a
decade of dedicated service as the
manager of the Donan International
Jetport. Since joining the county in
2014, Bill has overseen critical
projects that have enhanced and expanded
Jetport's role in regional
transportation and economic development.
Throughout his career, Bill became known
for his thoughtful leadership, his
commitment to high standards, and his
focus on growing the Jetport's capacity
to support the Southern New Mexico trade
port. He is especially proud of the
projects he completed that position the
airport to contribute directly to the
economic development of Donana County
and southern New Mexico. On a day-to-day
basis, Bill was deeply involved in
arranging hanger leases, preparing and
closing out grant applications, planning
new projects, and conducting runway and
facility inspections. While much of the
work was paperwork, he especially
enjoyed conversations with current and
prospective tenants about the airport,
airplanes, and flying, which was his
favorite part of the job. Colleagues
often remember Bill as quiet and
serious, although he insists neither is
entirely true. His steady approach and
commitment to the Jetport made him a
respected leader and valued team member.
As he transitions into retirement, Bill
looks forward to devoting more time to
his hobbies, including woodwork, golf,
and most importantly, spending quality
time with his wife of 48 years. Donanna
County thanks Bill for his years of
dedicated service and lasting
contributions to the JetPort and our
community. Please wish him the best in
his retirement.
[Applause]
again. Congratulations, Bill.
You're going to enjoy retirement.
Thank you.
Okay, we do have one proclamation on the
agenda today,
which is to proclaim September 30th
through October 3rd as walk to school in
Donana County. Uh, Commissioner Sanchez.
Thank you. Uh, Mr. Chairman,
International Walk to School Day
spotlights students walking to school
and helps raise awareness about
pedestrian safety while bringing
communities together in the joy of
walking. Walking and biking to school
also brings real health benefits. They
help students build healthy habits,
improve well-being, and combats
childhood obesity and related health
issues. We encourage families, schools,
neighbors to join in these events and
help create healthier kids and safer
streets and stronger communities. I will
say that for Donana County, this has
been an important initiative as we've
continued to try to make our communities
walkable and safe uh for our residents
to do. Um and and so I and I will say on
a on a sad note uh this year was uh the
first year I don't have a a a child in
our elementary schools and so I don't
get to participate as a parent for uh
the walk to school and it was always a a
fun thing to to see all of the kids that
um are elementary that would
participate. So, this is an amazing uh
group that puts this on. And so, for
that, I uh I'll turn it over to uh Mr.
Lopez if you will read the proclamation.
Certainly. Do we want to have uh the
representatives come on up?
Yeah, we have uh Kenny Copage and the
team from the safe routes to school from
LCPS joining us.
Commissioner Sanchez, uh chair, members
of the the commission and the board,
members of the public. Uh my name is
Kenny Copage, safe routes to school
champion. I'm here with Arturo Sanchez,
another safe routes to school champion
and Jeannie Brown and uh George Pearson.
So also uh employees with uh Safe Routes
to School. Thank you so much for
honoring us with this proclamation. We
humbly accept it. We're really glad to
be here today. Uh our coordinator,
Ashley Curry, uh is in Albuquerque and
Santa Fe this week meeting with our
funders and partners. Uh but she is she
has a little bit of FOMO. She really
likes to be here and she uh made sure
that we all here uh to accept it. Um
we're really glad to to be partnering
with the county on so many projects. We
really value the partnerships that we
have with the county from the planners,
the engineers, the sheriff's uh deputies
that come out and walk with us. Uh this
year we were able to be really excited
when we saw uh the work the hard work of
the planners come to fruition at
Colombia Elementary School. They wrote a
Trails Plus grant that was able to
complete uh a multi-use trail right up
to the front door of the school. So
really excited about that. Columbia
Elementary will be starting a walk to
school this year. They don't have it on
the the date set yet, but we are working
to use that multi-use trail uh this
year. The
um
there in front of you, I left a couple
of pieces of paper for you. One is a QR
code. So, uh Commissioner Sanchez, you
mentioned you really like to walk with
the kids. We want to invite all of you
and members of the public, you are
invited to walk with uh the the
international walk to school day events.
Uh this information is available on our
Facebook page, but those QR codes are so
that you can sign up. Just click it,
sign up. I want to walk with the school
so that you can be a special guest.
We'll put it on the advertising on the
flyers. I remember last year uh
Commissioner Reynolds and I walked at
White Sands. He drove all the way out to
White Sands Elementary to to walk with
the school and uh it was a special
event. So uh thank you so much for
inviting inviting us and we want to just
uh invite you right back to come walk
with us. Thank you.
All right, Mr. Chair. The proclamation
reads, "Whereas International Walk to
School Day is celebrated globally to
encourage children and families to
embrace walking and bicycling as a way
to promote physical activity, reduce
traffic congestion, and enhance
community connections. And whereas
walking and bicycling to school can
improve the health and well-being of
students, offering them an opportunity
to incorporate physical activity into
their daily routines, thereby helping to
combat childhood obesity and related
health issues. And whereas each year has
seen more participation since the
program's local inception in 2007. And
100% of the elementary schools take part
since 2017. And whereas year-round
events promote regular walking and
biking to school, and 20 of the 25
elementary schools host weekly walking
school buses, rain or shine, while three
schools hold the events monthly. And
whereas we are committed to ensuring the
safety and security of all children and
recognize the importance of safe,
accessible walking and bicycling routes
to school as a priority for our
community. Now therefore, the Donana
County Board of Commissioners does
proclaim September 30th, October 1st,
October 2nd, and October 3rd as walk to
school days, proudly proclaimed this
19th day of September 25 and signed by
County Manager Scott Andrews.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I I know uh the
the crowd came in to learn more about
Walk to School today. So, for the crowd
that's here, uh, if you want more
information, you can find that at, uh,
the Lasus Public Schools website,
lcps.net. You can look for the safe
routes to school and, uh, see the events
that'll be happening from, uh, September
30th uh, through October 3rd.
Great.
Awesome.
[Applause]
If you'll tilt that down just a little.
The light's glaring on the glass.
Perfect.
Could
I have the commissioners move this way
and then and then everybody steps this
way?
We're getting directed from the crowd.
Now I feel
shel just a little bit to your right.
I can't see your face. A little bit
more.
Thank you.
Thank you guys.
Thank you so much.
Okay,
Mr. Chair. Um, we do have individuals in
the back who are refusing to adhere to
the uh requirement to please take a seat
or go into the overflow room. Uh, I'd
ask that uh you please direct them to do
so or have security or law enforcement
take them into custody.
Okay, there's people moving. Thank you.
If anyone needs a seat, there are there
was an open seat. If anyone has an open
seat next to them, if you'll please let
people have it.
Okay,
moving on. We do have our public comment
portion and I will I say this every
time. Public comment. We do have a book
to your left hand side. If you can
please sign it on your uh when you are
finished while you're addressing the
commission if you can please state your
name. If you are here to comment on any
one agenda item that is in the future
part of our agenda if you can please
hold your comment until then. If you are
here to address the commission on any
generalized comment, you are more than
welcome to make your make your way
forward. We do have three minutes on the
clock and um if you can please start
forming a line for anyone that is in our
overflow room that would like to make
public comment this morning generalized
as well not on a specific agenda topic.
If you can if you can please make your
way over
welcome you here. Welcome.
Good morning commissioners. Uh I'm Peter
Goodman and this does not relate to any
sole uh agenda item, but I hope it's
something you'll keep in mind in all
that you do both as commissioners and as
human beings. Um I can't require it, but
I will ask you first to close your eyes
while I speak and see in your mind what
I see. It's a group of refugees
waiting to get across the border north
uh desperately because life where they
had lived is no longer feasible for
reasons beyond their control. Uh you
want to start the three minutes though I
won't take all.
Brandy, do you have the three minute
thing? Oh, thank you ma'am.
Oh, you're the best. Again, these folks
are in a refugee camp trying to go
north.
And who they are are your children,
grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
Perhaps you if you're young like the uh
county manager and lived long enough
because life here will have become
impossible because of climate craziness.
Uh we here in El Paso area and Los Cusus
use some vast amount of energy. Um and
I'm sure that each of you individually
tries not to add to that burden uh and
those uh greenhouse gases that we're
emitting uh in any small way that you
can.
I would like you to keep that in mind uh
as you consider all agenda items. Thank
you.
[Applause]
Mr. Chair, just for the record, Susana
Trapado has joined.
Thank you. For the record, uh Vice Chair
Topado has joined at 9:21 this morning.
Welcome, Vice Chair.
Thank you.
Okay, continue.
Hello, my name is Vince Guchek. I'm a
40-year resident of Las Cusus and I'd
like to comment
I have shared many comments with
commissioners uh with the public and so
on. There are severe
deal-breaking problems with Project
Jupiter. One of them is
if you can hold your public comment on
the project until that agenda item.
Oh, this is just
This is not
This is not This is just generalized
comment this morning. Thank you so much.
I appreciate you though.
Sure.
Any other generalized comments?
Welcome.
Good morning. Um, you all know me, Daisy
Malonado. I am a voter in district 1 and
I'm here speaking as myself.
I am going to provide some definitions
of behavior we expect from our elected
officials.
Integrity. Acting with consistency
between words and actions. Doing what is
right even when it is difficult or
unseen.
Honesty. Speaking the truth plainly
without deception or have truths so that
the public can rely on the information
given. Transparency.
Making decisions in the open. Sharing
information fully and refusing to hide
behind closed doors or secret
agreements.
Ethical behavior.
Following principles of fairness and
respect. Choosing actions to avoid harm
and prioritize the common good. Service.
Remembering that elected office is not
about power or profit, but about working
for the well-being of the people.
Responsibility.
Accepting the weight of decisions.
Being accountable for their consequences
on present or future generations.
Discernment. The ability to carefully
weigh facts, listen to all sides, and
make wise choices rooted in truth and
equity.
Moral obligation.
A duty beyond law or policy.
The call to protect and uphold the
dignity of human life and community.
Oath.
A sacred pro promise to serve with
loyalty and fidelity to the people.
Never betraying the trust placed in you.
Honor
holding oneself to the highest standards
guided by reverence for the office held
and the people represented.
justice.
The principle that every
person and every community deserves to
be treated equitably with fairness and
in a dignified manner. It means making
decisions that correct past harms,
prevent future ones, and ensure that
power is not abused at the expense of
people.
Justice requires leaders to treat their
constituents and all community with
respect and put the well-being of the
public above private gain. That's what
New Mexicans deserve from our elected
officials.
[Applause]
Daisy, can you sign the book for me?
Thank you. Um, also just with the
applause, I appreciate the applause of
knowing where the community is on this
and comments, but if we can keep it to a
minimum, please, just so that we can
help the meeting along, I'd be very
appreciative of that. Welcome. Please
join us.
Hi. Um, I was just wondering if we could
have some clarification on how the
opposition and the well the pros and the
cons will kind of be divided during the
public comment section for project
Jupiter. From my understanding, we get
an hour divided into three minutes. I'm
not sure if that's correct. I would love
some clarification
of course and we can talk about that
when we get to the project portion.
We'll lead with that before we start
public comment. But thank you for that.
I will give you
you will get your answer. I assure you.
Any other generalized public comment
this morning?
Seeing none, we'll move on to commission
input. Commissioners,
Commissioner Gomedos, Vice Chair Tabato,
anything?
Yes, Mr. Chair, if I may.
Um, I'd just like to give thanks to a
few people that reached out to me. Uh
Susie Corddero, you chair Shelder
Hernandez and also Commissioner Mcomeos.
My father passed
a few days ago.
Thank you for your kind words of
support.
Thank you, Vice Chair. We're We are here
for you. Um but thank you.
Any other commission comment?
Seeing none, we will move on to county
elected official input.
Welcome, Madam assessor.
Good morning, Chair Shelder Hernandez,
Commissioners Sanchez, Reynolds, Camro,
and Chaparo, Gina O'henya Montotega,
assessor here at Downana County,
accompanied by Mr. Adria Aqua, our data
analyst coordinator, and our IT in our
office. Uh just wanted to inform the
public as we always do that the property
record cards is still unavailable due to
a glitch in the CAMA system and is still
being worked on. We do have our Tyler
property profile. It does have a similar
feature of property record cards, just
no specific model information, but it
does have value last year's value and
estimated taxes. So how the customers
are used to going to our website and
being able to pull up their property
record cards, it does look a little bit
different. If you have any trouble,
please don't hesitate to reach out. Uh
we can help you get that information.
Wanted to also just remind our customers
that our customer apprais our commercial
appraisal staff is still working on our
protest hearing which will consist of
commercial vacant land, multifamily, and
COE's. Our protest hearings will take
place on October 6 through the 10th.
Uh Mr. Adrien Aquosa would just like to
uh mention a little bit about our tax
rate real quick.
Morning, commissioners. I just want to
let you know the overall tax rates for
2025, they went down compared to last
year. This is due to um our increase in
values, new accounts created, and many
structures that we've been picking up
throughout the year. So, just want to
let you know um overall rates are going
down.
And then, sorry, just one more note. Uh
this year, the assessor's office will be
participating in the at the state fair.
Uh we're hoping to reach customers that
maybe we don't get to see in our office.
So if you happen to be out at the state
fair, please reach stop by. I know
there's other departments that'll be
represented as well. If people have
questions, once again, as we always say,
the assessor's office is always here to
assist our customers. If you have any
questions, please don't hesitate to
reach out. We are here to serve. Thank
you.
Thank you, Madam assessor. Any other
elected official comment?
Seeing none staff input.
Keep it short today, sir. Uh, no staff
input.
Sounds good. Commission appointed board
report backs.
I'm trying to think if there was any
anything.
Uh, we we had one meeting. It was a
special meeting of the uh South Central
Solid Waste Authority uh to approve uh
an increase in the insurance for the
employees or not insurance but the
premiums that had to be covered by the
solid waste authority but it was just a
very simple and short meeting.
Awesome. Thank you.
Anyone else?
We have a more move the board meeting
next week at 9:00 on Wednesday.
Awesome.
Okay, moving on to minutes. We have the
regular minute meeting meeting minutes
from September 9th to approve.
I'll move approval.
A second.
We have a motion to approve and a second
by Commissioner Reynolds. Any comments,
questions, concerns, changes.
Seeing none, Brandy.
Commissioner Gomedos.
Yes.
Commissioner Reynolds,
yes.
Commissioner Sanchez,
yes. Vice Chair Chabaro.
Yes.
Chair Shorandez.
Yes.
Motion carries. Minutes are approved.
Moving on. We do have two hearings and
ordinances today. Item number 10, which
states an ordinance authorizing the
issuance of sale of Doniana County, New
Mexico taxable industrial revenue bonds.
Project Jupiter series 2025A series
2025B series 2025 C. collectively in a
maximum aggregate aggregate principle of
up to 165 billion. The bonds with series
2025A being in the maximum aggregate
principal amount of 15 billion, series
2025B being a maximum aggregate
principal amount of up to 25 billion and
consisting of four anticipated
subsequent series 2025 C being in a
maximum aggregate principle of 125
billion. The project would include the
construction, development, and
acquisition of a hypers scale artificial
intelligence AI did center campus, a
collected micro grid and related
infrastructure and facilities located
within the boundaries of Donana County.
Commissioners, do we have a motion and a
second? So moved.
Okay, we have a motion and a second by
Commissioner Sanchez and the second was
by Commissioner Reynolds. Um, we have
our economic development administrator,
Miss Carter, here this morning as well
as our bound attorneys here today to
lead us in this discussion. Welcome,
Miss Carter. Thank you.
Good morning. Denise Carter with
economic development. If I can have our
bond attorney, Chris Mir, come up. He's
going to walk us through the step of
like the IRV process, how how it works.
Morning, chair, commissioners. Chris
Burren with the model firm uh bond
council for the county. Uh let's just
recap how we got here this morning. So
these companies filed their IRB
application on August 15th. At that
point, uh we got involved and staff
continued to work on this. On August
26th, as you recall, we were here for
the inducement resolution which
authorized publication for consideration
of this ordinance. today uh in between
August 26th and today all the documents
have been uh under draft and been moved
back and forth between the council for
the companies of which there are several
um in our office and the county getting
them in near substantially final form
for consideration today. Um the bond
ordinance in front of you today is the
pivotal moment for the commission to act
on the project to approve or not approve
the IRB application in the issuance of
the bonds by the company. The bonds as
mentioned in the chairman's recital of
the title are projected to be issued in
the aggregate amount of 165 billion with
three primary components. 15 billion for
a micro grid energy production and
storage facility.
25 billion for the data center buildings
uh and infrastructure themselves and 125
billion for the equipment in the uh
facilities.
The one of the the ordinance also
approves the primary bond documents
which are the lease agreement between
the county and the company, the
indenture and the bond purchase
agreements. The lease agreement is the
pivotal one for the county to consider
and think about in the commission which
includes the key deal terms uh that have
been negotiated between the county and
the companies. What has been updated in
the lease agreement is to uh make the
terms in the lease agreement consistent
with the memorandum of understanding
that the county uh agreed to uh with the
companies on the proposed uh deal terms
for the IRB which includes the payment
in lie of taxes for each series of bonds
uh in the amount of 3 million and 9
million between the A's, the B's and the
C's for a total of 12 million over 30
years annually.
uh the uh anticipated job production and
growth, 750 full-time jobs upon
completion, 50 part-time jobs, and 2500
construction jobs during development of
the project. Local hire hiring
preferences uh for job hiring to the
extent possible, average salaries of
75,000 to 100,000 for those positions.
Uh just to hit again on what we talked
about during the inducement resolution
because this is important. This is not
an obligation of the county. This is not
a debt of the county. The 165 billion is
not county money. That represents what
the company anticipates investing in
this project through its development uh
over the term of the bonds which could
go out to 30 years. The primary benefit
to the company being the property tax uh
abatements for the real property and the
personal property as well as a gross
receipts tax deduction for the equipment
as it is purchased uh for the
facilities. Happy to answer any
questions uh regarding the documents uh
regarding what the IRB is or the
process. If you choose to adopt this
today, uh we would move toward closing
of the transaction uh 30 days after
publication of the notice of adoption
which would occur uh Monday next week
probably. Um so uh happy to answer any
questions. As I mentioned, we have a lot
of experts here as well from the company
that can answer questions. But that's
kind of in a nutshell what this
ordinance is in front of you today.
Again, this is the the uh pivotal moment
for the commission to consider this
application.
Thank you, sir.
Commissioners, any question for Mr.
Mayor while he's here in front of us
this morning?
I have a feeling he's not going
anywhere.
Thank you.
Okay, Denise.
So, I'm just going to go really quickly.
I put together a couple of slides just
to walk you through the project. Reminds
you of what the project is.
You don't have to go that quickly. You
can slow and smooth. Thank you.
So, industrial revenue bonds, they're an
economic development tool that are
widely utilized by municipalities across
the state. They are used to attract
projects, capital investment, and
encourage job growth. They provide tax
incentives in the form of a tax
abatement. and it's a very common tool
that it's used by other communities and
it helps them stay competitive.
Project Jupiter is a data center campus.
They're going to invest $165 billion
over a period of 30 years. The money is
going to be spent on construction,
purchase, and installation of equipment
and future equipment upgrades. 50
billion of that 165 figure will be
invested within the first five years.
750 full-time equivalent permanent jobs
will be generated as well as 50
part-time permanent jobs will be
created. They're going to be onsite, not
remote. And during the construction
phase, you're looking at an estimated
2500 construction jobs to be generated.
The wages proposed are 75,000 to 100,000
annual salary, not including benefits.
They are offering a a packet with
medical and retirement. I I did a search
what are the typical types of
occupations that are usually hired under
a data center operations. So you're
looking at system administrators, IT
managers, data center technicians
and that is just the map of the project
location.
Sorry, one moment.
You're good. Okay, continue. Sorry,
Denise. I apologize.
And that is just a map of the project
location.
I do have Mr. Lam that's going to come
up and and talk about the project as
well.
Okay. If you can just give us one moment
on that.
Absolutely.
Just want to make sure we're all good.
I do want to mention that items 10 and
11 are related and they are for the same
project but we do have a a presentation
from New Mexico Economic Development
pertaining to the Lita. So if I can have
Mr. Lon come up.
Okay.
Good morning Mr. Mr. Chair and
Commissioners, thank you for the
opportunity to be to present in front of
the commission today. My name is Lam
Manapier. I'm the chairman of Borderlex
Digital Assets. Borderlex Digital is
partnering with Stack Infrastructure to
develop this project. Since August 26th,
when the inducement resolution was
introduced, Borderlex Digital and Stack
have been hard at work, as you
requested, to engage with the community,
inform the people about Project Jupiter,
and listen to the community's concerns.
for an overview. You know, for everyone
here today in these chambers, I'd like
to do a high level review of what this
project entails and then speak about
what we've committed to do for this
community based on the feedback we've
received. Project Jupiter is a privately
financed campus in an unincorporated
area of southern Dona Annie County that
combines modern data centers with a
dedicated on-site micro grid. It would
be up to $165 billion investment of
outside money coming into the county.
This will be the largest private
investment in New Mexico history. The
project is on vacant land between an
industrial park and the Santa port of
entry in position to become a global
trade hub between the US and Mexico. The
footprint of each data center is roughly
comparable to Misia Valley Mall plus
parking or about 3/4 of the field of
dreams complex.
Now let's talk about community
engagement. As requested at the
enducement resolution hearing, we hosted
five separate community engagement
meetings in each of the five districts
represented by the commissioners.
Thank you to the commissioners for
participating and in some cases hosting
Borderlex Digital and Stack in these
events. In addition to those meetings,
we launched a public website with
information. We hosted separate off
office office hours near the project
site and placed around 120,000 calls to
county residents to speak with them
one-on-one regarding the project.
Results of these calls indicate 83% of
residents in favor of the project versus
17% against. So I'll repeat that the
polls
I'll repeat that the results indicate
83% in favor of the project versus 17%.
Mr. Chairman, if we could ask the
commissioner Yeah. Uh the crowd to
respect or let's have some quiet for the
for the speakers and have some respect
for them. Thank you.
Thank you, Commissioner.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If this project is
approved, we intend to continue that
engagement, creating ongoing
opportunities for residents to learn
more, share feedback, and stay involved
as the project moves forward. This
ongoing engagement will provide regular
updates and progress reports. We believe
the community should continue to be part
of the conversation as this project
takes shape. Now, let's talk about
economic impact. The project would be
spending up to $165 billion over a
period of 30 years, which is why we are
requesting approval today of an IRB for
$165 billion investment. That's a big
number, and it is primarily driven by
the cost of the chips in the data center
and the many refreshes that would happen
over the 30-year period. If approved,
Project Jupiter is committed to paying
the county $360 million for the pilot,
which is an increase from the 300
million previously disclosed. In
addition to the pilot payments, the
project would be investing $50 million
for water related projects in 6.9
million in community community
investment funds for a total of close to
$47 million, including the pilot.
We committed to the $50 million
investment in water resources after
hearing community concerns about water
in the state of that infrastructure. We
also wanted to respond to community
funding requests that we heard from
several important stakeholders.
Now, let's touch on job creation. If
approved, the project will commit to 750
permanent full-time on-site roles within
three years of operations, plus 50
part-time roles.
Construction's job construction jobs
could exceed 2500 across the buildout.
The types of jobs that will be available
include skilled trades, facility
operations, power and cooling
technicians, network and server
technicians, IT, logistics,
administration, and security. The
average full-time pay would be between
75,000 to 100,000 annually, plus
benefits. In the state's fiscal economic
fiscal impact analysis of the project,
the economic development department
estimates that the economic impact of
project Jupiter over 10 years would be
more than $96 billion.
Let's talk about water use. During our
community outreach meetings, we received
a lot of questions related to water. The
data center is committed to using a
closed loop aircooled design. The stack
has deployed in several other locations.
This means that once the design is
filled, it recirculates. The daily
operational water use will average
20,000 gallons per day and the upfront
fill of the closed loop will be even
less than that on average. This is
equivalent to 70 homes, 4 acres of
chilies or 2 acres of pecans.
In regards to the micro grid, based on
the present design, it will similarly
use approximately 20,000 gallons a day
of water once operational. As a result,
water use for the micro grid is similar
to the water used for the data center.
The micro grid utilizes thermal storage
and would require a a one-time fill on
this that we would conduct over a
six-month period.
We are aware of the drinking water
problems in the area. We heard the
people's concerns and are committed to
being part of the solution for the
people of the county, especially Sunland
Park. As a result of these discussions
with the community, the companies
involved in Project Jupiter committed
$50 million towards water and wastewater
infrastructure. We are not water
operators. We won't attempt to dictate
the specifics of how that money is
allocated, but we hope that our
contribution will help this community
find a solution so the county and our
employees can have clean drinking water.
Let's talk about power and environmental
studies. While meeting with the
community, we also had many questions
regarding the micro grid and the
environmental reviews required for the
project. The recently enacted micro grid
law ensures that data centers can
provide their own power at no cost to
residents and that power must come from
net zerocarbon resources by 2045, which
is the same timeline as the energy
transition act. If the micro grid
interconnects to provide power to the
larger grid, it will be regulated like
any other utility beginning in 2035.
None of those safeguards were in place
for micro grids before the 2025
legislative session. Project Jupiter
must comply with the required state and
federal environmental reviews prior to
construction. It must meet New Mexico
Environmental Department and EPA
standards. We have completed the phase
one environmental site assessment and
found no recognized environmental
concerns. The facility will meet county
standards for noise and light pollution
with a state-of-the-art design.
Let's talk about our process. In our
community meetings, we also heard
concern about the process speed of
Project Jupiter. Throughout this
process, we have followed the statutory
timelines dictated by the Dona Anna
County Commission and have not requested
an accelerated timeline for approval.
There's a national focus to secure these
critical digital assate digital assets
for the United States quickly so that
our country can continue to compete. In
fact, the building of these AI assets is
significantly contributing to increases
in direct GDP. The locations of these
community assets are being determined
right now globally for generations to
come. We feel that this potential
facility in Dona County being placed in
a global trade hub between the US and
Mexico will make this area incredibly
valuable for economic development and
national security and we're excited to
be a catalyst for that growth. If the
commissioners approve the IRB for
project Jupiter, the companies will make
payments of 360 million in pilot
obligations over the life of the
project. This is predictable revenue
that was negotiated with the county who
will control distributions of those
funds with statutory distributions going
to all the Dona Anna County school
districts. Based on current mill rates,
it's estimated that approximately $1.3
million per year will be directed to the
school districts. The county has full
authority to allocate the remaining
funds to priorities like education,
public safety, roads, and services for
the community. Above and beyond the
yearly pilot, Project Jupiter will
invest an additional 50 million for
water infrastructure and 6.9 million for
several ready shovel ready priorities
for the community that include local
workforce development,
uh, Boys and Girls Club facility,
regional connectivity transit system,
and other established community
priorities. If the IRB is approved
today, Project Jupiter plans to be in
full operation in 2028. We are currently
hiring and those positions will be
posted on Monday at projectjupitto
together.com.
Project Jupiter is more than a private
investment. It's a partnership with the
people of Dona and county. We listen to
concerns about water jobs and long-term
growth. We've made commitments that
reflect that feedback. This project will
bring billions of outside dollars,
create thousands of good paying jobs,
strengthen schools, invest in water
infrastructure, and provide long-term
revenue for county priorities. Just as
importantly, it positions the county at
the center of growth and innovation
along the US Mexico border. We're
excited to contribute to the community,
and we appreciate your time and
consideration in approving this IRB and
Lita. I know there's been a lot of
discussion about this project. We are
grateful for your consideration. It's an
important decision. You there I will
tell you like this is a generational
opportunity. It is here today. I
encourage you to vote for it. A vote to
delay it is basically a vote no. We
could do this project today. I believe
it will transform the community and be a
force for good. Thank you for your
consideration.
Thank you.
All right, same rules apply. Let's just
keep the
comments and the claps to a minimum,
please. Denise, do you have any other
Yes. If I can get the presentation for
the LITA item.
So, do we want to do that under the LITA
portion of the
Yes.
agenda?
You want to? We only have a motion on
the floor for the one. So,
okay,
let's do one. Um but at this
unless we're wanting to reconsider and
do
Mr. Chair.
Okay.
It covers both. Okay.
Mr. Chair, point of order.
Yes.
Mr. Chair, point of order.
Vice Chair.
There was a motion for this portion
only. Um and I move to table this for 60
days until the stakeholders. And when I
mean the stakeholders, I'm talking about
our community can have further input.
Okay, we have a motion.
Okay, we have a motion for a 60-day
postpone. You said ma'am. Madam vice
chair,
a table for a date certain table for a
date certain with 60 days
November date.
Okay. If someone can please remind me of
um
November 25th.
Okay.
To give the stakeholders, all of the
stakeholders an opportunity
to review I don't know how many of you
all but
review these documents
and ask questions regarding the
documents.
Okay. So, vice chair has made a motion
to table for 60 days. Commissioners, do
we have a second?
With no second, the motion does fail.
Okay. With that being said, we will
Mr. Roer, we will hold on your
presentation for a moment. Um, but I
will move that the board convene in
close session regarding a limited
personnel matter, the purchase,
acquisition, or dis disposal of real
property and water rights to discuss
information that is covered by attorney
client privilege
to threatened or pending litigation as
authorized by open meetings act section
10151H27
and 8. Uh, NMSA 1978. Commissioners, do
we have a second to go into close
session?
Second. Okay, we have a motion and a
second to go into close session.
Comments on the close session.
Seeing none, Brandy, if you'll roll call
us into close session.
Commissioner Gomedos,
yes.
Commissioner Reynolds,
yes.
Commissioner Sanchez,
yes.
Vice Chair Trapado,
no.
Chlorandez,
yes. Motion carries. We'll be in close
session and we will join you momentarily
back here in the chambers. We do have a
what this close session is.
I understood it's for limited personnel
matter, but the public needs a larger
notice for that.
It was on the agenda for the close
session.
Can we explain to the public what it is?
Sure. I'll have my attorney.
Thank you, Neil.
It was on the agenda as written. Um,
close session means that we are going to
discuss attorney client privilege
matters, which I'm sorry, but the public
does not get to uh comment on that.
Speak to the overarching matter of the
attorney client privilege and why you're
moving close session.
We do not have to specify what kind of
matter it is. Thank you very much. We
are going into close session.
Noted.
[Applause]
Take their seats, please.
Are we
Okay, we'll just wait for Shannon.
It's not
Okay,
thank you for quieting down. Okay, let
the record reflect that nothing was
discussed in close session other than
the items identified in the motion to go
into close session. Commissioners
Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion
that we return to open session here.
That uh
Okay, we have a motion to go into re go
into open session. Returning from
closed.
I can second that.
Okay, we have a motion in a second.
Brandy, if you can
She's
Brandy, if you can roll call us to
resume an open session, please.
Commissioner Gomedos,
yes.
Commissioner Reynolds,
yes.
Commissioner Sanchez,
yes.
Vice Chair Chabato,
yes.
Chaldwood Nandez,
yes. And we are back in open session.
Thank you for sticking out with us,
folks.
Mr. Chair,
Madame Vice Chair,
thank you.
I'm not going to discuss what went on in
close session, but I would like to renew
my motion to table this discussion
again.
This is what I had to read last night
and I don't know if the stakeholders of
Donana County, meaning the residents and
the constituents, were able to read
that. I will add, not only did I have to
read this, but I'm missing pages, blank
pages that were supposed to contain
attachments or exhibits. Page 230, page
231.
Madam
do you have a motion? Let's go ahead and
deal with the motion and then we can do
discussion on the motion at that second.
You can't discuss.
So we have a motion on the table to
table. Do you have a time, date,
anything to go along with that?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to table
this renew my my motion to table this
discussion
until October 28th.
Okay. So, we have a motion on the floor
to table till October 28th.
Do we have a second on the tableing till
October 28th? Commissioners
Okay,
we do not have a second. So, the motion
does fail. With that being said, we are
going to continue with the presentations
on this portion. Um, we do have our
economic development team from the state
of New Mexico, Mark Roer, who does have
a presentation on the IRB.
Welcome, Mr. Roer.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the
commission, and it's a pleasure to be
back here. As you'll recall, I stood
right here in April, uh, and we went we
went through a presentation very similar
to this, uh, talking about a
hypothetical project and how IRBs
and LED GRT share work together as an
incentive tool uh, for this. I thought I
was being pretty bold in proposing an uh
$600 million
IRB uh when I made this presentation
back in April. Lo and behold, was I
grossly uh underestimating the the type
of IRB that we we would actually see uh
in in real in real time uh as we're
looking here today.
Currently 1,200 acres in Santa Teresa
estimated property tax values and this
is based on a $4,25
per acre value which is uh pretty
reasonable expectation for unimproved
property in Santa Teresa. You can see
the Gatsson school district would get
25K and on down the line what Donana
County higher ed and the hospital
districts as well as a small portion of
other taxable would get out of this
area. This is based on 21 billion in
real real estate 144 billion in FFN
that's furniture fixtures and equipment.
So, as you can see, the current income
on this property is about $55,000 a year
uh to all of the taxing entities.
The IRB for project Jupiter
will bring that $12 million
in the pilot payment. That's the payment
in lie of taxes uh that will accompany
the IRB. Again, I stress 55,000 is the
current uh value of the property that's
being achieved by all of the taxing
entities.
The IRB is suggesting $12 million a
year.
So when you look at the difference, it's
a a positive to Donana County and it's
uh taxing entities of over 11 million
nearly 12 million for all practical
purposes. 11.9
over 30 years. You see that difference
grows to $358
million in additional revenue coming
into Donana County that's not currently
there.
Now the other item that's going to
accompany this as part of the activity
of the incentive package is the uh LITA
gross receipts tax share. Lita stands
for the local economic development act.
GRT is the gross receipts tax. What the
gross receipts tax share does is it
shares back a portion of the uh gross
receipts that is uh created by the
construction of of this project
uh back to the company. And this is an
incentive. It's on the books in the
state of New Mexico. It's a it's a
statute and it's one of the tools that
we use to attract large capital
investments in excess of $350 million
which this project does have.
So as you can see based on a $17 billion
which is probably low for what the
construction value of this is going to
be. I I got to get deep into the numbers
but you can see Donana County will net
an additional $212 million. And the
really nice part about these numbers
here is this is going to happen in about
a 5-year time frame during the
construction cycle. So the state of New
Mexico is going we're going to get our
414 million. Dona County will see this
212 million. We'll collectively see 626
million in additional dollars
and that's in about a 5year time frame.
That's economic impact.
Now again, I look $626 million in about
a 5year time frame. Over the next 30
years, the gross receipts tax generated
by 12,000 or 1,200
bacon acres
is zero. The difference is mindboggling.
The numbers of this project are
mind-boggling to be honest.
So when we look at the final comparison
of when you look at the IRB and the GRT
share component, $1.6 million would be
the revenue coming to Donana County and
its taxing entities.
And we're talking about $984 million.
A big chunk of that, nearly 600 of that
coming in the first five years.
A net gain of nearly a billion dollars.
Just think of what we can do with a
billion dollars in New Mexico and Donana
County to improve the livelihoods of of
our residents.
I'm going to I'm going to do a
comparison because this isn't the first
data center we've done in New Mexico.
In 2015,
Project Kudo,
I personally think Jupiter's a cooler
name, but Project Kudo was approved by
the Los Lunis City Council
for an IRB
and for some Lita money to construct a
data center. Now, we've had that data
center in New Mexico for 10 years. So,
we have a case study to look at. In the
last 10 years, Los Lunas' population has
grown 20%.
The rest of New Mexico barely over 1% in
population growth.
What else happened in Los Lunis besides
Project Kudo?
Nothing.
I think it's pretty safe to draw a
straight line from Project Kudo, a data
center in Los to this population growth.
When you look at the village of Loonus'
annual gross receipts tax collection,
that's the lifeblood of a municipality
was $11 million annually
in 2015. That was a good year.
Now, their annual gross receipts tax is
$40 million. That's a 350% growth in
gross receipts tax revenue in Lois
Lunas, New Mexico.
That was because of Project Kudo.
Straight line. No doubt about it.
The state of New Mexico and the village
of Losas has seen in excess of $300
million
in new revenue in the last 10 years
thanks to Project Kudo.
Now Meta wasn't as big as this and those
are the type of numbers they produced.
Meta was a $45 billion bond and similar
to this it was done in a series it was
done in a series of six bonds of 7.5
billion each. This project is roughly
six uh 3.6 times bigger. Four times
let's round to four. Meta's payment in
lower taxes, their pilot is 1.8 million
annually at the high point. At the high
point, they had they they kind of rolled
into theirs. It wasn't at the high point
right away, but we'll just we'll just
assume 1.8 million. Jupiter is proposing
$12 million. So that's six times over
six times bigger than what Meta did at
their high point on a project that was
3.6 times smaller. So, I'm I'm laying
out a congratulations to uh Donana
County uh you in your negotiations uh
with Jupiter, your staff, uh the county
commission because you did a lot better
job than Los Ludas of attracting this
investment. You're getting $12 million
back as compared to 1.8.
Good job.
Now, uh for those that don't know me,
I'm Mark Ripper. I'm the division
director of the New Mexico Economic
Development Department. I grew up in
northern New Mexico, so some of you
might call me Daniel.
Um, but I also sat at the dinner table
with the guy that was the chairman of
the water board for 40 or for 35 years.
Sat on the water board for 42 years. I
learned a lot about water. Most of it
that I probably didn't want to know. Uh,
but I learned a lot about water. And the
main thing that I learned about water is
it's a precious resource. Regardless of
where you live, it's a precious
resource. It's especially a precious
resource in New Mexico where we live in
a desert. And we need to be uh wise on
how we use water, where we use water,
and how we implement water.
As you've heard, Project Jupiter, the
data center, we use roughly 20,000
gallons of water a day. An average
household uses 400 gallons a day.
Uh unless you have teenage sons that
take really long showers.
So that that's about 50 houses. So
Project Jupiter is the equivalent of
about 50 new houses uh somewhere in
Donana County.
Now I I grew up mowing grass and I I
made some good money mowing grass, but
it takes water to to to water grass. It
takes about 27,000 gallons to water an
acre of grass. It's about 3,800 gallons
a day.
And I love playing golf, but I could
only get two holes of golf in for the
amount of water that Project Jupiter is
going to to use.
Uh we heard mention of pecans and chili
and the comparisons. A typical pivot
covers 160 acres. I think we all know
what a pivot is. Um,
hey Mark, I'm so sorry to interrupt.
Take a slight step back from the mic. I
want to make sure people listening at
home can hear, sir.
Depending on the crop use, um, you know,
that ranges from about 43 gallons per
day for onions to about 620,000 gallons
a day for sod. Again, my point is is
that we need to be smart about how we
use water. Uh, we need to be uh
cognizant of how we use water and asking
water questions is important. And I I
commend project Jupiter for answering
those questions, holding the public
meetings. Uh but it is important to
understand the relativity.
Now they're also going to de develop a
data center as you heard uh and and
understand that this data center is
still going to use that same closed loop
technology. It's a different uh
technology because they're trying to
cool water here in order to run it back
through um the generation system.
But they're still going to use a closed
use system. And again, at the current
design for their generation facility is
again 20,000 gallons a day. So all those
other references again equate to this.
So between the data center and the
generation facility, we're still in the
neighborhood of about 100 houses.
This is important and I commend them for
making this commitment to not only be
water conscious, but being economically
and environmentally friendly.
This is a line out of uh what you're
going to get to a little bit later uh
when you talk about LETA gross receipts
tax share. This is directly out of the
project participation agreement which is
the contractual arrangement that you
will be voting on. This states Jupiter
agrees to give $50 million.
That's of their first $50 million that's
going to come back to them as part of
the gross receipts tax share. So they're
saying yes, thank you for the incentive,
but we're going to take that first $50
million you're giving us back of an
incentive and we're giving it back to
Donana County. We're giving it back to
Donana County for water and wastewater
improvements because we recognize, man,
that's an important issue here. We need
to take care of that. In addition to
that, we're going to make sure that 10
million of it is dedicated to the
partners through metrics-driven grant
program aimed at improving the water
quality in the community. Now, we're
talking about southern Donana County. I
don't think you're there's any doubt we
know the area we're talking about.
That's $10 million going into the
current water system to improve the
quality and the capacity of the water in
that region. And then the additional $40
million to use as matching funds for
things such as strategic water supply
and other water needs that the county
can can utilize to leverage this money
to go get additional resources to truly
make a difference in southern Donana
County.
I'm happy to stand for any questions. I
think it's obvious. Uh the numbers are
there. The economic impact is
gargantuan. It's over 96 billion dollars
in the first 10 years. uh the fiscal
impact as I pointed out is is there and
and I think the uh water usage has been
addressed. Uh thank you Mr. Chair, thank
you members of the commission and if you
do have any questions I'd be more than
happy to answer them.
Mr. Chairman,
yes,
can you tell me the population of Lunas
uh currently or when they first started?
Uh I mean if you want to tell me when
they signed the IRB. uh when they signed
the I when they signed the IRB there
were roughly 9,000 people.
So
1 million for 9,000 people and
12 million for 225,000
people and that's a good uh return.
Mr. Chair, members of the commission, it
was 1.8 8 million on a $45 billion
IRB as compared to 12 million on $165
billion IRB. So yes, I would say it's a
fair return.
I would say it's greater.
Thank you, Mr. Roer.
Mr. Chair,
vice chair.
Thank you.
Los Luna stands alone in pretty much the
middle of the state, does it not, Mr.
Roer? Yes, that that'd be a correct
assessment.
Thank you. So, Santa Teresa is probably
maybe seven miles from El Paso. So the
impact to Donana County would be at a
lesser degree because
um there's a probability that the people
that are coming here would purchase
houses in El Paso
uh spend their money in El Paso, send
their kids to school in El Paso because
why would some people want to drive all
the way to Las Bruses
to do that when
Texas is a few miles away? Is that not
an appropriate
thought?
Uh, Mr. Chair, uh, Commissioner Shipado,
members of the commission,
uh, I I think your assessment is is
correct on where the people would live.
The numbers I'm talking about, our $12
million is coming directly to Donana
County. Has nothing to do with where the
people live. That's coming from the
company to the county. The GRT numbers I
I spoke to are gross receipts tax
collected on construction. the
construction will h will happen wholly
and solely in Donana County. So those
numbers aren't going to change on where
people uh reside. Uh when we talk about
the $96 billion total economic impact,
our economic impact model does take into
consideration the probability of where
they're going to live. and we do
discount those items uh specifically in
the Sunland Park, Santa Teresa area
because we know that about 50% of those
people will live in Texas. So when we do
that modeling uh we do take that into
consideration. That's a valuable and and
true statement and we do take that into
consideration.
Thank you.
Okay,
questions.
Commissioner Gomedos, I know you're
online with us. Um, if you ever need to
interrupt, please just speak up so we
can
hear you. Okay.
Thank you. We'll do.
Thank you, ma'am.
Okay. Uh, thank you, Mark.
Okay, Denise, any other presentations
regarding this from staff?
No.
Okay.
Those are the only presentations.
All right. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman.
Yes. Commissioner Sanchez. I I don't
know. Is it possible to have Miss Carter
highlight some of the um
enforcable
uh requirements that are in the IRBs,
maybe discuss briefly clawbacks
uh that are included in this uh and then
also I I I guess the GRT share I believe
is probably part of the leadup but just
kind of highlight uh some of those uh
the items in in the IRBs or the
documents if you wouldn't mind please.
If I can also have our bond attorney
join me in case I forget anything. But
some of the clawbacks of the IRB, if the
project were to fail, if they were not
to hire the people that they hired or
cover the wages that that they would
cover
at whatever point in time that happens,
the county can choose to recuperate all
of the taxes that have been the property
taxes that have been abaded up to the
point where the project fails. So that
is one of the tools that we have to
control and ensure that the deal um goes
through. There are also dates set on the
project participation agreement where
they need to spend at a minimum the $350
million to qualify for the GRT share. So
if they don't invest that money in the
construction, they won't been able to
qualify to get the GRT share portion.
Again, at any given point, if something
happens with the project, the county has
the ability to walk away from the
project, deed the property back to the
applicant, and call it a day.
Yeah, that Thank you, Denise. I would
the uh clawbacks and provisions in terms
of the plant closure are consistent with
what is in other IRBs for the county. So
uh as Denise said, Miss Carter said that
if they shut down during the uh first
six five years, then there are portions
of the property tax come back. The other
part that wasn't mentioned, just want to
make sure you're clear, if they don't
meet their employment targets, there are
uh requirements to increase their pilot
payments based on the shortfall. Just
throw that out.
You good?
Yeah.
Okay. Can you also Well, let's just stay
here really quick. Um, can you also talk
about So, that's the clawbacks on
whether or not, you know, a project
would fail. Can you also talk about the
clawbacks that are in the IRB for the
portion of what we're kind of seeing the
promises and stuff like that? Can you
just overview that for us as well? So in
terms of the company benefits that were
referenced earlier, so the lease
agreement does contain those provisions.
Uh in terms of the company's commitments
uh for additional financial
contributions, as Miss Carter said,
there's 50 million based on the gross
receipts tax generated at the facility.
There is also
the other the other terms were
uh $4 million contribution to support
university college and high school
workforce development programs.
Uh 1,500 for key local initiatives
including but not limited to phase one
construction of a new Boys and Girls
Club in Los Cruus.
uh $250,000 dedicated toward uh the
long-term drinking water and increased
system capacity redundancy and
desalination plant work.
$150,000 to Donena Community College for
uh reliable source of transportation
between Los Cusus and Santa Teresa
campuses.
uh $500,000
uh to protect key habitats in the
county, a onetime payment of $500,000,
and then $50,000 annually for a 10-year
period. So, those are unique to this
transaction that are contained in lease
agreement as part of the uh deal terms
with the company.
And what are the enforcable?
So any of these would be considered if
they fail to meet it would be a a
default under one of the covenants and
then they would have an opportunity to
cure it. If they don't cure it then back
to Miss Carter's point you could explore
uh exercising the event of default uh
and un unwinding the industrial revenue
bond.
Okay. And that is outlined in the IRB
correct?
It's yes it's in the lease agreement.
Okay. In the lease agreement. And then I
know that we're not on the leader
project portion of this, but the
employment side is clearly outlined in
the
correct. Okay.
We ensure that all the 750 full-time
jobs that
I'm
sorry,
we've ensured that the 700 and full-time
equivalent jobs you've heard about are
listed in the uh lease agreement. The 50
part-time permanent jobs are listed in
the lease agreement. every single one of
the numbers that have been shared with
our constituents through community
engagement meetings that the project has
done. All of that is in the document so
that we can enforce it.
All right. Thank you,
Mr. Mr. Chair,
vice chair.
So, going back to your point, Miss
Carter, that all of the constituents
have been provided all the documents
they need again by hundreds of pages.
Uh
so when going through my final packet as
a county commissioner who is supposed to
have all the information be before this
very important vote as I was going
through the packet I'm missing exhibits
I'm missing other documents page 230 231
188 336
337 473 474 4753 376, 418, 489, 490,
491, 505, 506, and 57.
So
if I as a commissioner making this very
important decision representing
the stakeholders, the constituents and
missing information
and we're supposed to be transparent and
allow the public the information that
should be included in a final packet. I
don't have
I can't in full conscience say that we
have complete information. I'm missing
information
and so is public.
Uh Mr. Chair, Commissioner Chaparo.
Yeah. the the references to the exhibits
that uh are blanks, those tie to most of
those to the bond purchase agreement
which has legal opinions which are uh
done between the time of adoption if you
move forward and closing. Um the scope
of the project and the project site um
the deal terms are in the documents. So
yes, there are blanks in there related
to and again thinking about it what it
would be the legal opinions that are
provided at closing.
Thank you. And so when will this closing
when is this closing anticipated so that
we can get the final documents?
Mr. Chair, Commissioner Chaparo. So if
you decide to approve this today, they
would publish a notice of adoption that
would run in Monday or Tuesday's Los
Cruus Sun news. Then there's a 30-day
period uh for the ordinance to become
final. At that point, once that 30 days
expires, we would move toward closing.
In the interim between today and
closing, all the documents would be
distributed. Um
the versions you have today as well as
the opinions and other closing
documents. There are numerous closing
documents that are tied to the
transaction that are not approved in
this ordinance in terms of specifically
the lease, the indenture, and the bond
purchase agreement. All of that would be
drafted and all of the relevant parties,
you as commissioners, uh the county, and
the uh company would work to make sure
that everybody's in agreement on those
documents prior to closing, which would
be no earlier than 30 days.
So, it's impossible to get all the
documents at this time. We'll get them
later if we approve it.
So it may be too late in some instances
and this is not an ideal situation. Is
that correct
Mr. Chairman? Uh Commissioner Chaparo,
this is standard practice in the
industrial revenue bond practice that
the indenture, the lease and the bond
purchase agreement forms are approved in
the uh ordinance and the closing
documents and legal opinions are done
between adoption and uh closing. The
documents that you present that are in
the packet uh we believe do provide the
deal terms for you. if you decide to
approve this that you have the deal
terms in the uh documents before you.
So is this a usual and ideal situation?
Mr. Chairman, Commissioner,
very similar to the other IRBs that have
been issued in the past.
The as I answered to the one question,
it is similar in terms of most of the
documents or several of the documents
are approved between closing and
adoption of this ordinance. The speed of
this is unique. Yes. the the the speed
of uh trying to get this done uh is
unique uh in terms of the size is
unique. Many things about it certainly
are unique.
Mr. Mayor Head, thank you. Um so when
you say the speed is unique, I feel it's
unique as well. So thank you for that.
Um I feel that there's a lot of pressure
on this commission. There's a lot of
pressure to move this forward very
quickly because
and I quote a once in a-lifetime
opportunity. I don't know if I agree
with that or not. I'm not necessarily
against moving forward with this
project, but I am interested in complete
transparency from all parties involved
and so that not only is these
commissioners understand every aspect of
what's being done, but as well as our
community because our community has to
have a say in how they want their
community to grow. But that's another
issue. That wasn't the question. I'm
sorry I got off my point of view. You're
saying the speed is unique
in your experience and I know you're a
very well-versed attorney, very
experienced and well thought of sir.
Would you compare this the uniqueness of
this speed with this particular IRB?
Compare sorry Mr. Chairman commissioner
would you compare it to other IRBs with
which you've had experience?
Well, I think the key thing is when the
commission considers the approval, do
you understand the deal terms and those
have been negotiated by county staff and
the and other relevant parties and that
is before you? So, I can speak to that
that yes, this is consistent with what a
regular industrial revenue bond would
have where you would have the deal terms
in front of you with substantially final
forms of the bond document. So, that is
consistent. Yes.
Thank you, Mr. Mayorhead.
Okay. Any other questions really quick?
Not quick, but Mr. Chairman, I think for
Mr. Mayor Hood, I just want to
understand is is um if the IRB is
approved, you mentioned that there's 30
days for close, should there be any
issues within those 30 days, are there
any recourse for this commission? after
they decide if for any reason
something's not um to you know some
something of concern comes up is there
any recourse for us
uh Mr. Chair Commissioner Sanchez. Yeah.
So the closing is the pivotal moment. So
this is a pivotal moment today. This is
the action by the commission uh to
approve the bonds and this the structure
of the bonds. Uh the closing is really
at the point of then the bond documents
are controlling and uh there all the
parties are in it together. So between
the adoption of this, if you choose to
adopt it today and the closing, the
commission could move to repeal the
ordinance um if it is not satisfied with
the transaction as is developed between
now and closing.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Okay.
Okay. Commissioners, at this time we do
we have any questions for anyone else
before we we can kick off public comment
or
what are thoughts,
suggestions?
And Mr. Chair, just if I may, if we can
just clarify, will the commissioners
just so everyone knows the the process
that is going to be followed this
afternoon or this morning? Seems like
afternoon to me. Um,
will we be allowed follow-up questions
to the presenters?
One more time.
Will we be the commissioners? Will the
comm commissioners be allowed to ask
follow-up questions for the presenters
just so that everyone is clear on
procedure
after I believe I believe I understand?
Yeah,
of course.
Thank you.
Yeah. No, of course. So that way if
there's any lingering questions or
anything comes up during public comment,
we can get those things.
Thank you.
Um the commission can then ask those
questions. Okay. With that being said,
we will move on to public comment if
you're all okay with that.
Um for the sake of everyone here and the
sake of the commission, um I think the
way that we're going to do this is is we
are going to keep the three minute per
person policy that we have had. What
we're going to do is we're going to go
ahead and do an hour for um those
opposed to the project and then we will
do an hour for those um in favor of the
passing of the IRB is the way that I
should um kind of say this. So those
that are opposed to the IRB being passed
today, I will ask that you start u
making your way to the middle. Um,
please be wary. We do have someone that
is in the middle. So, please don't maybe
move it over to the side a little bit,
but we will have the three minutes on
the clock. If you can please address us
by stating your name, you can sign the
white book to your left hand side and we
will give three minutes for those three
minutes. So, that would be 1 hour, 3
minutes each.
Start coming up please.
All the and this is in opposition. So
we'll do all opposition.
Okay. Brandy, are you ready? You're in
control. Okay. Thank you, ma'am. And
once again, I will reiterate if we can
please keep the the claps, the booze,
whatever commentary we have um if we
cannot have that just so that way the
commission can hear and we can respect
the one hour time. Uh that is 11:12. So,
we will end this at 12:12 and then we'll
move on. Go ahead, sir. You're kicking
us off today.
Hi, my name is Ken Miller. Uh,
first of all, I appreciate all the
commissioners, especially after trying
to read 500 pages of agenda items. I
can't imagine anybody wanting your job.
But, uh,
couple I have a few points. Uh I just
think the footprint of the project is
huge for only providing 750 jobs.
Uh based on the size of the workforce
versus the size of the plant,
I have to feel that these workers are
mainly maintenance because maintaining
1,800
or 1,4,000
what is it acres is is
It's going to take a lot of maintenance.
So, I don't feel like these are going to
be high-tech
uh degree jobs. They're going to be well
trained in what they do, but um I don't
think they're going to be great, you
know, high-tech engineering jobs.
And
I kind of compare it to the footprint of
the Toyota manufacturing plant in San
Antonio which we had an opportunity to
to aggressively go after some years ago.
Uh but I think the state was focused
more on the center part of the state.
But that plant in the Toyota plant they
spent they have spent
up to now 4.7 billion in manufacturing
that plant and investment in that plant
and they provide 7,000 jobs on site
uh half of which are union jobs.
Um and obviously a manufacturing plant
like that produces or supports a lot of
other jobs like automobile parts
suppliers manufacturers.
So um I just I think center is a great
location
for industrial development.
I mean we have you know good industrial
development needs railroads which we
have rail lines from that area you know
to the east coast to the west coast you
know Denver
Chicago
um interstate systems in all directions
it's ideally located for industrial
development
this is not industrial development there
not we're not producing anything
Um,
I mean there's more auto parts
manufacturers in Chihuahua, for example,
than probably any location in the
Americas.
So, I just think that this the acreage
that this plan is going to take up is
Thank you, sir.
Okay. And just make sure, sir, that you
do sign the book after you're done.
Thank you.
Good morning, chair, commissioners, and
project Jupiter representation. My name
is Yasbian Alh Harvey. I am here on
behalf of the city of Sunland Park. Last
week, our city council passed a
resolution asking that before a $165
billion project moves forward, its
impacts of our people are fully
understood.
We did that because in Sunland Park we
don't have the luxury of treating these
questions as abstract. We've lived with
the consequences of being left out of
planning in the past. For too often it's
been our families, our neighborhoods,
and our quality of life that have
suffered the consequences.
This is why we are here today. We are
not here to oppose growth, but we are
here to make sure that this
once-ina-lifetime opportunity is done
correctly for our residents. The stakes
are real. Housing costs are already
climbing and many families live paycheck
to paycheck. This if this project brings
thousands of new workers without a plan
for affordability, the people who have
built their lives here today may be
pushed to the side. Is the audio okay?
Can you guys hear me? Sounds weird.
Sorry about that. Our roads are another
daily reminder. Anyone who drives
through our region knows how congested
they already are. Uh adding heavy truck
traffic and new commuters will strain a
system that's already stretched thin.
And that is unless we plan today for our
future together.
In the desert, nothing is more critical
than water. We need clear answers about
how this project will secure what it
needs without putting the needs of
everyday families at risk of shortages
or higher costs. Even the public safety
is at stake. Our fire, police, EMS are
proud to serve, but they are already at
working capacity. Growth of this
magnitude cannot come without a plan to
keep our residents safe.
Commissioners, Sunlim Park is not asking
you to say no to this project. We are
asking you to stand with us in saying
yes to responsible growth.
We want you to take the time to ensure
that families who are already calling
this region home are protected even as
we welcome new opportunities. This
moment is more than an investment. It's
about putting the well-being of our
residents at the center of every
decision.
Sunlim Park is ready to be your partner,
but partnership requires a seat at the
table, trust, and transparency.
We ask you to choose a path of
responsible growth and to give our
residents that the assurance of their
future matters in this decision. Thank
you.
[Applause]
Oh, just make sure that you guys are
signing the book, please. Thank you.
Commissioners, those here today, and
those watching online, I'm Lynn Moira. I
practice environmental law in Nebraska
before relocating to Las Cusus to take
care of my parents. I urge you to ban
use of nuclear energy in Donana County
for Project Jupiter. Use of nuclear
energy will turn the county into a de
facto highly radioactive waste dump
because there is no national repository
for highly radioactive waste. Every
nuclear reactor becomes a storage site
for spent nuclear fuel, which is
dangerous for millions of years. Worse,
whenever this kind of spent nuclear fuel
storage site is built, nuclear waste
entrepreneurs
show up and try to turn it into a
nuclear dump for the entire country.
This isn't the kind of economic
development we need. Under the project
plan, the county would own the site
during its term. This means that county
taxpayers as owners of the nuclear
material would be on the financial hook
for substantial liabilities associated
with those nuclear materials. This is
known as a liability transfer scam. If
the company walks away, we're stuck with
the waste. Small modular reactors, which
the developer favors, do not solve the
problem of radioactive waste, and they
cannot be counted on to provide reliable
and resilient off-the-grid power for
facilities. SMRs very likely will need
backup power sources to operate safely
to power coolant pumps and other vital
safety systems. Like today's large
nuclear plants, SMRs will be vulnerable
to extreme weather events or other
disasters. And depending on the design,
SMRs may require water for cooling.
The SMRs are also neither more
economical nor safer nor more secure
than large reactors, and they don't use
fuel more efficiently than large
reactors. Plus, SMR developers propose
to relax the current emergency planning
boundaries around a reactor. This is an
unacceptable level of risk for any
community. To date, no one has
successfully built operational SMRs in
this country. Only China and Russia have
done so. A number of public and private
institutions in the US say they want to,
but none has yet done it. There's a lot
of novel designs in addition to
lightwater reactors for SMRs being
considered, but there's no track record
of success with any of them. All the
SMRs built under or under construction
in other countries have experienced time
and cost overruns. None of the arguments
in favor of SMRs are backed by evidence.
The developer has refused to rule out
nuclear energy. While it claims nuclear
energy is not currently part of its
plans, the developer may seek to use it
in the future. It's in the county's best
interest to slam the door shut on any
possibility of nuclear energy being
used. The memorandum of understanding
that mentions nuclear energy doesn't
constitute any legal obligation to the
county. I urge you to vote.
Thank you, Miss Moore. I appreciate you.
Thank you. If you can please just sign
the book.
[Applause]
Good morning. My name is Daisy
Maldonado. I'm the director of the
Empower Empowerment Congress. Today, I
stand in solidarity with the people of
Sunland Park in Santa Teresa, the
families, the children, and the elders,
and all the other concerned residents
across Donana County. For the past three
weeks, your constituents have spoken out
about the proposed Project Jupiter.
We have told you clearly this project
will bring direct harm to our
communities. And yet here we are facing
this vote that risk trading the health
and well-being of over 20,000 people for
corporate promises. Not even to mention
the 7,000 employees at the Santa Theesa
Industrial Park and the close to million
people that live in El Paso. 2500
construction jobs sounds very
impressive. probably not going to pay
you $75,000 a year. Uh but those jobs
will vanish in two and a half years.
What remains are a well several massive
data centers consuming our water and a
natural gas plant will that will be also
consuming our water and contaminating
our air. What remains is a community
sacrificed
again. Santa Teresa and Sunland Park
people deserve better. community members
who will be most impacted and harmed by
this project were left in the dark under
non-disclosure agreements and still
there are many unanswered questions
vague promises made by the company and
you asked about the clawbacks and the
promises uh but that's a non-binding
I'm not sure why you had to sign if you
had to ask that question if you sign if
you're going to sign it uh you can go
into the documents itself and it says
it's a nonbindingou
How is that? How is that trust? How are
you expecting community members to trust
you if that's the case? This is not
transparency. This is not accountability
and this is not democracy.
Commissioners, you took an oath of
office. That oath was not to to
corporations, not to outofstate
investors. It was to us, the people of
Donian County. It was to protect our
health, our safety, and our future. If
you vote yes today, you are not only
dishonoring that oath, you are turning
your back on your constituents.
New Mexicans deserve better.
[Applause]
All right. My name is Anastasia Wall.
I'm a resident of Dana County. I want
everyone to imagine that you are living
in a big household with your whole
family and someone within that family
comes to the rest of everyone in the
household and says,"I've been dating
someone for 4 months. I would like them
to move into the house, take some
measurements, do some renovation around
here. I promise it will be good for us
and the house could use some help." Uh,
don't ask him to put it into any legally
binding language. By the way, I don't
know this guy's legal name, only the
name he's been using for the past year.
Um, and you can't know his legal name
either. The fact that any of you feel
comfortable bringing a vote to give a
tax break to a company who has asked you
all to sign a non-disclosure agreement
and the fact that you've known about
this project for 4 months and only
informed citizens about this less than a
month ago is so alarming to me. The lack
of transparency and the rushed air about
this project from my perspective looks
like you were hoping the project would
go under the radar and no one would
notice. As a Donana County resident, it
feels infantilizing. I feel like I'm
treated like a child and it feels
frankly immoral. If any of you vote yes
today to give this company a tax break
after steamrolling your constituents
with this project, I want you to know
that you have broken our trust. AI is a
rapidly growing industry with a lot of
buzz around it. Let's remember all of
the buzz that was around internet-based
companies in the 90s before the dotcom
bubble burst in 2000, leaving people
without jobs and offices empty. The AI
bubble may burst and soon and this data
this data center would be left empty
like those office buildings in the '9s.
If that happens per the IRB, this AI
data center, what would we do with it?
Can it be repurposed by another
industry? Does Donana County have a use
for an abandoned facility like that? Is
it an environmental hazard? Are we
making enough plans to make sure that we
can properly close this thing if we are
financially on the hookup for it if they
go bankrupt?
The last point I'd like to make is that
AI in general is just a bad investment.
For every job that an AI data center
creates, how many more jobs are we going
to lose in the rest of the county? How
many more jobs are we going to lose in
the state of New Mexico? How many
workers will corporations and major
employers attempt to replace with AI in
our county? If an AI revolution and a
shift in the labor market is coming, at
minimum, we need to be squeezing every
single dollar from this company as
possible. We should not be giving them a
tax break. Uh we need to be building a
safety net from all of this money for
our residents. From my perspective, if
you want to have an AI data center in
Dona County, you have to be able to
afford and put in legally binding
language Hm. Pay your full property
taxes, fund a desalination plant,
permanently rehabilitate water and
utilities in Sunland Park in Santa
Teresa, undergo an annual audit of
social and environmental impact. Uh
increase stress of water systems and the
grid. Establish fines and fees. Uh and
lastly,
[Music]
thank you.
[Applause]
Hello, chair, vice chair, commissioners.
My name is Chase Johnson. I'm from
District 1. Uh, I'm here to speak about
my feelings for Project Jupiter. Before
coming here, I spoke to family, friends,
a professor, a data scientist, a
computer scientist, and a
hydrogeeologist.
They were all against Project Jupiter
for different reasons, and they were all
valid points. Environmental, monetary,
job-based. When I told the computer
scientists the uh pay range, they
laughed because they make $200,000 a
year for a similar job working remotely.
Keep that in mind when you look at those
numbers that they're presenting to you.
They're not good numbers for for the
employees that would be doing those
jobs.
Like I said, they all had great points,
but I want to bring up a personal point
that's related to me.
They say the cost of utilities will not
be infect affected by their construction
and by their plant. I think that this is
incorrect and untrue. Let me explain
why.
The cost of utilities because they state
themselves that they will be doing a
natural gas generation plant to begin
with with the plan to convert to
renewables by a deadline. In the time
that they are using that natural gas
plant, they will not be in charge of the
cost of gas.
I'm sure you all remember Storm Yuri.
came through 2022 and it caused
extremely high electric bills for folks
in Texas, high utility bills for people
here in Donana County and it led to the
city creating an emergency commodity
recovery rate to try to make up those
funds because of something that was out
of their hands. In this case, it was
just a winter storm and a pipeline that
needed to be repaired.
Those companies decided to increase
their charges based on those factors.
They will do so when this plan is
created. They will make the decision
that, oh, we can charge more. This is
the price. You're required to buy from
us as a municipality.
You either buy it or you don't. And
guess what? Municipalities are required
to buy it because they have to provide
utilities to their customers. So by
setting this up, you are just setting up
higher utility costs for customers in
the immediate with no guarantee that
they will actually complete their plan
to transition by that date.
Lastly, I just want to end on a little
note that I do not envy your position.
This is a very important vote. I heard
on the news today it might be the most
consequential vote in the history of
this commission and you only get to make
it once. I'm asking you to make the
right one because once this decision is
made today, there is no going back.
There is no out plan. If it happens, it
will happen and the consequences will
last generations potentially. You're
hoping that this all goes well. You're
wanting to do best by the community that
you serve and I guarantee you're trying
to make a decision that will benefit
everyone in the long term. But don't
take the golden fiddle if you can't play
the strings.
[Applause]
Hello, I'm GM Canaway from here in Los
Cruus. I do want to say just from the
things we've seen today, Project Jupiter
does basically admit they do not know
the impacts they're going to cause to
our most limited resource, our water.
They intend to spend a fraction of what
they intend to spend on the total
project to maybe solve some of the
problems they might cause. They have
nothing in their documents that shows
they know what could happen. And it was
asked earlier, what would we do with a
billion dollars? At the worst
possibility, we can cover the damages
they do.
This is giving a lot of allowance to a
project that has been rushed and pushed
forward with only limited public
meetings about this. A lot of allowance
considering the lack of transparency
with even this public comment having to
be delayed because of the immense amount
in the public project documents that
can't even be discussed here. so much
from a project that makes great promises
only if we play by their rules and jump
when they say.
I think I can say for many here the
feelings they feel right now for a
community that has little chance to be
involved in a supposedly great deal.
Right now it feel like feels like you
can't see me.
This is an important thing. This affects
us for the rest of our lives in this
community. I've seen many in my field,
primarily film, leave and use this as a
stopping point for either someplace else
or Denver because they at least have
jobs. And the jobs they're bringing with
this is not enough to account for the
damages possible.
I love this place. I want to stay here,
but a project like this makes me want to
reconsider that possibility.
Everyone here doesn't want this. I hope
you guys don't push forward on this
idea.
Thank you for your time.
[Applause]
Um, good morning. My name is Nali Prito
and I appreciate um you taking the time
to speak with everyone here today. Um,
I'm very aware that all of you probably
have very long days ahead of you. You've
had a lot of work put into this. So, I
do appreciate your undivided attention
as I come here and speak to all of you
today. Um, admittedly, I am just here to
echo the sentiments of the people who
have spoken before me. I do, um, come
here today having only barely heard of
Project Jupiter about a month ago. Um, I
am an avid newsreader. I keep up with
local events and the fact that as
someone who is very much within the
community hearing about local events, it
is alarming to me that this has been
pushed almost past public view. Um the
total air in which it's been handled
with, I have to say, has come off as
being dismissive and slightly
condescending to your constituents. Um I
don't know if that is an intended uh
feeling that you have all projected.
However, I do feel that it is something
that should be brought to your
attention. Um, as many people who have
come before me have said, it feels as if
the constituents, the very stakeholders
who live here, work here, are
responsible for having elected you into
the positions you stand in. Um, we have
been pushed to the side. Um, I would
also like to take this moment to ask for
a point of clarity. I believe the
gentleman here in the suit with the
glasses earlier said that 160,000 phone
calls were made to constituents to get
the feeling of whether or not they
approved a project Jupiter uh which
resulted in 83% approval rate. Um I
would like to know if number one there
is a document stating the exact way in
which that was carried out. How many
people actually answered their phones to
provide an answer for that? because I do
believe that perhaps runs a risk of
misrepresenting data if say out of
160,000 people uh 2,000 picked up and
83% of that 2,000 out of 160,000 people
who got called um agreed. I would also
like to know what other methods were
used in detail of how Borderlex and
those behind Project Jupiter actually
worked to connect to the community. Was
it emails more than events? How many
times did they speak to other people? I
feel like as somebody who is directly
affected by this, we deserve to know
exactly how much effort Project Jupiter
has put into speaking with us, aside
from just what they put in their
powerpoints. Um, other than that, thank
you for taking the time to listen to me.
Have a good day.
[Applause]
Hello everyone. My name is Travis Owens.
I'm Green Party nomination. I'm sorry.
I'm seeking the Green Party nomination
for president in 2028. I'm here today to
speak on behalf of the Green Party of
New Mexico and for every resident who
believes our land and water are not
bargaining chips. Project Jupiter is
sold as an opportunity. But we must ask
opportunity for whom? Just months ago,
this was a $5 billion proposal. Now it's
165 billion. 15 times the state's
budget. No transparency, no explanation,
just a bigger number to dazzle us into
silence. And it rests on an industrial
revenue bond, a tax subsidy. Let's be
clear, that means the people of Dona
County are backing this with public
resources. Yet, Borderlex is not local.
It's not a New Mexico company. Why
should we gamble our tax base on
outsiders who no stake in our long-term
future? Then there's the water, the
foundational life here. Data centers
consumed staggering amounts. Meanwhile,
our Rio Grand run runs dry. Santa Teresa
struggles with water quality, and we
have a bond by We are bound by compact
to deliver water to Texas. No credible
plan has ever been given on how this
project avoids deepening a crisis
already at our doorsteps. Green values
demand weigh every decision against
long-term sustainability. Does it
protect the land, safeguard the water,
and serve the people? Project Jupiter
falls on the account on all counts. It's
not development. It's displacement of
resources of trust and our children's
security. Dona Anna deserves real
investment, renewable energy, resilient
infrastructure, and water conscious
growth that belongs to the people, not
cooperation. Sorry, not corporations
looking for subsidies. I urge this
commission to reject this reckless
gamble, choose transparency, choose
sustainability, and choose the people.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Hello. Good morning, commissioners,
chair. My name is Vivian Fuller and I am
a resident of Santa Teresa.
And um so all of this according to, you
know, Project Jupiter is very wonderful
and it's going to bring a lot to our
community.
But why hide it? Why not let us know as
residents what's going on? why not let
us know what great project they're
bringing in so we can, you know, take a
look at it and be proud that we're
getting something wonderful in our area.
So, all of these people in this room
um are your constituents
and they all put you in your positions
that you are in now
and trust you to make the right
decisions.
Don't lose that trust of your
constituents.
Transparency has always been the biggest
issue.
Why not come out and tell us what's
going on? Why the community be the last
ones to find out of what this project
is? I am in the community every single
day with community members and I had not
heard about this till about three weeks
ago.
So what's the deal? what's being hidden.
A lot of the members uh deserve to know
what is going on in our community. A
data center just is a threat to us
because of our water resources that have
already been compromised recently. Our
power grid for our growing community is
needed and the pollution that it's going
to cause isn't needed either. From what
the research that I have done, a lot of
this pollution is done is can't be seen
with the naked eye.
The only ones benefiting from this is
the ones that are already millionaires
to make more millions
paying t not paying taxes to be there.
So we will not fade. I have a community
behind me and whenever they try coming
back, we will be here. We will be
prepared and ready to take this on
again.
On this table, I have all the
signatures. This is proof, not calls
that they're saying that 83%. This is
proof. These are actual signatures of
your constituents saying no. I believe
there's about a thousand
about 990ome.
We have 4,000
122 letters online
and we have proof of it as well. Thank
you.
[Applause]
Uh, good morning, commissioners. Uh, my
name is Kurt Anderson. I lived just
north of town near Donana, your
district. Uh, I'm here, if I can find my
glasses, I'm here on behalf of the, uh,
southern chapter of the Rio Grand
chapter of the Sierra Club. And, uh, I'm
speaking on their behalf. Uh the
southern group of the Rio Grand chapter
of the Sierra Club opposes project
Jupiter in its present form in its
current form. It's a huge project and
the details provided have been very
sparse so far. But we understand that
the project would use a vast amount of
energy 700 to 900 megawws to be supplied
by gas turbines.
That must be that would be more power
output than used by all of El Paso
Electric's uh power plants combined. The
vast expansion in fossil fuel gas usage
would be an environmental disaster
not just for New Mexico and West Texas
but uh for the world. The turbines would
produce about three million metric tons
of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse
gas, uh, per year. Southern Donana
County already has some of the worst air
pollution in the nation.
uh it's currently violating EPA's
uh standards for ozone and gas power
plants are the largest industrial
contributor that regional ozone levels.
Uh this new infrastructure would make
our air quality much worse causing
premature deaths and serious health
problems particularly for children
uh the elderly and other folks with
respiratory problems. We are also deeply
concerned about the water impacts uh
given the long drought 25 year drought
in our area. Project Jupiter has not
provided us yet any numbers regarding
real water requirements over a long
period uh or the water that might be
used for cooling towers if necessary for
the generators generate a lot of heat. A
$165 billion project should be able to
move mountains to protect our air, our
water, and meet the urgent necessity of
fighting the climate crisis. We
understand the project would create
significant economic benefits for our
county and we certainly aren't opposed
to that. Getting there. Uh but we
require a full environmental analysis
before we commit to this. The project
must find a way to move forward with
100% clean renewable energy with firm
commitments
to serve our
Hi, I'm so happy to be here. I would
like to share my piece. I'm a pre-ervice
teacher. I hope to join the profess
profession in 2027. That means if the
current um
what's it called? Retirement
plan is valid, I will probably retire
around60.
The children of to me are not an
abstract. The New Mexican children
especially, they will most likely be my
students.
I want to remind the council that AI is
inherently morally dubious
and it's one of the most oppressive
forces to the minds of our youth
imaginable.
Worse than lead, worse than television,
worse than soda, worse than anything
else any human being could even imagine.
This project would extend the danger
that is already in threatening the
intellectual and mental health of our
children to menace the health of their
bodies and their communities. I want to
remind you that all AI undertakings are
Oh, no. I don't think that anyone
believes that they will honestly serve
the people pre-existing on the land and
not the population of loyal employees
they aim to create. Like many others, I
fear a future with AIdriven remote
public school and a five gallallon per
household limit at the local Dollar
General. I would like to remind you that
we borrow our future from our children.
This man behind me has talked about
investments in our public schools, but
let's not pretend that they will not use
their generous gifts to push their
profit agenda and reshape our schools
and their own image. AI is already
unraveling our institutions of learning
at the larger societal level. Please do
not be foolish enough to give them a
stake in our vulnerable communities. $30
an hour jobs and the tax money are not
intended for the families who have
suffered in poverty for generations in
the rural communities of New Mexico.
They are intended for the people here to
network. For the people in puffer vests
who are shaking hands, for the agg
families, for the single mother
households, for the old women who garden
because they cannot buy groceries. This
will be a non this is not a good thing.
Our people need communitydriven
humanistic change. Money alone cannot
solve the problems of our state. We need
humanistic intention which an AA company
can never ever provide. I want to give
one final reminder to the commission
that this is what you will be remembered
for. Not your MIT degree or your
restaurant or your mayoral incumbency.
It will be this decision and how
conscientious you are and how sensitive
you are to the needs of your people.
Think of your children and listen to the
elders. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good morning, chair. Good morning, vice
chair. And good morning, commissioners.
My name is Ivan Aragon. And uh what what
I'm about to say is from my own
experience living here in Las Cruz,
Mexico for all of my life and always
calling Dona County my home. One of the
primary incentives being given to
Donanda County is that $1 billion that
we're going to receive and we can use
that to
um to fund improvements in our water
infrastructure.
While that is attractive, I think
there's still two obvious concerns here.
The first is that the facility will
still have a cap of not 20,000 gallons a
day but 60,000
gallons per day which to my knowledge is
still an accurate statement. Um
the second concern is how do we move
further with this project in good
conscience
with a with an existing precedent of
these kinds of facilities decreasing the
water quality and decreasing the water
availability in the communities they are
in.
And with that is how does the county
plan to use the money that we gain from
that deal in order to address that in
order to make sure that our
water quality does not go down as has
been seen in other communities that have
had these huge data centers built in
them. From this, I want to address the
financial reapings of this project and I
want to address the transparency that is
that is very relevant to this
conversation. That $1 billion from
up from this project is6%
of the $165 billion that this
corporation is investing in this campus.
$3 billion would be 1.8% of that.
I think a very wise decision would have
more
would have more
dealings up with this corporation
because $1 billion I think is a almost
insulting amount of money to give to our
county even though they have this
gigant gigantic amount of money. In
terms of transparency, I am asking all
of you that sit before me and all of you
that sit before everyone in this room to
be completely honest with us. One of the
most shocking things I've heard during
this meeting is that
um when it was mentioned um
that it is standard of practice
for us to sign this and go ahead with it
before we even know the full scope of
it. That is morally dubious.
Please make the right decision.
[Applause]
Hello. My name is William Morlin and uh
I've come here to kind of represent my
generation in the young voters that I've
heard time and time again that need to
be involved in politics and time and
time again we've been discounted and
ignored. We've are the young generation
here has told you we do not want this in
our county.
I think you should listen to the young
voters, the people who will succeed you.
Because if you don't do it now, you're
going to create irreversible problems
that we can't afford to solve. We're at
a precipice on the knife's edge. And
something like this could push us over
that edge and make it to where all the
uh snowballing problems of the world,
uh, climate change, water insecurity,
all of that, it could just make it worse
and worse. I'm going to keep this kind
of short because I know there's a lot of
people. I do hope that you make the
right decision today. Thank you for your
time.
[Applause]
I'm wearing a mask because I'm in the
process of getting a new mouth. So, I
look like Dracula's cousin has been in a
fight that he lost. But anyway, I want
to tell you why I'm here today. I'm here
because I love Los Cruuses. I love
Donana County. I love the state of New
Mexico in this country. I want to tell
you that my curriculum is
kind of ancient because I will be 90
years old in February. I've seen a lot.
I've also been
an employee of Dow Jones
and of the Wall Street Journal.
And I want to tell you that my approach
to this whole process is one of an
Aristotilian thinking and that goes to
probability,
impromp improbability,
and probability.
I'm not here to tell you how to vote.
The facts will tell you how to vote.
Now, I just want to state the facts that
we can all agree upon. And if we don't,
then I don't know where we're living.
So, the first fact
is that this is a flawed program.
And
one number one fact is that we cannot
exist without water.
That is a fact. The second fact is that
we have been in a drought for over the
last decade or even more.
And I cannot tell you what a sublime
experience it is to sit in my swing and
listen to the pitter patter of the rain
on the canopy. We are so
we're
water is such an important factor. So,
I'm getting a little little uh boy oh
boy, time goes by real fast. I should
have more time. Uh look, there are no uh
it's ridiculous when you look at the
figures.
$300 million
for uh a tax exemption of 30 years. It's
it's it's it's
funky. The other thing is uh boy oh boy
I tell you aging is a trip. Uh there's
no mitigating
program for all the gobbly goop that uh
has been written documentation.
Good morning, friends. My name is Sardin
Murio. Uh first of all, I am so sorry
for your loss. Uh Commissioner Shaparo.
Uh many of you know me as an elected
official, community leader, campaign
organizer, business owner, and nonprofit
director. I also serve in several local,
state, and national boards. I support
growth, revenue, and new opportunities
for our county and state, especially in
Solomon Park. What concerns me today is
how quickly this project has moved
forward without input from local leaders
or organizations. I've heard references
to state leaders, but the voices of
those who represent our local
communities have not been included.
Yesterday, I received calls from
legislators asking how much funding our
local organizations such as the Sun Park
Chamber of Commerce, our school
district, or our nonprofit are expected
to receive. At the same time, I've been
told that the Las Cruises Chamber of
Commerce is receiving about $1.7
million. I also heard here that the Boys
and Girls Club of Las Cruises and Las
Cruz's public schools are receiving
funding. While I do not know the exact
amounts, the details, or who chose this
groups, it's clear that the city of
Sunland Park is once again left in the
dark. I'm even more surprised to hear it
stated that 83% of residents are in
favor of this project. My question is
does that number include residents from
Las Cruises as well? Um because I don't
feel included in that number because if
so that further highlights the lack of
clarity and transparency and how
community voices are being counted.
Another important question is about
hiring. Will the priority to be hire new
Mexicans or will they be focused again
on Texas residents? That decision will
have a major impact on whether our local
communities truly benefit. Finally, if
this project is approved and it ends up
affect up affecting Solomon Park in a
negative way, is the commission prepared
to defend us and protect us? On the
other hand, if it turns out to have a
positive outcome, I will be the first
one to be here and thank you. I am not
here to argue for or against this
project. I simply ask that in the future
decisions of this scale include input
from local leaders. Please call me um
especially our organizations. You guys
know who I am because I know every
single one of you guys. These choices
impact our community, our communities
directly and we should be part of the
conversation. Thank you.
[Applause]
Hello, my name is Valeria Varon. I am a
local New Mexican resident and I am also
part of the population that found out
about this only a month ago.
I live out in the outskirts of Donana um
on a um on a small farm uh own uh run by
two elder two elderly property owners.
I remember distinctly that they came to
me um distraught because over the last
few months there had been not enough
rain for them to pay for irrigation.
They had been uh relying on the rain to
be able to maintain their farms to be
able to maintain the land that they had
and they couldn't pay for water to be
put in between.
Even then,
a person like me, we are only allowed to
water our gardens every specific day,
especially during a heat wave such as
bad as we've had this last summer.
So tell me, why are we allowing an
outside company,
some a company that last I checked with
the meeting they had last week had over
500 500 uh other AI centers across the
country come and restrict our water? Why
are we allowing them to put limits on
what we can use when we already have
limits ourselves and we're struggling
ourselves?
Now with uh with being said that meeting
from last week, why are the numbers
constantly changing? Last week I was I
was told in the meeting that they were
only going to be using uh 15,000 uh uh
15,000 liters of water per data center
per data center. Now it's changed to 60
uh to 60,000
gallons.
like where are the numbers coming from?
Where is that influx? And why is there
no transparency?
I'm a voter just as much as the rest of
the people here. And yet we are not
being given the same amount of
information. I was told last week in
that same meeting that it would be 2,500
permanent jobs. And now I'm being told
that those are construction jobs that
aren't permanent that aren't permanent.
that the permanent jobs are only 750
over and those permanent jobs only have
an expiration date of of over the next 3
years.
That seemed uh that's incredibly
mischievous and it lacks the entire
transparency needed for such a big
community as Donana
and Sunland Park. We need to be given
the truth. Why hide pages? Why change
the dates of when meetings are said and
why cancel meetings entirely?
Thank you.
Hello,
my name is Marka. I'm a local resident
plus cruises and donana. Um just like my
constituents here um I do have a lot of
questions pertaining to the project
Jupiter. Um some information that I was
given today uh talk about the comparison
with the data center in Los Alamos
compared to Los Cru's. Um what I know
about Los Alamos is that it is a much
smaller community with the majority of
the retirement residents living in Los
Alamos being federal employees.
uh working for set employees since 2014,
I know that the minimum of a federal
employee salary is 60,000.
Now, for the minimum of Los Cru's
federal employee being 50,000, I don't
make as much. You know, me and my
partner, you know, live in Donana and we
have three teenagers and two
adolescence. Uh we don't use 400 gallons
of water a day. That's more upwards of
like maybe 150.
Um, so I don't know, you know, what
these projection numbers are coming
from. We don't own a swimming pool. We
don't own a jacuzzi. So, you know, I
don't pay as much as I can't afford as
much, I guess, as these people are
projecting or who they're calling.
I guess the thing is is
as somebody who's worked for you know
the upper echelon of uh elite society
and somebody who belongs to you know
middle lower class you know I don't
understand you know
where these numbers are being projected
from and how can I be guaranteed in the
next 30 years that I can afford you know
water bills or electricity bills if this
project is you know goes to fruition.
I'm not going to waste too much of your
time. It's just um just like everybody
here. I would just like a lot more con,
you know, um what's looking for? Uh
transparency when it comes to this
project. And um I think the more that we
know, the better we are, you know,
making these votes. But until then, I
have not heard anything today that I am
willing to vote in favor for. Thank you
very much.
[Applause]
Hello, my name is Mike Skibak and I
apologize for my stumbling through this
because I'm not prepared, but I'm pro
jobs.
I but I have concerns about the water
and the energy usage that is going to be
associated with this project.
And also, as the uh future teacher
pointed out, AI is not our friend.
Um, my understanding is that the Project
Jupiter will waste, excuse me, will use
waste water for the initial fill. Okay.
But now they're talking about they're
going to use another 50 households worth
of water on ongoing basis. All right.
Where is that water going to come from?
Is that going to be also reclaimed waste
water? Is it going to be water from our
our drinkable aquifers? Is it going to
come from saltwater aquifers? Where is
it going to come from?
If it's not going to be from some type
of reclaimed water, why not?
Okay, what will their power source be?
It was mentioned about gas turbines. It
was mentioned about nuclear. We need to
know that because if it's going to be
nuclear, what the heck are we going to
do with all that waste?
You know, we've had
no one has been able to get rid of
nuclear waste. We just can't do it. If
it's going to be gas turbine, well,
guess what? That means that there's
going to be more demand for New Mexico
gas from Farmington and other areas up
there. So, that's going to increase our
rates on natural gas and electricity
from El Paso Electric. Correct.
Um, they're installing batteries so that
they can level load their power
consumption. Okay. We live in the
perfect environment for solar panels.
Why can't they commit to
x% of their electricity is going to come
from solar panels and be stored in their
batteries? It's insane to have just
uh natural gas. And again, I apologize
for my stumbling here.
Again, they mentioned 700 jobs are going
to be created. As someone pointed out,
that's not going to be full-time
permanent jobs. How many permanent jobs
will there be created? And if it's 700,
I apologize for my misunderstanding.
The other thing is, why should we give
any tax incentives to these guys for a
165 billion project?
That just seems obscene. And I'm going
to relinquish my time.
[Applause]
And just to let you know, we do have six
more minutes for public.
Hello, chair, vice chair, and
commissioners. My name is Jose Salana.
I'm a resident of Sunland Park, New
Mexico. I've been fighting this battle.
Uh been attending with the community
members for a while. Um hearing their
concerns and I'm representing them. Um,
as an electrical engineer,
uh, I graduated from NMSU and, uh, being
on a design team, we always have to
have, uh, drawings. They haven't
provided physical drawings. They have
not, uh, they have not done a proposal
and they are they are expected. They
their bid there's no bid according to
him. the guy with the glasses. Oh, he
took them off.
He is saying that it's a predictable
money, predictable
uh proposal. So, it how how are you sure
if it's not going to fail? How are we
sure it's not going to fail? And the
other one is um what what about bids?
Was it out for a bid for the community
for other other companies going out?
What are you guys hiding? is um who else
applied for this? Who else bidded on
this? Uh what is the hurry also? What is
the hurry on all this? There is no
hurry. We can propose we can move it
late for later until we have more
information.
You
look look at look at our data centers
YouTube data centers in Memphis. They're
doing all this damage to the ozone. You
guys are leaving us with all with
landfill. Landfield is back already. The
the power plant right there. The uh
Asarco, we are getting poisoned little
by little. You guys are killing us. And
what about the elderly fixed income? The
fixed income they have. They can't
afford this IRB bond. Help us out. They
you know they they they're not going to
be able to pay that. If you increase
taxes, property taxes, how are they
going to pay? And have you heard about
an electromagnetic poles?
Electromagnetic poles search Google and
uh do your research on that how we are
uh going to be affected on blackouts.
And uh the other one is
I guess that that Gloria Gloria Gomez
she's not here out of all this uh
important meeting. She can't be here.
She can't show the face. She showed up
at the community center asking for uh
questions and concerns of the community.
She hasn't hurt no none of us. She has
she hasn't she hasn't hurt us. She said
she opposed she didn't second the
documents that are missing. Thank you.
Hello, my name is Sus Pera and I'm here
to uh protest against the uh Jupiter
thing there. Um I'm frustrated uh
talking to you guys. Uh you're working
very fast to pass this thing. How about
our drinking water? How come you didn't
work that fast on that? Huh? You want to
do this and and and and fast fast. this
guy is not transparent. He's missing
pages. Uh and and you you're good with
that. And and that's not correct. It
starts off with we the people. You
understand that, sir? We're the ones
that have the rights. Huh? We're the
ones to have the right to stand up here,
clap, yell, whatever. Sir, it is our
first amendment right
to do that
and you're taking
that away from us. Okay? You weren't
prepared to to come here and talk about
this Jupiter plan. You had to go in
there and close session. Now, you could
have went to close session when this was
all over. Okay? But you left your
people, your constituents
waiting here for you to go in there and
and talk amongst yourself.
That's that's very wrong. Now, this
gentleman right here, he he wants you to
sign a paperwork without being
transparent, and he'll tell you, "Oh,
I'm going to be transparent once you
sign where I can start building my
thing."
Is that right?
Is that right? No, it's not. I know all
of you know that it's not right to sign
something that is not transparent from
the first time. Okay?
They should have known what was missing.
They caused all these problems. Okay.
Um, I I'm wondering
who's going to be liable for the next
house that burns down in my community
and because there's no water pressure,
uh, the house burns down. Is that
correct?
No. I'll answer that for you all. It's
not correct. I want change.
It's it's getting to be frustrating to
come in here and tell you all about the
problems going on down there and you
doing nothing and this gentleman comes
in here and you're working so fast that
that
you're not worried about transparency.
Thank you. God bless you.
[Applause]
Okay,
thank you for that. So, it is 12:12.
That was a full hour for the proponent
side of this.
We're going to take a 4m minute break,
switch out, and we're going to do the
full hour of the individuals in favor of
the IRB next.
Mr. Chair, m Mr. Mr. Chair, if I may.
Mr. Chair, if I may,
I'm not sure who came up with the one
hour and it was stated at the beginning,
but we have people that have come here
from all over Donana County. And this is
a very important issue. people that have
come here from Sunland Park.
People that have come here from Sunland
Park, from Donana, from Berino, Laon,
I'm not certain who is represented here,
but if we really want to be a commission
that is transparent and is listening to
these stakeholders, then I must insist
and insist very strongly, Mr. Chair and
fellow commissioners, that we listen to
every person that is here. We have all
day
It's
it's
it's not going to hurt anyone to listen
to everyone who has something to say.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, commissioners. I'll leave it
up to you, Mr. Chair.
Whatever you want to do.
Um, I think it's I think that if we want
to have everyone speak, I think that's
fine. Uh, however, I think we should
give an hour to this group, an hour to
the other group, and then an hour again
to this first group again. So, I think
that way everyone gets an equal amount
of time.
Okay,
I'm good with that.
I think so. We should move to the other
group now, and then once they finish in
their hour, if someone still would like
to speak, you can hang around because
we'll be here.
Okay.
Commissioners, is that okay,
Mr. Chair? Yes, I'm in agreement with
that. But I do think that u give you
guys some time a recess.
Okay. Just to switch it up.
Is that where we're at? Commission.
Yes.
Mr. Chair.
Commissioner.
Mr. Chair.
Okay.
Mr. Chair,
are you just wanting to keep going with
opposition
and Mr. Chair
to to move back and forth? I can I can
see some merit to that,
but I know and I I acknowledge there's
some people that took time off of work
that have been standing in line, okay,
for at least an hour
towards the back. I could see the line
going towards the back. And I don't know
about the rest of you. I have a small
business, but if I'm not there, I'm not
making money.
Okay, we can continue with opposition.
That's fine.
I think it should be Mr. Chair. I I
still think it should be Excuse me. I'm
Excuse me.
Could you get control of the vote
meeting?
Sure. Thank you.
Um I still believe that to be fair uh we
should hear from both uh groups equally.
Okay. And so I would suggest that we get
some pro comments in here for an hour
and then you guys come up and and talk
all you like because we'll be here. All
right. But um I don't think it's I I
think it's a fair way to do it because
everybody gets a chance to say something
and we should hear from both parties and
they and I and I believe if I'm not
mistaken there are a lot of people on
the on that are pro that also been
sitting here and taking off from work
all day in order to be here as well.
Mr. Chairman, I I think I'd support
that. I think just to allow you know I
think there's a fairness to have both
sides as everybody is here present.
Okay.
give us our
two hours as well.
Thank you. But we're gonna we are gonna
Excuse me.
We understand yelling doesn't help
anyone, especially anyone up here making
a decision today. So, what we're going
to do because there's been at least
three commissioners that have agreed to
switching off the hour, we are going to
go ahead and start with an hour on the
in favor of the IRB side. So, those that
are in favor, we're going to take
three minutes, four minutes to switch it
up. So, we'll have these individuals, if
they want to move over to a different
side of the room or they want to find
their seat, we'll bring the individuals
that were waiting for the pro side to
please join us up front, we'll do an
hour as well. We'll do an hour as well.
The exact same thing, three minutes
each. So, sir, when we get back to the
opposition, we'll call you all up. Okay.
Thank you for waiting.
Can Can we take five minutes instead,
Mr. Chair? Sure. Take five minutes.
Okay, everyone, if we can start finding
our seats again, please.
Okay, sure. I'll stand next to the
phone. Okay, everyone, please.
I don't want to go.
Hello.
Okay. Hello.
You're not listening.
Who can whistle? Thank you.
I was like, that works. Okay, everyone.
Thank you for bearing with us while we
did the change up. If you can all find
your seats. Um, thank you for sticking
it out. What we're going to do now is
the exact same thing. Brandy, ready to
go on the timer. We will do a full hour
to It is
12:28 right now. We have the book to
your left.
Please come forward. We'll put three
minutes on and we'll we'll start it out.
All right, sounds good.
All right. Hello, my name is Joseph. Uh,
thank you for the opportunity to speak.
Uh, I'm a high schooler here and I'm a
high schooler here in Los Cusus and I'm
currently taking the computer science
pathway. And why I'm in support of
Project Jupiter is because I think that
the funding well one the funding can end
up helping out the community reinvest
into water treatment and other forms of
of water and help out overall the entire
community. I I don't like how they've
ended up being vague about a lot of
their claims and about a lot of things
and how it feels like we only learn
about this recently. Uh something also
why I'm in support is because of the job
opportunity because we see with
inflation and just the economic
environment recently that it's not
viable uh without a highpaying job to
live and support your family and such.
and I have a family who lives here in
Los Cusus and I want to stay here with
them. So, bringing in young people to
end up helping develop the community is
important to it is important to a city
like Los Cruises so that we can get new
businesses, new places, and generally
bring in people and get and get better
revenue. I think I personally believe
that it would be better if we got up
front more casts or more upfront
timeline at what points we get to cast
and what and how much cast we end up
getting. But I don't believe that it's
directly a poor idea to end up trying to
invest in economics at our current at
our current time. I think it's necessary
if we want to improve our current
infrastructure and end up changing how
we do things.
Uh it's not like we're going to
magically poof into existence a 100
million gallons of water or something.
It's not going to happen like that and
we need to start somewhere. I'm not
exactly in support of how they've ended
up treating treating what I feel like
they should have talked to the community
and help with us make this
understanding. But I do believe that
this cast can shave change lives and
help us. Thank you for having me.
[Applause]
Mr. Mr. Chair, commissioners, my name is
Roseno Nad and I'm the president of
Carpenters Local 1319. I represent
roughly around 1,600 carpenters in the
state of New Mexico, 300 of which do
have an address in Donana County, if not
El Paso. The majority of my workforce
has in the southern part of the state
has been forced to work outside of the
area because there's no work just
available here for them. A lot of the
guys have to go to Phoenix right now
where these data centers are popping up
and where work is booming, if not Texas.
It is not a secret that these data
centers do provide economic development.
It it creates a boom in economic to the
areas that it happens to. We just had a
testimony from the economic development
department for the state of New Mexico
informing you that this is a smart idea,
the thing to do. Look at what happened
to Los Lunas and the benefits that has
happened to that community. The growth
that has happened to that community, the
amount of work that's there, good paying
jobs that provide benefits. Thanks to
House Bill Six that just passed last
year, this IRB bill will now be attached
to prevailing wage. Therefore, we will
have great paying jobs with this
project. Thanks to that House bill, we
need union jobs on this project. People
that will be working on this project are
going to be people from Santa Teresa,
people from Oyana County, people from
Los Cruus, people from Sunland Park. the
workers that are going to be working on
here will be recruited from these
communities because that is the purpose
of projects like this. For far too long,
New Mexico has stood out of the economic
boom that's been happening across the
country with these data centers. We've
been out of the loop for far too long.
We have a huge opportunity right now to
get in that data centers are popping up
in Idaho, Montana, where people would
not even think that they would be
happening there. We're being left out of
the loop. It is a tremendous opportunity
right now that we have. We owe this to
our community. We want to bring our
members back home. We want to open up
our training center again. We had to
close our training center here that we
had on Los Cruuses in 2018 for the lack
of work. And that is not right. The
Carpenters Union have been building New
Mexico since 1899.
We've been around before this place was
a state. We want to continue to build
our community with our community members
and this is a huge opportunity that we
have right now. Please vote in favor of
this today. We need this to go through
in order to provide these jobs for our
community. And just on the last point, I
know I mean a little off the subject,
but the irony that people speak in
opposition and they're saying against
AI, but yet they're up here with AI
getting their information and using it
to use their speech. I mean, the
redundancy of it, it's crazy. Maybe they
educated them. You know, we spoke about
how they're going, they they've done a
great job at saying how they're going to
control the water and what's happening
with them. Maybe let them know how much
faster the internet speed might be, and
they might be in favor of it then. All
right. Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Juanos Certo.
With great respect for the elected
authorities of Donana County and his
residents, I'm here on behalf of the
government of Siraarees. I'm here simply
to say that Siruarees supports the
actions, projects, and proposals that
emerge from exercises like this one,
which today puts on the table a very
attractive investment and has the
necessary economic support for its
implementation.
We are competing with the world and a
dollar center at this magnitude which
houses a large large artificial
intelligence project essentally as an
asset that due to this relevance places
us in a unique position due to the
convenience and this cap capabilities.
It is necessary that the aspects of the
interests that may arise in this
community be fully met. But we must
understand that the technologies
proposed by these projects are
state-of-the-art and will bring greater
benefits to both nations. We cannot
compromise anyone's future. But neither
can we overlook everyone's future. I
mean here I I'm mean everyone because we
are a region that concentrates it
strength on the union or relevant actors
at the strength of its institutions.
Just to conclude I want to tell that you
the major cruer square support a project
that is relevant to our region and that
benefits everyone. Thank you very much.
[Applause]
Hi, nice to see you again and with all
respect. Um, I'm going to talk in
Spanish because it's my language. But
first, I'm going to present. My name is
Tanya Maldonado. I am from economic
development of Siad Huarees in name of
Kus Perez. This is our position.
Protoeres.
[Music]
Claudia. Shamoch.
Fore
Mexaore.
[Music]
much.
[Applause]
Good morning, Chairman Hernandez,
commissioners. My name is Alan DS.
I would like Don Ana County to benefit
from the economic benefits that Project
Jupiter will bring to the county, but
I'm concerned about the water usage of
the 700 megawws of electric generators
that Project Jupiter will install to
power the data center. The memorandum of
understanding section 341 says Jupiter
will use an average of 20,000 gallons of
water per day and they describe the
usage as quote domestic needs of
employees unquote.
We were just told that the generation
will use an additional 20,000 gallons a
day and I'd like to be confident that
that number is correct.
But if Jupiter's generations generators
use water at the same rate as El Paso
Electric's newest gas generators that
serve New Mexico, the water usage for
generation could be in the ballpark of 2
and a half million gallons a day. This
is more than a hundred times the 20,000
gallons
um that we were the Jupiter team has
suggested.
During the next 30 days when you have
the opportunity to go through the
documents on this situation,
please ensure that the 40,000 gallons
per day average usage, that's 20,000
gallons for domestic, 20,000 gallons for
the generation.
um is all inclusive and that a limit on
water usage is legally enforcable.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Morning. Uh I wasn't planning on saying
anything today. I showed up for this to
see what was going to happen. It's been
very interesting. And I commend the
commissioners for running a very open
meeting, being thoughtful in their
deliberations and so forth. And also the
opposition. I appreciate their comments.
It seems as though everybody's getting
to say their say, which is right. And I
I have a couple comments I'd like to say
in in support of the project. Uh I grew
up in Los Cruus. I went to school here,
junior high, high school, went to
university here. got a very very very
fine education
uh at this university could compete with
anybody education worldwide and I and
I've worked all over the world and uh
it's a shame though is I had to leave to
to earn a living and it broke my heart.
I was homesick for 30 years. I moved
back after I retired. My children don't
live here for that reason. They can't
get a good job to live. My grandchildren
don't live here. I I came home and I
just sometimes New Mexicans are their
worst enemy. It's like we love it here
so much we don't want anything to
change. Well, not everything is great
here, guys. You know, young people
cannot make a decent living to support a
family and and grow and and so this is a
you know, maybe everything about this
project is not necessarily perfect. I
don't know if it is. I haven't studied
it at that length, but we got to do
something in the right direction to just
not fear the future to manage it. And I
see responsible people looking at this
carefully, including the opposition. I
want all of those voices. I want
everybody's eyes on it and make a good
project and and build something for the
future that thinks economically can be
better in this area. And that's all I
got to say. Thank you.
[Applause]
Um, hello commissioners. Thank you for
letting me speak and the rest of us have
having a chance to speak too. I'm Chris
Ericson. I'm a professor of economics at
NMSU and I'm the director of the center
for border economic development. I'm
here however in uh to express my own
opinions. I'm not representing the
university or the border regions. In
fact, I didn't even tell my department
head I was coming today. Um and um what
I have done is I and my colleagues uh
including Craner Wingham at uh at
Arrowhead Center and Lucinda Gav Vargas
who's who's my colleague in the center
for border economic development have
done a study of the impact economic
impact of uh the project based on the
IRB. Now I noticed this morning in the
presentation by the uh by Mr. Romer from
uh EED that the numbers have changed a
little bit. So this is this is not this
some of the numbers in the study are a
little bit off. Um we will change that
when we get a chance once we see the
final numbers. However, the employment
numbers are accurate. I don't think
anything has changed would affect the
employment numbers. And I'd like to
indicate put tell you that the uh based
on the IRB uh in the first year of
construction and we we we use an
assumption of uh three years of
construction. I've heard some people say
five. I'm not sure what the right number
is. I know maybe nobody knows yet. uh
but with three years of construction con
employment direct jobs in the first year
of construction will be 200 2710
um total jobs will be 4,16
uh by total jobs I mean direct and
indirect as well as the direct jobs
that's the jobs from people who are
working for suppliers jobs who um whose
jobs depend on spending by employees of
of of the project uh in the second year,
it's just short of 5,000. And then um
7600 total. And um in the third year, we
have uh 3,300 jobs in in the
construction project, 7,500
uh in in total, direct, indirect, and uh
induced. And then finally um once opt is
operating that as has been mentioned
will be uh something like 800 or 850
employees. I think 800 is what's
actually in the IRB application. Um and
u although I think that number maybe
maybe adjust up a little bit recently.
Um and that will generate just short of
2,000 permanent jobs in the county. Now
these jobs will be above average by the
standards of the county. um not that an
approximately average for the nation. So
we're we are talking about decent good
jobs. Some will be very well-paying,
some will not be as well paid. And I
want to thank you for your time and I
appreciate the the stress and effort
you're going through right now. Thanks,
Mr. Chair. If I may, I'm just going to
get the numbers down. He was talking too
fast.
Okay. Do you have a copy of the numbers
for vice chair?
Thank you.
very quickly.
Good afternoon. Uh my name is Jim Hurst.
Um I have a question for the opposition.
What part of closed loop cooling system
do you not understand?
A closed loop cooling system is the kind
of system you have in your car, provided
it's one of those 21st century cars that
has internal combustion. You put water
in your radiator. It doesn't matter how
far, how fast you drive, you don't have
to put more coolant into it. It's a
sealed system. That's how they're going
to cool the data center. So everything
about water and being afraid of using up
all of our water and all that stuff is
just a lot of misinformation.
These t-shirts you're wearing that say
you uh this this data center is a threat
to water are simply misinformation.
And this data has been available for the
last month. The opposition knows it as
well as anyone and they still keep
repeating it.
Ignore all the nonsense about water.
This is not a threat to water. The water
has been resolved by a uh uh the threat
to water has been resolved by a coolant
system
that doesn't use water.
It doesn't evaporate water to cool the
data center.
Thank you very much.
[Applause]
Mr. Chair, members of the commission,
Mr. Manager, um thank you for the
opportunity to speak before you. Um
commissioner, my condolences. Uh my name
is Monica Torres. I'm the chancellor of
the NMSU community colleges and that
includes being serving as the president
of Donana Community College. I have a
dual statement. One from the NMSU system
and then more specific information from
DACC. Institutions of higher education
should be resources for their
communities. The statements today are
made in that spirit. New Mexico State
University is committed to the future of
Southern New Mexico. We know that
lasting prosperity comes from quality,
highwage jobs that allow families to
thrive and keep talent in our region. As
the state's land grant university, we
are preparing the workforce to seize
these opportunities. And we bring
world-class expertise in engineering,
data science, energy, and environmental
research to ensure growth is both
innovative and sustainable.
DACC's mission as part of the NMSU
system is of course largely focused on
workforce development. What we do is a
resource for local local and regional
workforces. That resource includes
approximately 100 certificates and 50
associate degrees that prepare students
for the workforce. Certificates and
degrees including construction, water,
and computer technologies. In addition,
DACC regularly works with business and
industry to customize workforce training
in short nonredit formats to more
flexibly meet the workforce needs. And
finally, as you know, we have three
locations in the southern part of the
county, including Sunland Park, which is
in close proximity to the proposed site.
In the last two years, we have slowly
been r ramping up a plan to renovate and
expand uh that center.
DACCC's mission is to be a responsive
and accessible learning centered
community college that supports a
diverse community of learners pursuing
academic and workforce paths. Should the
commission move Project Jupiter forward,
DACC would in line with its mission help
develop and support the workforce
needed. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good morning, Mr. Chair, commissioners,
members of the public. My name is Cole
Montgomery and I'm a 12th grader at
Centennial High School. I've been in the
engineering pathway since I was in sixth
grade and just this past summer, I
interned through the Donana Countyy's
program with the NMSU College of
Engineering Aggie Innovation Space.
I plan to study engineering when I go
into college. What you decide here
matters not just for today, but for the
future my classmates and I will inherit.
As someone who becomes eligible to vote
next year, I support Project Jupiter.
Turning this away may make people feel
comfortable in their decisions, but to
me, all that really does is say to other
companies that we are not the type of
community that can support their
operations,
that we're not built for them. There's a
chance that turning this away will
permanently negatively affect our
economy.
For my generation, this is more than an
incentive vote. It's a new identity for
our region. Outside of New Mexico, it
feels like we are known for Green Chili,
Breaking Bad, and the atomic bomb.
And honestly, to me, it's exhausting.
I want us to be known for more. And I
know we can be known for more.
This project and others like it can be
our brand. I I want to travel and for
people to be jealous that I am from New
Mexico.
I want this to be an opportunity to
reshape how New Mexico is understood.
And let me say, witnessing this today, I
can see the amount of passion and
resilience that everyone here has. And I
know that our community is is built to
support these type of oper operations.
So, I urge you support Project Jupiter
and let's make it the start of our
rebrand. Thank you for your time.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair,
commissioners, and members of the
public. My name is Lisa Lopez, and I'm a
senior at Centennial High School. And
for the past three years, I've been part
of the engineering pathway. In the last
two summers, I've worked through the
Donana County summer internship program
at the NMSU College of ASUS learning
games lab. I'm especially interested in
media, and I'm beyond excited about the
ways AI will shape that industry.
Going to college is important to me
because I'll be the first in my
immediate family to do so. As someone
who becomes eligible to vote next year,
I'm here today to support Project
Jupiter. I understand there are concerns
about water, electricity, and the pace
of this process. But I want to make sure
you also hear from students like me
because this decision affects my
generation directly. The reality is that
many of my friends are already planning
to leave New Mexico after graduation.
They don't feel like there will be
opportunities here. I don't want to have
to decide between leaving my family and
searching for a successful career. A
project like this could change that. It
offers not just hundreds of jobs now,
but the potential for more jobs to
follow in the future. As part of the
Mexican community here in Donana County,
I see every day how important jobs are
to families. This project represents a
chance to keep young people like me and
my friends here at home where we want to
be while building our futures.
I ask you to think about my generation
and the generations that come after us
when you vote. For many of us,
your decision today will help determine
whether we can build our futures in New
Mexico or whether we'll have to leave to
find them elsewhere. Thank you.
[Applause]
Debbie Moore, president and CEO of the
Gerard Los Cru's Chamber of Commerce.
Before I read my statement, you just saw
two real reasons why the internship
program works and that we should all be
grateful for. Honorable members of the
Diana County Commission, on behalf of
the board of directors of the Greater
Los Cruises Chamber of Commerce, we are
writing to express our strong
endorsement and support for Project
Jupiter. Our support for this project is
based on its significant potential to
positively impact Donana County. It has
the potential to attract advanced
manufacturing and will bring a robust
supplier ecosystem to our region
supporting the development of a re
digital campus. Project Jupiter is
poised to create long-term regional
growth and opportunity. It stands and
will stand as the largest private
foundational investment in the history
of our our wonderful state. Most
importantly, this project, have you
heard will generate thousands of
construction and permanent jobs,
offering competitive salaries and
benefits. These jobs have a mult
multiplier effect boosting local
businesses, generating additional
economic activity and elevating the
entire region. Furthermore, Project
Jupiter will establish a strong pipeline
of career opportunities, ensuring that
current and future generations of our
best and brightest can build their
futures right here in Diana County. As
community and business leaders committed
to economic prog progress, we support
these initiatives that drive long-term
growth, broaden economic opportunity,
and enhance the well-being of the people
of Diana County. respectively submitted.
Rico Gonzalez, 2025 chair of the board
of directors. Kevin Murhe, 2026 chair
board of directors. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of
the commission. Uh my name is Davin
Lopez. I'm president and CEO of Msia
Valley Economic Development Alliance.
And on behalf of our organization and
our board of directors, we fully support
Project Jupiter. As a longtime economic
developer, I believe this project
represents one of the most responsible
and impactful opportunities that our
region has ever seen. First, Project
Jupiter will bring significant new
revenues to our community through the
responsible use of IRBs that you've
heard about today, which has been a
proven tool for industry attraction that
we have utilized on dozens of occasions.
This project is committing well over
$300 million in new revenue and this is
on land that is currently unproductive
today. Second, the company has
demonstrated a strong commitment to
addressing water concerns by using a
closed loop system. The facility will
use approximately 20,000 gallons per
day, far less than most projects we
typically see. In addition, the company
is pledging $50 million in investment to
strengthen our drinking water system, a
significant contribution that will serve
our community long into the future.
My concern today is the president we
precedent we would set if this project
were rejected on the basis of such a
modest level of water use. Doing so
would likely discourage even midsize
manufacturers and other companies to
consider Donana County for their future
operations, many of whom require at
least this amount of water, if not more,
and could effectively close the door on
future economic growth in our region.
Finally, and perhaps most important,
Project Jupiter is going to create real
job opportunities for our residents. 750
permanent jobs and 200 construction jobs
over the over its two to three year
period of growth. You've heard this
today. For far too long, we've heard
that our children must leave the region
and even the state to find meaningful
careers. This project is a chance to
change that trajectory by keeping talent
and opportunity here at home. As a de
economic developer has been doing this
for 20 years in Donana County, I've seen
thousands of projects and believe this
to be true. This is a once in a
generation opportunity for us. So we
encourage you to vote yes. Thank you
[Applause]
distinguished panel. My name is JC Cruz.
I'm a member of the labors union and I'm
here just to express my sentiments on
this project.
I on all my career
I travel literally every single month,
every single year out of the state just
to get a better
livelihood.
Uh now that I'm the representative for
the labors union members here in Donana
Las Cruz
on behalf of them I just want to express
that I would like to see all these
people
local people
to give them the opportunity to enjoy
their families every single day.
So I'm in favor of this project. Your
consideration will be greatly
appreciated.
Thank you much.
[Applause]
Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the
commission. My name is Daryl Yetto. I'm
the business manager for the labors
union local 16. We represent labors and
construction across the state of New
Mexico, West Texas, and the Navajo
Nation. We are in strong support of this
project
um for a number of reasons. Um I think
uh aside from the the economic impact
that this is going to have, it's going
to be a huge positive economic impact
for residents of this area. Issues that
we've seen uh for our members have been
having to leave this the area to work
either out of town or out of state to be
able to afford to live
in Donana
and surrounding areas. We'd like to be
able to bring those folks back here.
We
I can't I can't express to you how much
um projects of this magnitude impact
folks in our industry.
We've had a lot of people reference the
Los Lunes data center
and I can honestly tell you we've with
that data center we've been able to take
day one apprentices from
from their first hour to becoming
journeymen. We've taken folks that have
uh worked twothirds of their career to
actual retirement.
Projects like this have huge impacts for
for residents of the of the local areas.
I would urge you to please pass this.
You have an opportunity to to to create
something incredible for folks of this
area and we would love to continue that
partnership with uh all the community
out here. So, thank you very much.
[Applause]
Good afternoon. Thank you for allowing
me to speak today. My name is Terry
Morrison. I am a fifth generation New
Mexican. We are agriculture. I come from
a farming family. Very proud of our
state. Very proud to be a MSU graduate
as well. Um, I do have to say I've owned
various small businesses in New Mexico
and um feel like after 30 years of
committing myself to business in New
Mexico, I feel like I am a dedicated
community member. I appreciate the
concerns and share in a commitment to
ensuring that any project in our
community is pursued with transparency,
fairness, and long-term responsibility.
That said, we must also weigh the
broader reality. New Mexico has fallen
behind in attracting sustainable future
oriented industries. At some point, we
have to grow up as a state and accept
that if we want to survive, let alone
thrive, we cannot afford to turn away
every opportunity because it's not
perfectly presented or because the
process feels uncomfortable. This
project, unlike many others, comes with
significant advantages. The applicants
are paying upfront, building their own
infrastructure, giving back to our
community, and leaving taxpayers with
very little cost exposure. Few projects
arrive with such a structure. Most
communities are begging for
opportunities like this. We're fortunate
to even be considered. The idea of
leaving this project on the table
because it's imperfect in process
ignores the urgent truth. New Mexico
needs a win. We cannot continue to push
away industry then wonder why our
children leave the state for better
opportunities along with transparency
and accountability. We must be
pragmatic. Rejecting this opportunity
risk sending a message that we are not
serious about economic growth, not
serious about attracting innovation and
not serious about charting a new course
for our state. The choice isn't between
perfection and disaster. It's between
stagnation and forward motion. If we
keep waiting for the perfect suitor, we
may wait forever. This is the time to
engage constructively, hold the
applicants accountable where needed, but
ultimately recognize that projects like
this are part of how we secure our
future. New Mexico needs to show we are
ready to compete, not retreat. In times
we show that we care. And it's time that
we show we care about New Mexico and our
community to take bold positive steps
forward rather to than continuing to
fall further behind. The responsibility
to shape a better future rests with us.
Thank you for your time.
[Applause]
Good afternoon. I think um Chairman
Hernandez, commit commissioners, uh it's
an honor to be here today. Uh my name is
Brian Condit. I'm executive director of
the New Mexico Building Construction
Trades Council. I by trade and training
was an electrician for many years. As
you can see, I'm too old for that. Uh we
represent the 15 construction crafts
that envelope uh the con construction
industries. Electricians, iron workers,
boiler makers, painters, laborers. Uh
thanks for bringing all my friends
together on this important vote you're
having today. Uh I'm here to talk about
the opportunities that we see in this.
No economic development worth its salt
is not going to have some level of
controversy. uh as we view this and have
watched it uh progress forward, uh we we
see we see uh a partnership and a
teamwork coming together between the
county, the county staffs, the
community, and the rest of New Mexico.
Uh especially poignant is the fact that
this is one of the highest unemployment
regions in the state of New Mexico. It
is a little perplexing to us that the
opponents of this project would
disregard the opportunities that a
project like this provides. We uh for
the most part have have built a meta
project on in Los Lunis uh Intel. We've
seen the benefits and the community
projects or the community growth in uh
areas that use industrial revenue bonds
as a tool to create opportunities for
the people that have been speaking about
their children leaving. Uh I'll tell you
uh an important point to the industrial
revenue bond and it was alluded to
earlier. the legislature and the
governor saw fit to pass and sign a a
law that requires the payment of the
public works minimum wage act. So, we're
not going to be having uh wages that are
far far below the poverty level which
many of us in some of our communities uh
have have to live with. These are solid
well-paying construction projects. The
last thing I'd like to talk about is the
apprenticeship opportunities. The
project uh is scheduled to be five, six,
seven, eight years. Uh in reality, that
will span for years and years and years.
From 1980 when Intel was at 15,000
people, that's now well over 100,000
people. We have had construction people
on that side from the beginning of it
all the way through the end of it. So if
if if it's it's never really complete
because you'll see modifications,
renovations, improvements in water and
energy uh across the board. So it is
never been my experience that we see a
meaningful economic development.
[Applause]
Chair, commissioners, thank you very
much. My name is Presiano Matthew
Gonzalez. I am the business manager of
the Heat and Frost Insulators. Uh I
represent over 250 active and retired
members throughout southern Colorado,
all New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas. I'm
also the vice president in Mexico
building trades. I am here today to tell
you a story about myself. Uh back in
1984,
I was sentenced to prison in in here in
Santa Fe, New Mexico. Like most
children, without opportunity,
it creates chaos. And when there's
chaos, crimeridden
thrives. We can build prisons or we can
build data centers. But if there's
opportunity for your children,
opportunity for people to come out of
the poverty, this will change lives. 36
years later, I am here today to tell you
apprenticeship changed my life.
apprenticeship, an opportunity where
people came together, gave me
mentorship, showed me pride and how to
act and how to behave. It changed my
life. It changed my family's life. I
want to tell you, you can change a lot
of people's lives. We're talking 2500
construction jobs. There's going to be
over 600 new apprentices we're going to
be pulling from this community to man
this project. This is a huge opportunity
for your area. We want to make sure that
we're involved. We're here. We wanted
you to know that we want to train your
children. We want to make sure that they
get those good paying jobs, would have
benefits, and we want you to be able to
sign on to this. Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, commissioners. Uh, my
name is Aaron Casillas. I'm the
executive director of Mycelia
Foundation, a Las Cruisesbased nonprofit
and Microsoft Tech Park Tech Park fellow
organization. Over the past three years,
we've provided free and lowcost internet
to 150 underserved households and
trained hundreds of patient parents in
digital skills, including AI here in
Donana County. We're currently
connecting an additional 650 student
households. And by the end of 2026,
we'll have connected 800 underserved
households with free and lowcost
broadband across southern New Mexico.
We're also installing Wi-Fi in public
parks to expand community access. The
digital divide is real in our region.
Many rural families lack reliable
internet,
limiting their children's educational
prospects and their ability to
participate in our digital economy.
Project Jupiter represents more than
infrastructure. It's a catalyst for
regional technology development. Having
advanced data center infrastructure
nearby creates pathways for
organizations like ours to expand our
mission. better connectivity options,
workforce development partnerships, and
the kind of high-tech ecosystems that
our young people here instead of leaving
for opportunities elsewhere.
At recent community meetings, Project
Jupiter leadership expressed genuine
interest in partnering with lo local
organizations. This isn't just about
jobs. It's about building a foundation
for long-term digital equity and
economic development in southern New
Mexico. I encourage you to vote yes on
the IRB. This is an opportunity to
position our region at the forefront of
the digital future. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon.
Um my name is Robert Lyles. I'm a
principal consultant with Trinity
Consultants. We're the firm assisting
project Jupiter with their micro grid
power generation air permit
applications.
I have an MS degree in atmospheric
science with a specialty in climate.
I've been doing air quality permitting,
dispersion modeling, and compliance
auditing for over 35 years for a variety
of industries, mostly in New Mexico,
Texas, and Colorado throughout the
Rockies. And I understand that projects
projects like this raise big questions.
We've been talking about water mostly,
but I thought I'd spend a couple minutes
here on air. So Trinity's role is to be
an unbiased consultant and adviser to
ensure that the air permit application
is clear and technically sound
and fully compliant with New Mexico
environmental department requirements.
One of our responsibilities is also to
advise clients on how to reduce
emissions and meet regulatory
requirements.
What's notable notable here is that
Project Jupiter has gone up beyond
what's typically required and they've
been communicative the whole way.
They've been forthright. They've been
responsive to our recommendations.
Uh they've gone above and beyond on the
types of controls that they're
implementing without us having to
recommend it. For example, they're
installing selective catalytic reduction
STR to cut nitrogen oxide emissions by
about 90%.
Installing oxidation catalysts to reduce
carbon monoxide and formaldahhide by
roughly 88%.
And the micro grid will utilize as we've
heard simple cycle gas turb turbines
which are very water efficient and
energy efficient.
So to put that in perspective by the way
is a typical combined cycle plant would
use up to 300 gallons of water per
megawatt hour, 1100 gallons per megawatt
hour of coal plant. So it's a very
efficient process. They're also
installing continuous emissions
monitoring systems to continually track
the emissions of NOx and CO. So there'll
be full accountability on ongoing basis
with the NMED. And all of that, I can
say firsthand is very expensive
commitment to air quality compliance.
And and as far as the NMED goes, they're
going to do a thorough technical and a
regulatory review of this application,
including air dispersion modeling. We've
done preliminary air dispersion modeling
on this application on this process and
is well below the ambient air quality
standards presently. So well below the
standards so no risk when it comes to
the EPA criteria pollutants that are
regulated by the NMED.
So all that's good. Uh so as Borderlex
wrapping thought here very quickly as
Borderlex works towards carbon
neutrality this initial step and again
I'm unbiased. I'm a neutral party here.
I'm just a consultant, but this initial
step makes a lot of sense using simple
cycled gas turbines to get us to the
next step here of net zero by 2045.
Thank you,
Mr. Chair.
[Applause]
There's the handout.
Do you have uh the vice chair is asking
if you have that data available to her.
It will be available as part of the
application submitted to N.
Okay,
very good. Good afternoon, ladies and
gentlemen. My name is Mary and first of
all, I want to make sure everyone knows
I'm affiliated with all kinds of groups
in town. But, you know, I'm here for me.
I am a retired computer engineer and
also I spent my second part of my career
as a vocational teacher in a program
that helped place students in the next
future in the networking arena. Uh I
want to uh make a comment about the uh
transparency and the mistrust of
government. Let's get over this now. I
don't know too many people based on the
politics of what's happened in the last
election, few election cycles that
totally and completely trust you as a
politician. I have my issues too. Now I
also know I live in a blue state. And
that being said means if you lean on the
we'll say lean to the blue side. I'm
going to trust you a little more than
maybe if you lean to the other side. I'm
going to give you that. Now I'm saying
this because I believe you should be our
oversight committee for this project and
I'm going to trust that you will do
that. I know we've got some engineering
mentality people here and some good
business background people on our
commission. Now the next thing I want to
talk about is bring up the water issue.
Everybody's talking about tens and 20s
and 20,000 gallons of water here and
there. What I want to know is I've
watched for the last 40 years. Why is
nothing being done about the Wickl
Valley the Messia Valley Bolson that we
are standing on right now? There is tons
of water that we do not access and we
need to and I'm not sure. I believe it's
down to the county that will make that
project come true. I know that it's an
expensive process to create a
dissalinization system. I also believe
it's going to be corporate partners that
helps us because I don't think we're
going to get a check from Washington
anytime soon to take care of our
infrastructure or anything else. Now,
that being said, um
my calculations based on my math
background, I'm trying to figure it out.
I've come up with about 211 billion
gallons of possible portable good
drinkable water coming from that Bolson
area. That's it's a big amount. We're
talking a long-term project. We also I
also know a desalinization unit is
currently in El Paso. If you haven't
seen one, go visit. They have tours.
It's a magical place where we extract
water, we clean it, we put it in the
pipes, and send it to my kitchen sink. I
know that we've had some issues with the
Sunland Park in Santa Teresa uh in the
last few years due to some problems.
That's an expensive fix. I want to thank
the company called Stack Infrastructure.
That's actually the company that will be
building our build pro part of this bill
project. They put out a a a public
service announcement two days ago
telling us that they want to contribute
a $50 million sum to help make that
Mary Mary
Mary
Hello Mary
talk to Stephen Lopez.
Yeah.
Chair,
is this mic on?
Hello. I'll I'll stand closer.
Commissioners, Mr. Chair, Mr. manager.
Um, Mr. Chapo, sorry for your loss. Um,
my name is Royal Jones. I'm a lifelong
member of this or li lifelong person
who's lived in this area. I grew up 30
miles south of here. Um, I have business
in Sunland. I have business in Santa
Teresa. I have business in VTO, Burino,
and many businesses in Los Cusus. I'm
one of the largest employers in in New
Mexico, Ordona County, and El Paso
County. I want to correct a couple of
things that I heard today about um
Borderlex being biased. Borderlex is
actually I joined the Border Plex years
ago because I realized that as us the
small guys from Donana County, we have a
chance to be with El Paso and Wattis
many more people than we have and they
give us an equal vote. They bring
businesses all the time to this area and
we reject them somehow. I don't know who
we are, whether it's the county or the
city or whoever. But I will tell you
also the leader of the bio the
borderlex. I'm goofy because I'm hungry.
I get stupid when I'm I get way low
blood sugar. But anyway, John Barela who
runs that is from here. He grew up in
Messia. He's all about New Mexico and
Donana County. He gets so frustrated
whenever we bring these they bring these
businesses and then somehow we lose them
to Texas or to some other state.
Uh
I'm sorry losing told you I get goofy
when I'm hungry. So
businesses up here which we need. I'm
also a member of the Chamber of Commerce
here. And just to correct that, there
has been no money given to the Lasus
Chamber of Commerce. Not $1.7 million.
Not anything. Thank you. Sweet. She
knows I need something. Anyway, um so
that's that's another thing that and
everybody has their own ideas. I really
feel for you guys. We did elect you.
This is a tough thing for you guys to
do. And we trust that you're going to do
the right thing, but the right thing for
this community is more jobs, more We
can't continue to be last in everything
in New Mexico. We are last at
everything. We got to be first. We need
jobs. I talked to two different mothers
here while waiting in line. They're so
sad because as their kids graduate from
Mexico State, they're not going to stay
here. There's no place that they think
they can get a job. So, I will I'll not
I could continue all day, especially if
I wasn't so hungry. But, um,
water, we know that the problem with
water, as you know, I've helped you,
I've helped all you guys with bringing
pumps in to to get the pump the well in
Santa Teresa working on the weekend,
helping you move water on a weekend to
get to the people that had no water. But
that is a problem with KURA, which you
guys control. And I would say make this
Jupiter donate to CRUA. Make them help
you that you just need all you need is
money and apparently we're going to have
money. We're going to create all this
money. That's one thing you could insist
that they do. But when it comes to
water, I have a bofuel plant in West El
Paso.
Chairman, Mr. Commissioners, I'm honored
to be here. Thank you. I'm Alan Russell.
I'm a uh business owner in Santa Teresa.
Had been involved in Santa Teresa, the
border crossing in that area for a
number of years, totaling about 40. I
grew up on a small family farm and by
culture that means I'm somewhat an
environmentalist. We care about our
community, our farmland, and I've been
passionate about keeping big industry
out of our valley where uh the farmland
is prevalent, and that industry should
be focused up in the vacant land on the
plateau, which this finally we are
seeing. Um, bear in mind I I've known
the individual that owns this large
piece of land
in Dona County all the way from Santa
down to the border for many years. And
finally, this is the opportunity for
there to be an acre an anchor tenant. An
anchor tenant like in a shopping center.
You put in a big village store and all
the others come. This has a chance. Not
just this project, but all of these
other opportunities are going to come
because this is here. Big industry. We
should be uh careful. We should make
sure we hold them accountable. Uh I
personally have dug into the backgrounds
of the people who are responsible for
this project. I've talked to them. I've
vetted them. And I will tell you after
getting to know them through this
process, I'm happy to invite them into
my home anytime and spend time with her.
They're credible. They're honest people
and they're going to do the right thing.
A little drift here. There's a global
shift occurring because of the uh
geopolitical elements in our world and
that deals with China, the Pacific Rim,
with Northern Europe and all of that is
pushing industry into North America to
service the largest free market in the
world which is the United States.
We here in Santa Teresa, Diana County
have a geographic advantage over any
other place. We've got a port. We got a
railard. We've got geographic advantage.
And we can attract this business, clean
business, and leverage off of this
opportunity. It's the day in the sun for
Donanna County. Let's not miss the
chance to seize the moment.
Bless you all. Thank you for your time.
[Applause]
Let me let me say one more thing. There
was a room.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, commissioners. Um, my
name is Uriela Podaka and I represent
the painters and alli trades across New
Mexico. We're talking about painters,
drywall finishers, glazers, floor
layers, and alli trades who are ready to
work. I'm here because project Jupiter
is not just another project. It's a once
in a generation transfer New Mexico.
Thousands of goodaying jobs, billions
and investment, and the chance to grow
our economy in ways we have talked about
for years are on the line. Across the
country, hundreds of data centers are
being built. States are competing for
them. And most are saying yes. If New
Mexico says no, these opportunities
won't vanish. They will go straight to
Arizona, Texas, or Colorado. and we will
be left watching from the sidelines
while our neighbors take the jobs, the
growth, and the future that should have
been ours. We cannot afford to let that
happen. Saying no means turning our
backs on workers who need jobs, families
who need stability, and young people who
want a reason to stay in New Mexico
instead of leaving. This is our moment
to prove that New Mexico is open for
business, ready to grow, and ready to
compete. rejecting this project would be
a mistake. Our communities will pay for
decades. And I hear a lot of people here
say that there's students and and the
communities are are leaving, but what
about those people that cannot afford to
leave? What about those people that
stay, right? What do they do? There's
people that don't want to go to college.
Um
we often see it in the news. Um juvenile
crime is out of control. Um, we're one
of the last in education. Um, what
opportunities are we providing for these
kids that don't want to go to college?
Um,
I think this is the answer. Um, and I I
really encourage you to support this
project. Um, I was a troubled kid out of
high school. I didn't know what I wanted
to do with my life. I didn't want to go
to college. And I was fortunate to work
at Meta. Um, I worked there for 5 years.
I was able to purchase my home. I got
married. I I was able to support my
wife, my my kids, and there's a lot of
people out here in this community that
needs that opportunity, and I think we
need to look out for them. Thank you.
[Applause]
And you will be the last speaker for the
hour for pro and then we'll do it all
over again. So, okay.
Go ahead, sir.
Uh, Mr. Chairman, uh, commission
members, thank you very much. Uh, my
name is Tom Clay. I'm a resident of
Donana County. I live here. I'm I'm
representing myself. I'm representing
myself. And I'm representing my own
thoughts and opinions. Uh, I'm a
husband. I'm a father. I'm a hobby
farmer. And in addition to all that, I'm
a mechanical engineer. Uh, I didn't go
to New Mexico State University. Please
don't hold that against me. But uh I've
built facilities like this. I've been in
uh commercial and industrial
construction for over 15 years. I've
designed these facilities. I've built
these facilities. Uh the design intent
that's represented in theou represents
what I would call best-in-class
sustainability.
uh the targets that are mentioned here I
believe
uh represent an opportunity for us to
grow sustainably and responsibility
responsibly and uh as a father and as a
member of this community I I love to see
the economic impact and the positive
economic impact that can come from a
facility like this. So, with that being
said, I I fully support the IRB and uh
with where we live in the world today
and with all of the confusion and
misinformation out there. I'm an
informed community member, I'd invite
anybody who wants to to come and speak
with me and I'd love to share the
knowledge that I have and be an
opportunity to educate people who maybe
don't understand or maybe don't have the
training and experience that I have had.
And so, uh, with that being said, I I'd
really love any of you who have
questions to come and speak with me
because I've seen it firsthand and I do
believe that the intent of thisou and
that it will be delivered upon will be a
responsible and sustainable project for
us for now and for many many years to
come. Thank you.
[Applause]
Okay, we we will exercise my first
amendment right to speak.
Sir, we
Okay. Thank you so much, sir.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
I Thank you. So, what we're going to do,
sir, I I'm not trying to be
disrespectful, but we are going to do
the next group for the cons.
Okay. Sir, thank you, sir. sir.
Thank you, sir. So, we're going to start
with the next group that are um in
opposition to the IRB. Once again, we're
going to do three minutes on the clock
each. If you can please come up. We're
going to start here in a moment. These
are for people that have not spoken. If
you have spoken.
Yes, sir.
No, sir.
Sir, we've done for anyone that has
spoken for their three minutes. You're
not going to speak again on this topic.
So, please just join us in front. Ma'am,
you're up. Welcome.
Hello.
Oh, I apologize. I apologize. I am so
sorry. Vice Chair is asking for a couple
minutes. I apologize.
Okay, everyone, if you can take your
seats, please, and
lower your voices, we will continue on.
Um,
okay. So, ma'am, are you ready?
Sir, are you okay with her going? I know
that you were next to the line. Are you
You're good. Okay. So once again we have
Brandy ready.
Thank you. Thank you ma'am. Go ahead.
Hello. Uh my name is Irene Rodriguez.
I'm a resident from Southern Park. I was
born there. I was raised there and I
still live there. I'm 64 years old. So
that means I've been there 64 years old.
I seen a lot of stuff going on but not
as what I'm seeing right now with the
arsenic water with the Kura the city.
It's a chaos. And right now I was
hearing you guys and you know what I
said? Enough is enough. We residents
from Southern Park, Santa Teresa are
tired of seeing all these chaos going
on. Really, please don't take advantage
of this. I heard the pros and cons. I'm
listening to the the pros here that they
want they want him so much. Bring them
to Lasuses. It's a big city. Southern
Park is really growing. Please, we don't
need we don't know the the outcomes from
there. Please don't take the Southern
Park city council footsteps. They knew
the water was bad and they renew the
contract knowing that the water was
poisoning for us. So, please don't take
those footsteps. Don't don't copy them.
Please. And thank you for standing up
right now. I appreciate Thank you.
[Applause]
ready. Oh, sorry. Uh, good afternoon,
commissioners. Uh, thank you for
listening to me and I just have a quick
comments. Uh, I heard from the well,
first of all, my name is Lorenzo Vescas
from Sunland Park and I'd like to
comment on the president of the comp
carpenters union that said that there
were going to be a lot of jobs. Well,
they are going to be, but once the
project is completed, the jobs are going
to disappear. And I'd like to make a
comment. When the IT 10 project was
being built in El Paso, the company that
was doing it was based in Phoenix. And
guess what? Most of the workers were
from Phoenix. The only one for an
apostle were the guys that were the
guards in the afternoon and the night
guards. So there is no guarantee that
the jobs are going to come to right
here. And the students have said that
they're planning to go to a university.
Well, that's great. But uh how do we
know that the data center is going to
hire local graduate from our
universities? How do we know that
they're not going to bring their own
people from another other places? They
have companies. And I I like to for them
to think on that.
And uh I would like to remind all of you
commissioners that you are going to be
up for reelection and people are going
to be reminded of how you voted today.
[Applause]
So, so please
consider your vote. And I'd like to to
thank uh Commissioner Susana Chaparo for
her support. Thank you very much. And
thank you for hearing me.
[Applause]
Hi. Um good afternoon. uh Lorraine
Urkidi and um I'm a community activist
and um putting efforts in restorative
efforts in the city of Southernland
Park. We're trying to beautify the
space. We're trying to create new green
spaces and we're trying to clean the
water. Um, I I just would like to for
you guys to envision
um what would occur down the line if
a mother is trying to get their child
ready for school, opens up the faucet to
to make a a meal and there isn't any
water coming out of the faucet. Um just
like what's happening with our friends
in central Texas. Um there was a meta
data center that was placed near um near
a family that owned a farm for many
years and um it since became viral on
Instagram. So when this topic came
about, that's what I envision, someone
getting ready for work or getting ready
to go to school and not being able to
take a bath. Um at this point in those
areas, we're already seeing outages.
um someone that has not lived or
advocated among the community would not
know this information unless they were
directly um advocating for that
particular community. Um also other
research shows that um these people that
hire um talent from data centers usually
look elsewhere. Um maybe even
transporting from other countries and
that's something that even Trump has
brought about and JD Vance in um recent
reports. So I just want to um you guys
to envision um the aspects or the u
effects that will happen in the future
and I would like a moment of silence uh
for those who have passed away through
the water poisoning of the arsenic and
many who have died from cancer in that
particular region. Um we've already been
hit hard. Uh we're trying to come back
resilient and restore the community, not
tear it apart. Um, let's keep our
families together and a moment of
silence for those who can't stand up and
be here today.
Thank you so much for your time and I
hope you have a great evening.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, churmers. Uh my name is
Myra Mos. I'm a community health worker.
Uh I'm here to speak on behalf of the
Sanono Park and Santa Teresa
communities. They they talk about a lot
of money, but what about the
environment?
Uh we work closely with the community
conducting service to find out what
their needs are. What we have here from
the majority of the community is that
mainly need clean water, hospitals and
better roads, not a data center. The
community is concerned about the damage
this data center will cause.
It's a shameful that people have to
travel 30, 40 miles to get to a hospital
or see a specialist, but they will have
a data center right around the corner
that will only cause damage and
environment pollution.
I'm sorry. We ask you please to think
about what is really uh beneficial for
the community, not just for a few
people.
Please vote no for project Jupiter and I
apologize for contradicting Mr. Lenon
but is a lie that the 83% of the
community he mentioned is in a favor
and that's proof
by the service we conduct by speaking
directly with the community house by
house door by door. Thank you so much.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, county commissioners and
chair.
Uh, Vice Chair Chaparo, I'm very sorry
for your loss. Uh, in Zouri tradition in
northern New Mexico, they say when it
rains, um, that an ancestor has passed
to the other side. So when I woke up
this morning uh and saw rain and heard
the news today, I thought of your father
and I'm very sorry. Um and may he rest
in peace.
Uh my name is Esparansa and I went to
the project Jupiter community meetings
with an earnest intention to learn and
receive information. I asked um STAX
expert on on water specifically about
the clues loop loop cooling system um at
the meeting in Sunland Park and I asked
if the system would need to be refilled
and what chemicals it would need to be
treated with. He reinterpreted my
question by simply stating that no
chemicals would be released into the
environment and the only chemical he
named was chlorine.
This did not answer either of my
questions.
These meetings were more akin to a
propaganda event than they were an
earnest um effort to dialogue with Dona
County residents.
The EDDD presentation
um we heard earlier did not take into
account water that would be needed for
the construction of this uh
and it didn't take into account um water
that would be needed to start this
fossil fuel extraction site. Let's stop
calling it a micro grid. It's a fossil
fuel extraction site.
Those numbers haven't been provided to
the public either.
I'm also curious about how much money
we'd get without the IRB in tax revenue.
So, I'm curious. I'm curious. I want to
learn. I want to have this information
and I'm I'm participating in an earnest
effort to to do that. Um I'm also deeply
concerned about the democracy uh here.
When I learned that Jennifer Bradfut,
the lead, I guess moderator at these
community meetings, wasn't um also uh
part of the water access treatment
alliance, uh I became extremely um
concerned. Why is an Exxon mobile
attorney leading these public community
meetings?
water, which Bad Food is also a part of,
recently petitioned the Water Quality
Control Commission to revise its
previous regulation prohibiting the
reuse or discharge of waste water. The
way I see it, Project Jupiter benefits
from this compromised vote in terms of
sourcing its water. If Project Jupiter
relies on a weakened democracy of the
Water Quality Control Commission, then
where does the Donana County Commission
stand as an independent governing body?
Can we trust your impartial vote today?
To the public, I believe our true wealth
as a community is clean air and water.
The land isn't vacant. You just don't
care about the land that already exists
there. The very life that sustains us.
Water is life.
[Applause]
Jupiter.
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[Applause]
Good afternoon, commissioners. I My name
is Phil Simpson and I'm a retired
engineer and resident of Los Cusus. I
have degrees in mechanical engineering,
electrical and engineering, and
economics.
Uh, I have been intervening and
testifying in El Paso Electric cases
before the public regulation commission
since 2017.
The greatest impact on the community
will come from the carbon dioxide
emitted by the natural gas power plant
required to run this facility, not from
the data center itself. The smallest
number I've heard for the gas plant is
700 megawws. That size would emit over
2.7 million metric tons of carbon
dioxide per year, which is more than El
Paso Electric emits from New Mexico and
Texas. It's more than three times as
much as Los Cusus emits from all
sources, including transportation,
buildings, and industry. The planned
future buildout of up to seven gigawatts
of natural gas capacity would multiply
that greenhouse gas impact by 10.
So how do we balance the economic
benefit of this project versus the
environmental harm it will cause?
The EPA publishes a number for
conducting costbenefit analysis of
policies that affect greenhouse gas
emissions. And for carbon dioxide, that
number is $130 per metric ton.
Over 10 years, the environmental harm
works out to be over $10 billion, almost
30 times as much as the $360 million the
county would receive. And that is just
for the smaller initial 700 megawatt gas
plant. The project has made vague
statements about renewable energy in the
future, but the county needs to insist
on real commitments to solar, wind, or
geothermal energy before approving this
environmentally disastrous plan.
So, how might we quantify that
commitment? How how would we put it in
writing? I believe the easiest way to do
that is to uh in addition to providing
transparency about the water used and
pollution pollution emitted by the
plant, they must satisfy the energy
transition act percentages, commit to
comply with 50% zerocarbon energy by
2030, 80% by 2040, 100% by 2045
without using the new loopholes that
define gas energy for a micro grid as
zerocarbon.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Hi. Uh my name is Nisha Matsovich. I'm
Los Cusus resident. Um I'm kind of
confused because I feel like we're here.
You all are here because we voted you to
be here. We approve of you to be here
and you have received overwhelming
information from the public that we do
not approve with this. And in fact, you
are choosing to side with millionaires
and billionaires who are coming into our
community and you're acting like
temporarily embarrassed millionaires as
if you can relate to them as if they see
you as equals. They will never see our
community as one of them. We do not we
don't we don't have anything to do with
them. And that's why they build these
establishments in poor communities like
ours. So I want you to know that we you
are here to represent us. And I know an
overwhelming amount of people have told
you, "No, we do not want this." We flyer
an event at First Friday Fine Arts Flea
Market two Fridays ago. I spoke with
hundreds of people that night. 50% of
them didn't even know that this was
happening. The other 50% 100% were in
disapproval of this program of the day
AI center. You all took out a f full
page newsletter. How do we make what
what what does Donana want to feel
healthy? We want your input. We want you
guys to message us and down here you
solicit for information.
This is what matters. The nation's
leading scientific advisory board, the
Nationalmies of Sciences, Engineering,
and Medicine issued a report this week
concluding that carbon dioxide, methane,
other plant warming greenhouse gases are
threatening human health. Project
Jupiter is proposing to admit 2 million
metric tons of CO2 equivalent. two
million metric tons, more than El Paso
electric emissions for all of Texas and
New Mexico in 2024.
Over three times as much as the 859,000
metric ton CO2 emitted in 2023 from Los
Cusus of So we're asking to build a
project that's going to double the
amount of pollution that this area
creates. How does that make sense to
anybody?
The health impacts because you care.
The health impacts of climate change
include mental health, nutrition, immune
health, antimicrobial resistance, kidney
disease, and negative pregnancy related
outcomes. Groups such as older adults,
people with pre-existing health
conditions or multiple chronic diseases,
and outdoor workers are
disproportionately susceptible to
climate associated health effects. The
risk you all are talking about wanting
economic jobs. The risks that your
grandchildren are going to face within
the first five years of COPD and asthma
increase by 30%. You want your grandkids
to be sick and have asthma just for a
job that's going to last for three
years. This is a long-term legacy. You
will leave Dona Anna County if you
approve Project Jupiter.
[Applause]
Mr. Chair, members of the commission,
um, and the public, thank you all for
being here. Uh, before I begin, Madame
Vice Chair, I just want to offer you my
condolences. Um, I'm keeping you in my
thoughts. Um, my name is Josh Wood. Oh,
sorry. My name is Josh Wood and I'm the
director of governmental affairs for
ASMSU which is the student government at
New Mexico State University. I was sent
here on behalf of student body president
Z to fulfill my duties and
responsibilities as the leaison between
the NMSU student body uh between the
city, county, state, and federal
officials. We're seeing a huge increase
in NMSU student participation in county
politics specifically in the long term.
And that's great. Um, earlier this week
on Tuesday, we had National Voter
Registration Day and we had over a
hundred students register to vote.
That's amazing. Um, classically, college
students are looked at as transient,
meaning they stay here for four years
and then they leave. But as you could
see in this room today, also outside, a
lot of our students care about the
long-term effects in the county.
We ask you to pay attention to the
voices of our students both for and
against of this project. In the years
that I've spent here at New Mexico State
University, I've not seen this much
outpouring of opinions from the student
body, which is a good sign. Um, I think
this is a good sign for the state of the
democracy in the county and on campus at
New Mexico State. Finally, ASNU,
we'd like to encourage all NMSU students
to respectfully express their opinions
as that is the cornerstone of our
political process. Let this statement
serve as a reminder that your voice and
your lives matter. And uh go Aggies.
Thank you.
Joshua, what's your last name?
Wood. I'm sorry. Uh Wood. W.
Thank you guy. You didn't say that this
one.
Sorry. Josh Wood. Appreciate y'all.
Thank you.
Uh, commissioners, thank you so much for
taking the time and I really appreciate
you also taking the additional
opportunity to hear everybody out. Um,
equally, there are a lot of people that
came here from far away and especially
from the Santa Teresa Sunland Park area,
which is the most uh going to be the
most affected by this. Um, vice chair,
my sympathies to you. I also lost my
father, so my heart goes out to you. Um,
first I just wanted to remind you all
that New Mexico, which I'm sure you
already know, has the smallest land to
water ratio out of all 50 states. So,
the fact that we're even bringing this
project to New Mexico is kind of silly.
I I know Border Plex is always going to
continue to bring projects um to that
area, but the fact that they're bringing
this project specifically is what gives
us the most concern. Um, I ask you to
please consider um the amount of water
use. I know that they've made it sound
like reasonable numbers. Um, I'm a field
ecologist and I got to see firsthand the
effects of um the border wall being
built in Arizona. They built wells and
they pulled up water to mix the concrete
for the border wall. Just that alone
dropped the water table in Arizona and
depleted natural springs around the area
on either side of the border, putting
both of those sides of the border
communities at risk. Um because of this,
I can absolutely see that happening to
our state as well. Um I think as far as
all the economic um like the jobs and
all the growth, that's all going to
happen in El Paso County. Like we all
know that that's not going to be in
Donana County. They may be giving um
money to us, but all that job growth,
all that economic growth, that's going
to go to El Paso. Let's be honest about
that. Um the other thing I wanted to
mention is um valley fever. I don't know
if you guys are familiar with that, but
that's something um that's a fungal
spore that's usually erupted out from
dirt usually during construction and
things like that. Um, when they do
construction, this is why they actually
have to pour water on top of that dust
to kind of keep that dust level. So,
you're considering water usage, the
amount of water they're already using,
plus the amount of the water that
they're going to use for construction.
And then even before that, the amount of
water that they're using just to lay the
dirt down so that they can start
constructing. All of these things are
detrimental to the area, detrimental to
our water supply. Um, I urge each and
every one of you, please, this is a
very, very important thing that you guys
are voting on. I ask you to please see
the importance of that. Um, because we
all vote and we're hoping that we can
either um, praise and rise up our
commissioners that stand behind us or
um, vote the other ones that don't out.
Um, so I ask that you please, please
consider your decisions today. Don't
take this lightly. Thank you.
[Applause]
Hello, my name is Marne Nixon. Um, that
might be familiar to some of you
commissioners. Thank you for being here.
I appreciate you um listening to all of
us today.
I'm here as a private citizen and I'm
speaking for myself.
I found out about Project Jupiter via
Facebook and the only reason I clicked
on the article was because I thought it
was fake. I hadn't heard anything about
it. I hadn't seen any big billboards,
any big community meetings, y'all come
and let's talk.
Uh, as I dug in and learned that it was
actually real, I used a well-written,
wellressearched form letter
and added my comments, questions
regarding environmental
assessments and requesting due diligence
on all of your parts.
And for that, I was doxed, I had to look
that up, by my county commissioner
for exercising my first amendment rights
to ask questions of my elected
officials.
I would not be here probably for that.
So, in some ways, you did me a favor
because I'm learning that we have a
Flint, Michigan situation in Sunland
Park, which again, I am not an avid
social media user and it's getting
harder and harder to access local
information.
So, I'm in solidarity with that.
I wanted to speak to some of the
science. Desalinization has been talked
about for decades back in the 90s in El
Paso. And why has it never been fully
operational?
Because it's expensive.
Because it is a carbon admitter. Again,
there were so many better scientists
than than I could ever think to be.
Thank you for bringing those to the
table. Those are facts.
I say in my limited amount of time is
what is the long-term oversight for
Project Jupiter?
At best,
they'll do what they say they'll do. At
worst,
who are the lawyers who are going to
represent the citizens as we fight for
our rights all the way up to 2050? I'm,
you know, I don't know that I'm going to
be here as a cancer survivor, right? My
time, my time on this earth can be very
short or very long.
But who is going to fight into 2050?
That's what I want to know. And I bring
in my last seconds reality foothills
near
[Applause]
Hello, my name is Jamie Monroy. I live
in Santa Cla and I'm just going to speak
to some experiences I had over my life
concerning the water in ST. I remember
being a kid in my dad's house and the
water being white. I remember showering
and my skin feeling slimy. I remembering
not being able to drink the faucet or
being warned not to get any water from
there. We can't do it. This is an Estie
and um Sunland Park. The water has not
been fixed. It's a huge problem and it
needs to be addressed. The fact that it
hasn't been addressed and that they're
saying that it won't be addressed unless
Project Jupiter is passed is very
concerning and very troubling. Why
haven't we already addressed it? And why
is it only going to be addressed once we
get money like from a millionaires? This
shouldn't be a thing. We shouldn't have
to worry about this. And the water
quality will only get worse with project
Jupiter. Um, we are going to pay for
this project with our blood, with the
blood of the people in ST and with the
blood of the people in Selenum Park. And
I just want you to have that in mind.
Thank you so much.
[Applause]
Hello. This is my third time giving
public comment. I find the courage to do
this again because I'm trying to use my
voice for the community members of Santa
Teresa and Sunen Park. Um, once again,
we work tightly with this Colonia. We do
serve them. We do do outreach and we do
hear their voices. And I always tell
them the importance of voting is does
matter. And they always said it doesn't
because no one listens to us. I kind of
see their frustration uh over the years.
I can only imagine them being
overlooked. They are the real South New
Mexico that has been forgotten. A lot of
big opportunities have presented
themselves and none of them succeeded
because they're going to take away from
small local businesses as much as I
think this will too. I don't see the
small local businesses succeeding from
this. And I just want to say again, I'm
not someone that's really experienced
with the environment, but from what I
know, I know this is going to cause a
lot of pollution to the generators. And
I talked to a few people that are
bidding for this position to work on
there. And I asked if they knew anything
about water. Um, not one person I I ran
into. They're just saying, "Take this
deal. We're going to go to Sakoro." And
I'm like, "Wow." Like that that really
showed character. Some of them might not
be from here anymore. maybe grew up here
but no longer are here. But that being
said, I'm still here. I plan on staying
here. I don't plan on leaving. But
hearing
the people's frustration and not being
looked into their opinion like if we
didn't matter is what hurts us. I feel
like you guys can almost look at the
numbers and that would speak the truth.
I feel like the lies that we're
listening to, we're not listening to. I
I feel like you guys aren't hearing us.
Uh, I feel like you guys could have done
so much more. Like you could have bought
a NFL team with this type of money,
maybe 23 of them. I don't know. There's
other ways to go around getting $165
billion. I'm sorry again. I just want
you guys to vote no. Please, please vote
no. You guys already turned down to put
it on hold to get more information. We
just want you guys to be transparent.
And again, Southern Park has a a
chamber. How come no one over there is
getting any uh, you know, benefici? It's
their city. And again, there is
nonprofits that work out in Sullen Park
like ourselves. My name is Leo Lopez. I
work for Empowerment Congress. We are a
nonprofit that serves a community out
there. And we're not getting none of
these resources to to serve our
community. We're doing it with our
integrity. We're doing our best to
expose the truth. And I hope you guys
see the truth with all the facts that
we're putting right in front of you
guys. Again, thank you for this time.
[Applause]
Uh hello chair, commission. My name is
Lucas H. Hearnden. I'm a resident here
in Donana County. Um I am I'm here
mostly to express solidarity and
gratitude for all of the voices who've
come out today to speak up for their
communities. Um I've been doing this a
long time now. I started coming to
county commission meetings in 2012 when
we were working on the Oregon Mountains
Desert Peaks National Monument. Um and
back then I stood in solidarity with
Representative Nathan Small um as we
attempted to preserve land for land's
sake. And so um it is interesting to see
him sitting during this portion when we
are opposing something along the same
lines and
see see him line up with those
supporting this. Now I find that deeply
concerning. Um, I I I
want to think about what happens in New
Mexico as a state that has been
extracted since since before it was
technically a state, but since it was
before part of these United States, um,
we
we are known, if you ask people outside
of the state, uh, for the balloons,
right? The balloon fiesta is now the
Exxon Mobile Balloon Fiesta.
Albuquerque has the state fair. The
state fair is now the Chevron state
fair.
This state is bought and sold by
extractionist industries. It always has
been. And there are people here who've
been fighting and fighting and fighting
and fighting to make sure that doesn't
happen in our community.
When you all talk about desalination
plants to produce good, you know,
drinking water for for our neighbors, I
can support that. But that's not what
we're talking about. We're talking about
commodifying the one resource that we
cannot live without in an attempt to
create a market for it. You are
attempting to take water that currently
has no value and make it valuable so
that you can sell it to somebody for
use.
You are commodifying our literal
lifeblood.
And in my last 45 seconds, I just want
to mention because nobody has said it
out loud yet. Desalination plants, the
root word there is desalination.
Desaltting. All of the salt that comes
out of this product
has to go somewhere too. And either we
end up with another environmental impact
that we haven't talked about. Nobody
said anything about that. or we're
creating another market revenue stream
for whoever actually ends up owning it
to make more money off of our resources
and our lifeblood.
Unacceptable.
[Applause]
Hi there. My name is Rebecca Egan. Um,
and I'm a teacher and I'm here to speak
on behalf of my students um, who can't
be here. Um, I feel that it's really
important when making decisions like
this to take into account what kind of
world are we building for our children.
When I I hear you when you say that
Project Jupiter has made commitments to
bringing jobs, money into our community
and their promises about limited
environmental impacts. Um, and I agree
this could lead to brighter futures for
our children. However, there is a very
big difference between a commitment, a
word that I've seen thrown around a lot
today, and a binding legal contract,
which I assume is embedded within that
500page document.
So, how could I know which of these
commitments are actually legal
agreements when they're, like I said, in
that 500page document? I'm a teacher. I
don't have a lot of spare time and this
time frame has not given me sufficient
um time to look at it myself and
determine the facts and the truth. In
good conscience, you must slow down or
at least table this discussion until the
public is better informed about the
facts and the details of Project
Jupiter. We are gambling the futures of
our children on vague commitments. And
we deserve clarity.
We deserve legally binding assurances
that our land will not be poisoned. Our
air will not be polluted. We deserve
time to read these legal agreements
ourselves because our children depend on
the strength and legal protections
ensured by these documents.
Furthermore, this is kind of an aside.
I'd like to share the findings of a 2024
paper that predicts nationally that data
centers will directly contribute to
600,000
asthma related cases that are
anticipated to cost 20 billion in health
care costs. And which communities do you
think will be affected by the fallout of
Project Jupiter's impact? I work with
children with asthma, so please believe
me when I say that this is a
life-threatening condition. Um, is that
really the legacy that you want to leave
in this community? Is that the legacy
you want to leave for your children,
your grandchildren, your neighbors?
Personally, I don't want that for any
child. I don't want to see a rise in the
number of students who come to my class
with a life-threatening condition.
You are our representatives and you are
supposed to be the voice of the people
on these matters.
Please listen to the people um
especially the people in the communities
that are directly impacted by this
decision. I'm not asking for this to
completely stop. I'm just asking for you
guys to move slower. Get the facts. Get
the promises solid. Please bring
transparency to the table. In your rush,
you are breaking the trust and the faith
of your constituents that you will stand
by them.
For the sake of future generations,
please be careful about the futures with
this community. Please vote no or at
least to table this decision until more.
Uh good afternoon. Uh David Mooney,
president of district 5, represented by
Commissioner Sanchez. Uh currently
missing work and paid to be here today.
Uh, I oppose this project on a fiscal,
environmental, practical, philosophical,
and moral grounds. Uh, this past week, I
was part of a small in-person canvasing
effort opposing these IRBs. Obviously,
very rushed, missed the weekend, too,
but we were able to get 13 volunteer
hours in the field. Uh, we had 421
conversations. Uh, 367 people were
residents of the county. 350 of those
took action. Uh, that's around 27
actions per volunteer hour. uh we heard
83% earlier. Uh this canvasing showed uh
right around 95% opposed. So it I think
it does kind of depend how you ask the
question.
Um also uh 20 people we talked to were
interested in taking further political
action or learning about future
volunteer efforts. Uh these are really
boring numbers to most people, but if
anyone listening finds these numbers
exciting and you want to run maybe a
recall effort or a few years from now a
primary campaign, please reach out. Uh
I'd love nothing more than to talk more
about this data uh and how I can help
with any future efforts. Uh I think
these numbers show a lot of promise for
campaigns like this here. Uh Mr. Chair,
I after a very little bit of research,
it looks like your primary race was very
close. Um with that, I would like
Uh I would like to just end with a quick
quote uh from my commissioner uh Sanchez
who I did vote for last year when they
were running for reelection in district
5. They were asked about their views on
financial transparency and government
accountability. Commissioner Sanch
answered they are essential.
[Applause]
Hello, my name is Zach Eaggan. Um, I was
born and raised here in Los Cusus. I'm
part of district 3. Thank you all for
being here. Thank you all for also
taking the time to listen to everybody.
Um, and thank you so much um for
advocating for us. I really really
appreciate that. Um, I don't think
there's too much more that I can say
that hasn't been said already, but there
are a few things that I would like to
emphasize
that I think is being glossed over by
not only our um, commissioners, but also
by the project Jupiter representatives
as well. And one of those biggest things
is the tertiary water costs of this
project. They mention a lot about the
closed system. Awesome. Love the closed
system.
Um,
however,
uh, let me pull up pull it up really
quick.
Um, according to a federal report,
uh, the indirect water consumption of
data centers in the United States was
roughly 211 billion gallons in 2023.
That's not the data center itself.
That's all of the support systems and
the construction that went into building
the data center. So, we keep hearing
about this closed water system, but
we're not talking about all of the other
water uses that go into this project.
And I think that that needs to be
examined. And then those numbers need to
be provided to the public because um
again, just to reemphasize, I think that
this is going way too fast. We have not
gotten all the data that we need and the
data that we are being provided is being
provided by project Jupiter. That is
like
that is like the perpetrator of a crime
investigating themselves.
We need independent data. We need data
from our county, from our people who are
giving us real numbers, who are giving
us real information.
Um, and I think again this was
emphasized by them this morning saying
83% of their the people they interviewed
were um in favor of this project. We
don't know what questions they asked. We
don't know what they were saying when
they called. It could very easily be,
hey, are you pro job? Well, project
Jupiter is bringing jobs. You're pro
project Jupiter, right? So, we don't
know what the information we're getting
is accurate. We don't know what's going
on. We need real accurate information.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Good morning. Good morning,
commissioners. My name is Tyler Valadez
and I'm a teacher in the community.
Firstly, thank you, Commissioner Chapo,
for uh attempting to table this issue
and my condolences to your family. Uh, I
sincerely hope you've all approached
Project Jupiter with the public's best
interest in mind and also hope you have
not attended this meeting with your
decision already made. I hope you all
have an open mind. One quick point
before my main argument. I think it's a
misrepresentation of our community's
opinion on this issue to give each side
the same amount of time. Based on my
conversations uh with community members
and based on the urgency of the public
today, this is not a 50/50 issue. So why
should both sides get the same amount of
time? To my main point, corporations and
especially corporations that are willing
to spend $165 billion on an AI training
facility act only in favor of the
maximum amount of profit possible. They
operate on a model of exponential
increases in their quarterly profits.
That means that everything takes a
backseat to profits.
everything, including handshake
agreements, and most importantly of all,
people, humans, and life. Corporations
like Stack and Borderlex will burn the
future down if it means an increase in
quarterly profits. It should give you
pause to hear that because yes, it's
crazy. We can't trust a company with our
precious resources if their only goal is
an increase in quarterly profits over
literally everything else. That means
they'll lie to you about hiring
preferences. They will lie about how
much of our resources they will use and
they will lie about the impact on the
environment because remember for them
it's profit over everything. I'm
wondering too if they've given you any
projections on the profits they will
earn. I assure you the county will take
a net loss on this project.
It will be a significant loss in
potential tax revenue if they're willing
to spend that kind of money here. They
see us as the biggest suckers of all the
communities they've considered. Why
would you take a deal that's better for
better for them than it is for us?
Remember, it's always profits first and
last for these people. Nothing else. A
vote against this project signals that
you believe in people over profits. And
a vote for Project Jupiter is a vote for
profits over people. One last point. I
find it strange that taking a brief
pause on this project would cause them
to leave. I thought they wanted to
invest in our community. The answer is
that of course they don't want to invest
in our community. They wouldn't want
this eyesore power suck in their
community. So now they're putting it in
ours.
[Applause]
Why can't we just build something fun
like a smoothie place? This AI data
facility is just going to scrape the
internet and look and make profiles on
us. And um I just don't think it's very
good. People over profits.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, commissioners. Um
chairman, uh my name is Aurelia Alvarez
Nelson.
I'm fourth generation
valley resident. Uh, it doesn't make me
special, but it does make me have really
deep deep roots and emotional feelings
for this part of the world.
I am an elder, so I don't know how many
years I have left to live here in the
valley.
And I could just be home in my recliner
eating chocolates. What do I care what
happens in 20 years? I'm not going to be
here. But I do care. There are lots and
lots of people coming after me.
And I feel it's important for me to
stand up here and say what I can to help
protect their future.
So my concerns have been voiced many,
many, many times.
Yes, we need jobs. This isn't a this
isn't we people who say no, we we don't
want jobs. Let's just all be poor. We're
the poorest county in the state. We're
probably one of the poorest counties in
the country.
So my first question
as a poor county,
how are we going to pay for this?
What does that make sense? How much is
the county going to be responsible
monetarily? I don't know. I don't know
the answer to that question because I
don't have any facts. But I'm wondering
because there's a deja vu here for me
because there has been a previous
commission who promised lots of things.
A company came into town promising jobs,
increased tourism, money, money, money.
It was a spaceport.
And here we are. We're still paying for
it. But, you know, luckily, we're only
paying for it in money. We're not paying
for it in health. And people have made
the point.
We are people coming after us and your
children and your grandchildren are
going to be paying a price of health
and you know how much how good is money
if you don't have your health? Who's
going to be able to do the jobs? Who's
going to be able to work if we are all
if they are all ill?
This isn't about
it's about the future. It's about lives.
It's not a Yes, we all need jobs. My
goodness. I left. I was gone for 12
years. I came back
because this is where my heart is. But
not everybody can do that. I have two
children who live out of state.
[Applause]
Hello, good afternoon. My name is
Annette Morales and I am a concerned
citizen. Um,
let me preface this by saying I'm not
opposed to the concept of the AI data
center in southern New Mexico. However,
I have reservations about the particular
data center proposal, these applicants,
and the process involved.
If this is the public's first chance to
provide input and and it's framed as
take it or leave it, it may uh hinder
productive engagement. Presenting the
project with endorsements from most
elected officials can reinforce the
public perceptions that political power
remains in the hands of very few. and we
the citizens have to take it or leave
it.
This is a concern because Mr. appear
with all due respect to you, the public,
us concerned citizens just were aware of
this project maybe 3 4 weeks ago if that
when El Paso Electric has been working
with
Borderlex Digital for two years now on
an infrastructure utility infrastructure
and we barely found out about it. Some
of you claim, commissioners, county
commissioners claimed that they barely
found out the same time we did when on
record in the August meeting. Some of
you said that you have known about this
for four months now.
But according to the most recent article
by Heath Hasserman, the commission was
given a draft agreement totaling 700
several hundred pages on Monday 9:1525
at the same time the public saw them.
Those a agreements were not clearly
finalized. Some still have draft
watermarks in the background. Others
have blank pages.
We understand and appreciate the request
for delay. County attorney and I'm
reading from Heath Hasserman's article.
County Attorney uh Carrie Neil Neil told
me Tuesday, if we delay the vote, we
will lose the option to be a part of
this project. In essence, a delay is the
same as voting no because the companies
will go elsewhere. Not true. A concerned
citizen did a deep dive in the
applications submitted on the behalf of
Borderlex Digital andor Stacks to the
state of Wyoming in Minnesota. unless
they have organized under different
LLC's in those states. No applications
for any data centers have been submitted
by Project Jupiter, Borderlex Digital,
or Stack Infrastructure in the
affiliated LLC's listed on the New
Mexico Secretary of State's website.
the companies that are listed in the
border borderlex digital and stack
infrastructure agreements with the NM
NMSU or New Mexico State Secretary of
State. Yucka Growth Infrastructure
not registered on the New Mexico
Secretary of State's website LLC.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Hi,
my name is Jasmine Sharp and I drove 45
minutes to get here from my son's
daycare in Santa Teresa.
I am so thankful for Empowerment
Congress for informing me about this
information regarding my son. And if
you've ever had a 2-year-old, your job
is to protect them because they do not
protect their lives at this age. And so
when I see everyone sitting up here, I
know you have families and I know you
love this state and I know you love this
county and I know everybody in this room
does and we're all supporting democracy
here.
That's not the question. The question
is, have you done your due diligence to
look through this documentation to make
sure it's not a threat to our community?
And if you haven't had enough time to do
that,
do so. You have the time. The business
will put the threat on you to get it
done as quickly as possible. That's how
business works. I operate five
businesses here in the county. Five
businesses that have been I don't own
them, but they've been standing for over
40 years. And I'll tell you what I've
learned about business is it's the heat
that brings the decision. And you do not
have to fold or make a decision under
pressure. You can take your time and
look at this information and make an
educated decision. And that's all I'm
asking of you today is take that time
and think of the future. Think of your
own families. Because I know I drove
here, showed up late, but when I saw
that flyer, I was driving 85 or 90 maybe
on the 10 and a cop was trying to get me
and I said, "No, no, not today." So, you
know, I got behind the semi-truck
safely. Um,
but I know we all need to be here and we
need to hear each other out. And I
appreciate you for listening to us and
giving this this extra time to speak
because that's what this is about is
democracy and we all know there's a
fight for democracy and free speech. So,
thank you.
[Applause]
Hello commissioners. Um, yes. I just
want to thank you for letting everybody
here on both sides speak because that's
the right thing to do. I do not come
here today as a resident of Dona Anna. I
used to live here. Beautiful county. I'm
speaking today as a resident of New
Mexico.
They brought up the example the center
in Los Lunis. That's great. Population
did get up by 350%.
But what they didn't say was that the
water usage has increased it by 385%
over the past five years. They didn't
want to say that number. All this talk
about young people in the future. I
don't know. I counted three young people
speaking in support of this project um
about NMSU. I'd rather listen to the
young students that are doing these
things, doing the work on the ground,
not the ones at the top, the
institutions. Um,
for those speaking in support, I feel
like we've just heard the same thing
over and over. Um, jobs, economy,
economic growth. Has anyone done this
research, looked at the numbers? Yes,
it's true. There are data centers
popping up all over the country. That is
true. Making all the exact same promises
that we have been hearing. And I would
like you to take a guess at how you
think that turned out for the
communities over 10 years. How do you
think it turned out? Yeah, look it up.
The answer is not good. All of those
communities have gotten screwed over.
You can look it up. Like people have
been saying over and over, if this is so
great, so amazing, what is there to
hide? I just don't understand. Why on
earth did this project try to get
sneaked past community
commissioners as a government body?
You're telling people the community
you'll get all the answers. Do all the
research. Why are you answering
constituents question using materials
created by this corporation the one
entity that has the most to gain from
this saying oh we're going to use this
brackish water. But from what I last
heard, all of a sudden a desalination
plant is not involved at all. I'm just
we're so confused. What is it? The jobs
numbers did change. Back in February, it
was a thousand plus permanent jobs. Now
it's 750. The largest data centers in
the country only employ about 200 at
most. And 40% of those are concentrated
in four states in the country. The water
numbers 2,000 20,000 that is a miracle.
It was going to be millions a day.
Closed loop. It's not going to be
refilled. Also impossible. Water
evaporates. That is a fact. Especially
under heat. Even if all the promises are
true, it's a bad deal. You'll be selling
out communities long term. The benefit
is not worth it. At what cost? At what
cost? Thank you.
[Applause]
Lorraine Viegas independent. I just want
to start by giving thanks to spirit who
which guided us all here. It's important
that we keep our connection to spirit
strong because there's a lot of people
involved with this project that want us
connected in different ways. And how is
that? Could they conduct us in different
ways through advanced materials such as
graphing for example that is used in um
carbon capture, water dissalination,
weather modification and it is an
advanced material that's a conductor
that can be connected to the blockchain
where everything can be tracked and
measured including human behavior.
And um
it's very telling that there's ways to
give everybody a laptop, but there's
still no water. So, it's clear that what
the what the connectivity is about. And
um
there was a gentleman who mentioned our
cell phones. You know, this is kind of
old. I can leave this at home or run it
over with my truck. I went to my carrier
and asked to have this connected. In
Midland, Texas, there's currently
recommissioned um military jets that are
spraying nano satellites for tracking
and measuring and connecting everything
to the internet of bodies, the internet
of um things
where everything will be on blockchain
including digital ID.
So
what you're who are you going to choose
today? Venture capitalist, big tech and
uh
hedge fund billionaires. I know Vanguard
is backing Blue Al, which is backing
stack. So are you going to choose
venture capitalists or the people who
elected you?
I also urge everybody to research
bioenfo Congo biodigital convergence
digital twins the internet of bodies and
I never consented to any of this and I
guess if you're going to be profiting um
by collecting data off of literally
everything I guess the least you can do
is provide them a job
bless everybody my condolences
[Applause]
commission
um want to start us off on a note of
gratitude um for her extending public
comment so that everyone who has
something to say has a space to say it.
Um I also appreciate the full 3 minutes
on public comment. Um last time I was
commenting in front of the commission it
was only 2 minutes.
Sorry I'm shaking a little bit. It's
cold standing in the line y'all. I don't
know if folks realize that. Um, but you
know, as others have said, there's not
more about the the talking points of
this project that I can say. The water,
the AI, the jobs. Um, what I'm really
wondering about is you all. Um, and how
it feels to sit hearing hours of public
comment when you've already decided.
What is that like? Do you just kind of
let your eyes glaze over? just like
check your phone, tough it out.
[Applause]
And I wonder what it would feel like to
change your mind because it's not too
late. And we hear that many of you are
already decided to vote yes for this.
So, what would it be like to change your
mind and listen to community and act
with community instead of this company?
[Applause]
Have you considered that as an option,
Commissioner Sanchez?
Have you considered changing your mind?
Commissioner Reynolds,
my commissioner, Shel Joe Hernandez,
I'm counting on you to not let me and
the rest of our community down. and the
front line and fence line communities
that have been having water um
disparities
to not let us down. And it's tempting
because we have these big scary lawyers
behind us, right? Who have been in
y'all's ear and we haven't really had
the opportunity to be in your ear the
same way. But I hope that you've really
listened to us um in these past few
weeks. Those of us that have been
calling your office, emailing you, and
listen to the fact that there's some
folks that showed up today that are
hearing about this for the first time,
they need more time.
We're counting on you and it's not too
late to do the right thing.
[Applause]
Uh hello everyone. My name is Bernie
Smart and I'm here um with Empowerment
Congress and as some people know we're a
nonprofit organization and we do a lot
of work in Sunland Park and Santa Theesa
and we engage a lot with the community.
And one of the things that we were doing
was we were passing around these um
cards, getting people to sign them if
they were opposed of Project Jupiter.
And so, and we also have a digital
format of this as well. So, we have
4,138
letters that have been emailed and
yes, and we have 9119
of these signed physical cards. So, that
is over 5,000 of your constituents who
have asked you to vote no. So, we're
just wondering if you're going to listen
to your constituents, the people that
you're supposed to be working for, or
are you going to side with these wealthy
people, these billionaires?
Um,
and just a reminder, the way that you
got into these seats are the is the same
way that you can get out of them. And
the community
the community is not going to forget. We
are not going to forget the way you
voted. Um so yeah, just keep that in
mind when you do that. And also this
letter reads um it says to the Donana
County Commission. I am submitting this
public comment in support of New
Mexicans's drinking water and to demand
this board vote no on the ordinances for
the issuance of taxable industrial
revenue bond for project Jupiter the
massive data center infrastructure
campus proposed by borderlex digital
assets and to vote no on the project
Jupiter's local economic development act
request um lead us um vote no on Project
Jupiter as our communities in Donana
County deserve their health to be
prioritized, their votes to be heard,
and their trust to be honored by their
county elected officials. New Mexico's
land, water, and air is for outside
interest to take and to make profit
from. Uh New Mexico and New Mexicans are
not for sale. Thank you.
[Applause]
Uh, good afternoon. Uh, my name is
Jedadia Smith. I'm a new member of the
community. I recently moved here from
Montana. So, obviously listen to Sunland
Park a little more than me. Um, but I'm
just really hopeful that this council
has,
you know, the gall to hopefully follow
what the community wants. Clearly,
there's been a lot of people here in
opposition to Project Jupiter. And so,
my hope with, you know, the democratic
system in entirety is that you actually
listen to these guys. So, I mean, I
don't really have much else to say. I
would like to read a quote from um the
CRE Indian tribe um from my home state
of Montana. Only when the last tree has
died and the last river has been
poisoned and the last fish been caught,
we will realize that we cannot eat
money.
Vote no or you got to go.
Hi, good afternoon commissioners. My
name is Katalina Valois and I also work
for Empowering Congress and um we do a
lot of work in the communities and we
did had we worked together. We did have
a lot of pledge cards just going to
different communities and and you know
um telling them about um project
Jupiter. Um we work, like I told you, we
work in a lot of um um communities and
last time I didn't make myself clear
about the Vado flooding. And I just
wanted to let you know we were out there
also. There was a lot of families that
had damages to their houses that there
was a lot of a lot of bad things going
on in Balo. And I mean, I understand
Balo and what happened during the
flooding. It was something that we could
we couldn't stop. It was done by nature.
It was a natural disaster. We could not
stop. But with this project Jupiter, I
believe you guys have the decisions in
your hands or you just want to work with
the community or just work with
billionaires. But I'm I'm asking and I'm
just letting you know you do have the
the decision in your hand and hopefully
it's not going to harm our communities.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, County
Commission, Vice Chair Chapato.
Before I address um the body we're in
front of today, I want to turn around
and recognize this room full of
incredible New Mexicans, advocates,
leaders who showed up today in such a
fierce way.
I was raised in this valley just down
the road in Messia. My mom came from
Vino.
In my years growing up as a politically
engaged young person of this community,
in my years doing issue-based advocacy,
and now in my fourth term as a New
Mexico State Representative,
I've never seen our people so aligned
and so angry.
I'm here today as a mom,
as someone who's done my best to raise
little ones in this community we call
home.
And I've got to say, if you haven't
heard enough from these incredible,
badass young people out here today, I
hear it from my children.
They're not stuck in the ideas that we
were told from a generation ago about
what success is, about how you measure
projects, that the only way to measure
the value of a community is whether we
could grow and invest some kind of
outsider to come here and validate us.
My children know their worth.
When my children talk about imagining
our shared future, they say, "Mama,
what's there to come back to a barren
wasteland of fire and dirt and wind?"
I thought I was worried about this issue
because as a New Mexican, I was stunned
to see some dirty backroom dealing in
Santa Fe that led up to this. You all
have shouted out the lawyers. There's
also a cluster of lobbyists in this room
that lied during the session.
They lied.
Lied. L I E D. They lied to the
legislative body about what their
intention was. The enabling mechanisms
that allow for micro grids, those were
not debated in our house. They were not
debated on the House floor. Chair Small
and I did not participate in those
debates. They were a last hour
amendment. March 20th of a 60-day
session, less than 48 hours left, when a
shady ass floor amendment was made by
Senator Padilla before he decided to
come down to our communities to do the
bidding of Project Jupiter.
Our communities deserve better. Dunana
deserved to know about this for more
than a month before you took a vote like
this.
So, finally, I will say democracy works
when we stand in the sunshine.
You all, just like I did, took an oath.
What we're asking here is reasonable.
Give all of us a little more time to
weigh in, to understand, see a complete
application before you take this vote.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Commissioners, thank you for your time.
Uh, Vice Chair Shapo, I hope you will
accept my sympathy and also thank you
for your patience and letting all of us
speak.
As I told the chair a little while ago,
I'm not here to speak be for or against
the project.
Unfortunately, I'm going to tell you
about a chapter in the county code. So,
I'm going to tell you what you already
know.
First of all, it does say that when
people start this process, it could take
as long as 120 days. And everybody knew
that at the start because it was
printed. And I assume that that started
August 15th when the project filed their
application.
So my little piece of paper says
everybody understood this could last
until December 12th.
Uh that gives you some time to consider
various resolutions to table or to get
more time.
The next thing I notice
is that you are required in a meeting of
the county commissioners to present a
plan. And I tried to convey to you on
August 26th that whatever you presented
in support of the inducement resolution
was not a plan. And so I would like to
congratulate you that in the meantime
the information that you have provided
in today's packet I think is a plan.
The way I read the rules you are
required to offer a minimum of eight
days for people to provide written
comments once a plan is presented in a
public meeting.
So the way I read the rules, you may not
be able to vote today.
I'm not a lawyer. I have no idea. I
tried it out on two people before I
presented now and I simply think you
need to look at the code and consider
that you need to wait at least eight
days. I would encourage you to wait a
little longer. One of the great things
about your new plan is a big investment
in water and I think that would be made
more wisely if you cooperated with
Sunland Park.
and it's not looking that way, at least
to them. And so I think with more time
to consider their concerns, you would
make a better decision about this
project. And if you chose to support it,
you would make a better decision about
the investment in water.
Thank you for your time.
[Applause]
Okay, with no one else in line, we will
move back to um those in favor of the
IRB. Same exact thing. Three minutes on
the clock.
Pardon? Come on up.
Can we take like a
Yeah, we'll take four or five minutes
that way. Five minutes. Okay. Vice chair
says five minutes. Sorry. We'll be right
with you.
Okay, everyone, if you will all find
your seats for me, we will continue on.
The time is currently
2:58.
So, please begin.
Uh, Mr. Chair, member of the commission,
everyone can please be quiet for the
next uh, public speaker, please.
I apologize. Go ahead.
Yes, Mr. Chair, members of the
commission, thank you for letting us
have the opportunity to speak. My name
is Karen Montoya. I'm a former public
regulation commissioner, former county
assessor, two-term in Berno County. And
the reason I'm here today is I'm a 12th
generation New Mexican. My family is
throughout the Grand Corridor and um
we've been there since 1690.
Um so New Mexico is uh very I'm very
passionate about New Mexico. So, um I'd
like to talk a little bit first of all
about um
well, I I was there when the data center
um at the Facebook was approved
and I was happy to approve it and if
you'll talk to the people of Los Lunis,
they were happy that is it is approved.
Um let me tell you a little bit about
the micro grid. I think it's a great
thing. I we do have four micro grids
here in New Mexico. Uh Kit Carson
Electric Co-op has four that they've
created. Um it's is you know very well
sustained. Um there shouldn't be any
issues with that. Um this is a
standalone micro grid and um there won't
be any impact to the public utilities
because of that. There won't be rate
increases because of that. There won't
be any stress on the grid because of
that. It's a standalone micro grid that
is self self- sustaining.
Um
let's see what else. Um
like to talk to you a little bit about
um county taxes. I was the county
assessor of Bernlo County and um the tax
implication here is amazing. You guys
will be able to create new water
infrastructure for Sunland Park. You'll
be able to put money into what's needed
for these people in their environments.
Um I know it's a worry. I know it's a
concern. Um, I know people don't
typically like change and when I was on
the commission it was hard for us to
change things. People were worried about
what would happen, but just give them
um, you know, faith in you all to do the
right thing. Um, I think this it's an
amazing impact. um $136
thou uh million dollar tax base increase
in the first three years and what you
can do with that for the people here is
amazing. Um 2,000 jobs put in people's
pockets. That's incredible. Thank you
very much.
[Applause]
Good afternoon commissioners. Steve
Montthanz here and uh you guys please
don't applaud me when I'm done speaking.
Um I I really didn't have a motivation
to speak until I heard the two young
engineering students uh speak today. Uh
I'm just a small business owner here in
uh Los Cusus and we've had the
opportunity to mentor young students and
also earlier in the year I had the
opportunity to do mock interviews uh
with uh the Los Cruises public schools.
What I heard a lot about from these
children when I asked them what their
motivation was and what they wanted to
do. Many of them wanted to stay here and
part of the reason why and it was kind
of disheartening. They wanted to stay
here to take care of their parents. They
want to stay here to take care of their
families and they wanted those
opportunities.
So whatever comes of this, I hope it is
really is in the spirit of keeping our
of keeping our future here.
I feel that there's not a wrong answer
here. What's very concerning to me that
I will that I will point out has been
the precedent that has been set with
this with this opposition could be
specifically with water use, but how
long is it going to be before an
apartment complex is protested because
the concern for water use? What nature
of business? We saw a Amazon
distribution center proposed here. I
didn't see a single person here
concerned about water use. We've seen
proposals here for movies, you know, for
movies, for film, for big box, for big
production, for big industrial uh
proposals. For some reason, didn't hear
a word about water, but we're hearing it
now. Furthermore,
I'm very concerned about the manner and
the hostility, quite frankly, from the
opposition. Much of it has been
triggered by special interest groups, by
poor op-eds that were written. And it's
gotten to a point, I just have to
address that I had to walk through a
metal detector to come here and speak
and we have extra security, armed
security here on hand because we cannot
respectfully disagree. Commissioners,
I'm going to tell you just to stand your
ground. You're hearing people are
talking about recalling. People are
talking about primaries. People are
talking about they're not getting their
way and it's happening. You know, just
stand your ground. There is no wrong
answer here. I want to com commend State
Representative Nathan Small. I want to
commend this entire commission. Uh
Scott, the the attorneys, everybody, you
guys have worked hours and hours here uh
on this project. I want to just spend
the rest of my time and you can cut me
off. Uh, just to quote the op-ed written
by three of our most progressive uh,
state state representatives in southern
New Mexico, we hear time and time again
that we need to create opportunities for
our young people to stay, raise
families, and live without fear that a
car breakdown or healthcare will push
them into a financial crisis. I have 10
seconds left, but you can read the oped.
Thank you all very, very much.
Commissioner Shaparo, my heart, our
family is with you. God bless. Thank
you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, commissioners. My name
is Adam Arinstein and I'm a proud
resident of New Mexico and also an
environmental professional. I'm here
today to express my support for Project
Jupiter. As someone who works in air
quality, I approach the project with
both optimism and a critical eye. The
project represents a transformative
opportunity for the our region. Not just
from an economic perspective, but from
an environmental responsibility
perspective as well. From an economic
standpoint, the scale of the investment
and the creation of the jobs is
unprecedented.
But what makes this project truly
compelling is the potential to set a new
standard for an industrial development
in New Mexico. We have a chance to be a
model for how to build responsibly and
to protect what makes New Mexico
special.
This is not a choice between doing one
or the other, but we can achieve both at
the same time. Thank you for your time
and for your consideration.
Good afternoon, commissioners. Uh, my
name is Eric Montgomery. I wear many
different hats in this community that
you know me by. The one that I am
wearing today and in front of you is as
a father. Um,
my kids have come home and talked about
the conversations that they're having in
their classes around this project.
They're debating the same things that
have been talked about in the media
around water and power usage and they
are learning more about how all those
systems connect together and what this
means for their community. They're
having active debates just like we are
today.
I want to thank you for the opportunity
that you've granted everyone today to be
heard.
My voice is for my kids.
I've done economic development in this
community for 15 years. I've been a
resident for 25. I have seen
opportunities come that have been great.
I have seen opportunities go that would
have been great.
I truly believe that this is a potential
for a new direction for our community. I
certainly understand that there are a
lot of environmental concerns. There's a
lot of water concerns and there's a lot
of questions. We have not once ever had
an IRB with this level of attention or
this level of concession
from a company that has been and
committed to
community improvements
at this level. I got to commend the
Project Jupiter staff because they've
also not ever gone through companies
have never gone through the amount of
public input that's been provided over
the last four weeks. And I think that
says a lot about their partnership in
the community.
So, I started this off by saying it's
about my kids
and being a father because 100% I want
them to have direction on where they can
go. You talk to a lot of kids nowadays
and they don't know exactly where they
want to be in life, but I find my kids
coming home from school having these
debates and saying, "This is a place I
can see myself in the future." And it
allows me as a father to have some peace
that they won't have to move halfway
across the country or that I will have
to follow them, but they can find home
for generations here to come. Thank you,
[Applause]
Commissioner Chaparo Loento.
My friends, Mr. Chair, county
commissioners, citizens of this region,
my name is Miguel Fernandez.
I'm from this region. I literally grew
up a thousand feet away from Sunland
Park.
We meet today at a moment of a great
promise. Project Jupiter is a vision for
the future.
Mr. Chair, if I may, I'd like to ask Mr.
Miguel Fernandez if he's here of as a
member of our community, as a an
investor in Project Jupiter or as a
representative of Project Jupiter.
That's all of the above.
I am.
This is public comment, Mr. Chair.
May I
So
this project calls on us to think boldly
to invest
good jobs for hardworking families to
harness energy and ingenuity that will
lift our community.
But in order to do this, we must need we
need to act now and we need to act
decisively.
The world keeps changing more rapidly
than ever and we've been need to adapt
or risk being left behind.
I urge you to be bold, to be brave, and
to make decisions that will allow us to
thrive.
Make the decisions to create jobs,
improve our infrastructure, and increase
our resources.
Other regions around the country are
competing for these opportunities.
This is our time. If we want to make
progress, we need to act accordingly.
Sunland Park can stand as a beacon of
progress, proving that when we work
together, no challenge is too great. Let
us choose to build, to lead, and to
believe in Project Jupiter and in
ourselves.
Thank you.
Uh uh good afternoon Mr. Chair, madam
vice chair. My condolences to you and
your family. They were very uh special
in all of our journeys and I was
fortunate to also be part of that. Mr.
Chair uh and commissioners sitting with
my friend Balm there we uh worked
together on the 2008 Obama campaign. I
think back to that time and I had the
privilege to be in this chamber uh on so
many big issues. At that time we were
working to protect what became the
Oregon Mountains Desert Peaks National
Monument. uh the largest BLM wilderness
area and the largest is just west of
where the proposed data center is going
with project Jupiter and that region a
borderland that is vibrant that is there
for conservation and for planted firmly
in the future for economic development
is very exciting. In 2008, we were also
really going into what became the great
recession. And for New Mexico, that was
the last decade. One of the few parts of
New Mexico that came out of that decade
stronger was Los Lunis. They're uh the
building there, the improvements in the
commitments that have been made here are
very important. Um the big can be very
good. the biggest national monument, the
biggest wilderness area, now the biggest
single private investment in uh our
state if there are strong enforcable
conditions. And I really want to commend
the county and all partners. And I'm
proud to have played a role in making
sure that there are enforcable community
benefit agreements that focus on water,
education, transportation, and others.
This is a strong deal that will raise uh
wages, plant in the economy of the
future. There is strong and needed
oversight. That is essential. The state
will step up to that role. And uh I know
that the county is stepping forward into
that role. And again, these are binding
documents should they be uh voted in.
There has to be a commitment to ongoing
community engagement. And to me that
speaks to the strong partnership that
has to be uh from this day forward. That
partnership is anchored in the economy
of the future is serving the kiddos here
in Donana County and in New Mexico if
they want to go to college and as we
heard from supporters if they don't that
there is a economic future for them. And
uh as the chair of the House
Appropriations and Finance Committee and
LFC
right now, states money, this is free
child care, free college, etc. That's
coming from oil and gas extraction. This
begins to move us strongly in a
direction of clean economic uh growth.
And I pledge my support to match the
investments, especially for southern New
Mexico. Thank you very much.
[Applause]
Good afternoon,
chair, commissioners, vice chair
Chaparo. My deepest condolences are with
you and your family.
I'm Julia Brown with the state economic
development department, and I stand in
support of a project the likes of which
have never been seen before.
This morning, my boss,
Mark Roer, shared an amazing PowerPoint
presentation with you, which lays it all
out. The numbers. And are the numbers
amazing? To be sure, they are.
This is an opportunity
for Donana County to step into its
rightful place as a leader in this
region.
in the area of community and economic
development
to approve a bold vision for the future.
My colleagues and I talk to businesses
across the state all the time.
One of the things that we tell them as
we share information about tax credits
in New Mexico and other incentives
is that it's important that they not
leave money on the table.
And so today, I'm saying to you all,
don't leave money on the table.
I urge you to support this and to make
it only the first step in a rung on a
ladder propelling us into the future.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak
today.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, commissioners. Gentry
Roberts. I am the executive director of
independent electrical contractors. We
are the electrical apprentichip and
trade school here based in Donana
County. We are one of over 54 chapters
nationwide for electrical only. This
opportunity to bring jobs in
construction trades is huge. That opens
up an amazing opportunity for
apprentichip programs in the southern
part of the state. My demographic alone
is 44,000 square miles of the southern
part of the state, size of Pennsylvania,
right? Um construction trades need
support. an educated workforce is going
to be a safe workforce which means we
can support and provide more industry
jobs and build our communities up. Um so
I am here in the capacity of the
education and and building up the
workforce. Thank you so much for all you
do and uh good luck in your decision.
[Applause]
Good afternoon Mr. Chair, commissioners.
My name is Jay Hill. I'm a local farmer
and businessman. I'm in commercial real
estate, land development. I specialize
in water rights, environmental
remediation, and community development.
I wanted to share with you a few
sentiments today of why I support this
project. As a farmer, people would often
think that we wouldn't look at water
rights in the same viewpoint as we would
commercial development. But in southern
New Mexico and growing up here just
north of Lame Mesa, I have watched time
and time again that our county is never
to get one foot in front of the other to
build what we need to economically not
only survive but to thrive.
In these moments of listening to
opposition and support, it's dawned on
me that people don't truly understand
what the difference between commercial
water use out in Santa Teresa and here
in the valley looks like. the different
Bolson, the fact that there's brackish
water use there, clean water use here. I
took the liberty of taking the numbers
that were offered this morning and I
wanted to make calculations and
understanding it as how a farmer would
look at how much water is used to use
this project to its full consent.
Right now, if we were to add 20,000
gallons a day extra on top of the
numbers that were put in front of us,
the total project would use 64 acre feet
of commercial water a year. As a farmer
would look at that, we would use 14.33
acres of water a year. So, in the
entirety and the fact that we're going
to build 700 jobs, we're going to bring
hundreds of billions of dollars of
revenue into this county that are going
to help remediate the issues that we
have in southern Donana County. The fact
that it's going to cost us 14 acres of
farmstyle use water in a brackish bolam
that we right now can't drink and we
can't use for agriculture is called
sustainability. This is the opportunity
for you guys to put your vote forward to
propel us that our children have
opportunities to continue to make
southern Donana County, Antonia County,
and New Mexico a better state and a spot
that we can see more business want to
come and survive and thrive. Thank you
for your time.
[Applause]
Honorable commissioners, my name is
Albert Vara. I was here in August when
we had the first meeting. It was my
first time doing a public speech. Right
now, I come with the same message and
the same thing as we did before, right?
We have an opportunity. These people are
bringing hope. They're bringing problems
too, right? They have a lot of people
have pointed out problems, but they have
solutions for all that. They also are
going to bring a lot of good things to
the community. We are going to be I'm so
nervous right now. There's there's going
to be so much great things happening out
of this, but are we going to just stand
here and let it pass? Are we just going
to stand here and not do nothing about
it? Or are we going to actually take
action and say, "Hey, dude, here it is.
Let's take advantage of it. Let's do
something about it. Let's go into it.
Let's get let's get the hardworking
people from Southern Park, Santa Teresa,
involved in all this. They want this." A
lot of people are scared. I spoke to a
lot of people. They're scared. They're
like, "Well, there's a lot of
miscommunication, a lot of things that
are being truth and false." But being
involved in all this makes us
knowledgeable, puts puts a lot of stuff
in our table that we can bring back to
the community and there's going to be a
lot of great things to happen. The only
thing I was sad about was that my own
community, Southern Park, is denying
this $10 million worth for clean water.
It's a solution. It is not a problem
that they're bringing and they're
turning it down. They're turning down
jobs. I was I traveled for 13 years out
of state everywhere. Montana,
California, you name it. I was in
Louisiana, Mississippi, everywhere to
find an honest living. Now I'm here. I
brought my business to Donana County. I
brought my employees here. They are from
here. I employ about 15 people from
Sullen Park. And I would like to make
that number grow. And I would like for
the people to be proud that there's
local companies involved in this project
that there's local companies that are
going to be supporting all this. And
from y'all, all I ask is to be sure that
once that everything is signed or
whatever is done, protect the community,
protect the jobs that they're that
they're promising. Just do that. We'll
take care of the work. We'll take care
of the other stuff. Thank you'all.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, commissioners.
I'm so proud of all of you. Wow.
My name is Susan Tegmire. I worked for
the Catholic Dascese 25 years before RT
Electric. I traveled the 10 southern
counties. I saw atrocities
and
poverty in so many of our communities.
The 10 southern us,
Messia, Donana County. I worked with the
Colonas many, many years with Carlos
Coral.
He was powerful.
The rights of people
I powered for many, many years.
Now RT Electric, it's my husband's
business. It will be 50 years next year
strong.
We employ upwards of 100 people at any
given time. And we work four states. all
of southern counties.
When times were tough, my husband went
to Hobbes where the oil fields were
strong
to find work
to keep his people working.
Now
more than ever,
we need to keep our young people here.
My sons are here because they want to
be. My daughter is powerful.
She is independent electrical
contractors trade school
and I raised her
to be strong and stand up for what is
right and just.
And I understand the other side because
I come from
Clifton, Arizona, where the copper mines
and we had to strike for rights for
portable water,
for justice in the workplace
when we were sent down into the mines.
But we rose
and we can rise from this.
We always do. We always will. We have
strength in numbers
and we will make it right. Thank you,
commissioners. I truly appreciate you.
[Applause]
You did have your public comment
already. I'd like to make a quick
clarification on something.
They cut the mic, ma'am, just because of
the um because you had your public
comment, but
thank you for that clarification. I
appreciate you.
Okay. Oh, okay.
Wardes, chair, commissioners. My name is
Jose Vara. For full disclosure, I am
also a consultant for Border Plex
Digital Assets, but I'm here as a son of
Sunland Park,
and I am going to speak as a park
vice.
Park Grassroots Environmental Group.
Mosa Park.
in San Antonio in Midland
Mexico,
Jose V.
Park.
And to all the people who didn't
understand a war of what I said, that's
because you're not from my community.
Thank you.
[Applause]
All right. Thank you.
Okay,
that is the end of our public comment
portion unless you're speaking in favor
or Okay, we have finished opposition.
There was no one else that showed up.
Um,
so we are going to
Okay, go ahead. Last
last one.
Hello. Okay, perfect. Hello, my name is
Ethan Smith. I'm a resident of District
1. Um, I just wanted to make a quick
comment about one of the people
representing Project Jupiter, Miguel
Fernandez. In 2011, he shortly after
being appointed to the board of managers
of the University Medical Center of El
Paso, he was arrested and charged with
driving while intoxicated. Additionally,
he's the owner of Flow Networks, which
was formerly known as Trans Telco. In
2011, they were found using city
property to run fiber optic cables from
the US to Mexico under the Stanton
International Bridge without the
authorization of the city of El Paso.
This fiber optic scheme began in 2006
and they paid almost $200,000 settlement
to the city. Is this a man you trust to
give you unbiased information and a man
you trust to have your best interest at
heart? Thank you.
[Applause]
Thank you. Thank you everyone for your
public comment today.
Commissioners,
do you have any follow-up questions or
concerns?
Mr. Chairman, if I I I do have just a
not so much questions as just comments.
I think as we listen to the concerns,
there's
I think throughout this process, even at
the uh community meetings that I
attended,
there was a very serious concern about
water.
And
I understand, especially for those in
the Sunland Park and Santa Teresa areas,
we've seen and heard you at previous
meetings when we've discussed KUA.
Those are the things that I understand
that they have that that people have to
live through every day. And I know um
while this has probably been one of the
most severe things that we've seen in
the county uh when we look at water,
it's there's a larger issue here uh
because I know I see issues in my
district with water service. But I
understand that you feel like nothing's
been done.
Just want to at least highlight a couple
of items. Number one is
since the since we've been working with
the city of Sunland Park to dissolve the
JPA for KURA,
there's been a commitment from both
entities
for capital improvement to capital for
for capital improvement funds for those
systems.
Another
piece to that has been where we get this
water. And I think somebody had said,
"Wait, where' the deselination?" There
was some talk about that. The reason you
don't hear it here is because the county
has been working separately on a plan to
access those brackish aquifers. We had a
work session back in February where we
discussed water water options.
And as of this week, this week or last
week, I don't recall when, but we
submitted two grant applications to the
strategic water fund for two projects.
One was for a detailed analysis of the
the Messia aquifer.
The second was to build a desalination
plant of approximately 4 to 5 million
gallons of water per day.
To put that in perspective,
the KUA system right now has about two
to two offers, I think, uh, supplies two
to two and a half million gallons of
water, million gallons of water per day
to their service area. This would
essentially triple
if we are successful in the amount of
water for the residents of the Kua area
and southern Dona County. So, I think
water is absolutely one of the biggest
issues that we as a commission or at
least we as a county see. Speaking for
myself, at least that's what I see in
the actions we are taking. I know it's
not immediate action. I know we want
action now. These are things that we're
trying to put in place for the long term
of our communities. And so, we
absolutely take this seriously.
When we look at this, again, this is the
IRB. This is approval for an IRB. The
IRB is the first step in this process
for a company to come in.
Some of these things will continue to be
vetted out as we continue to move
through permitting processes. Those will
happen through the county. Those will
happen through the state as well. And so
I understand the concerns as we go
through this. just understand at least
there is it's a it's a step-by-step
process as we go through this.
Um the other things that I I noted, you
know, I know we talked on power. I know
there was some discussion on that. And I
think one of the things that I can say I
think is our uh as representative Small
had noted
um and one of the representatives or the
the the consultants for um Project Juper
had noted each one of these as they
apply each one of the as we look for the
power generation for this facility,
they will apply to the New Mexico
Environmental Department for air permits
that will drive B their what they're
allowed to
uh for for their emissions or the
emission standards they have to meet.
Understanding that this area of Donana
County is considered I I believe it's it
is considered a nonattainment zone by
the EPA. So that is part of where the
state comes in. They have the catalysts
that they noted would be part of the
design. There is also their what they
call their SIMS unit, the the continuous
submissions monitoring system which then
collects all that data that then is
submitted to the state which is all
publicly available information that
people can see. People can see how much
they emit if there are exceeded and so
like I said this is all data that will
be open to the public and not hidden.
But I think one of the things that I
when I'm looking at this and trying to
weigh this because I I'm I'm under no
illusions that man this is this is a
panacea. This is like our answer to
everything.
And so I have to as as we've had
discussions with public input um and I'm
reviewing the packet. It's a it's a pros
and cons
here for me that I'm looking at.
But I think one of the things as we
continue to see is that people want us
to wait or if this moves on there'll be
other opportunities
and I can understand that point of view.
But I look at what me is in in what I
what I experienced and what I hear often
with other people
growing up in in Anthony and then
eventually in El Paso where I graduated
from high school. Part of me I wanted to
leave. I wanted to get the heck out of
here to to experience something
different and I got that opportunity.
But when I graduated, there were no
other opportunities to move back here.
There just wasn't.
And that's a similar story that we've
heard from other people today
and even from some of the young from
some of the younger folks that that want
an opportunity to stay here at home. And
so, how do we build those opportunities
for them? How do we build opportunities
and pathways? And I know people I I get
it, right? People say money isn't the
answer, but how do we find opportunities
for our people to have jobs, to be able
to provide for their families, to try
and, you know, rise out of the levels of
poverty that we see. And and it's not
just in the in, you know, the southern
part of the county. We have 40 colonials
here in this the the the county of
Donana.
So there's that piece of it. I see
potential increase in our economic base.
We've seen for us like we just talked
the the the flooding in Vado. We as a
commission have put we're able to use
some of the funds that we do have to try
to create an economic assistance program
for the people that were affected. We're
trying to find other opportunities to
bring programs to start lift helping
lift up our people.
But it doesn't just happen out of, you
know, thin air. We've had to act, you
know, find the best way and be creative
through grants, working with our state
legislators and the state agencies to
find this funding. And this is an
opportunity to try to build continual
growth through economic development to
build that base so that we can offer
more to our residents.
It it is, you know, in my mind as we
look at our strategic plan, and I know
I'm kind of expanding a little bit, but
the reason why it's important to me is
because our strategic plan that we've
implemented here at the county, the the
3 to 5year plan is based off of quality
of life.
And it is important. It it's a how do we
operate as a county? How do we think of
it in how we affect our residents?
And that's where, you know, me is I just
want to at least put it out there
because I think we have been trying to
act in that way for our residents as
leaders in in the community. Um, and
it's how I'm trying to weigh this,
especially for everything that we heard
today. I just to wrap up for my
comments, I want to say thank you. I
want to say thank you to everybody. I
know we had um we didn't plan on having
so much
public input
and I really appreciate
my commissioners. I appreciate
Commissioner Chaparo for advocating for
that. I appreciate uh our flexibility
from from our chairman
and I appreciate it. You know, we've
been here just short of almost seven
hours,
but I appreciate you all hanging on,
waiting to give your input. I appreciate
both for and against taking that time to
talk to us and let us know your
thoughts, your concerns. Um, and I'll
say I'll last the last thing is I know
we try to talk a little bit and I know
it's 500 pages. There's been um you know
movement in trying to get some of these
commitments
in a manner that they are enforcable.
There are clawbacks whether it's through
the IRB or uh the Lita Act funding. The
leader specifically calls out for those
jobs that are counted to be New Mexico
jobs, not for Texas or anywhere else,
but for us in New Mexico, for us in
Donena County. So, there are provisions
that will allow us to be able to do
that. There are annual reports that are
required to the county to to to review
that and that's how we will continue to
work to ensure we're enforcing these
things um should the project move
forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Commissioner
Commissioner Reynolds.
Mr. chairman. Um, thank you and I share
Commissioner Sanchez's um sympathies or
appreciation for everyone's
participation in this process. Um, to I
want to talk a little bit about the um
with the water problems in Sullen Park.
Uh yes, there are some water problems
there and we know that. As a matter of
fact, this board took the assertive
action of actually cancelling the J
joint powers agreement with Sunland Park
so that we could directly address those
issues. And as soon as we get the list
of assets from Sunland Park that are
left in Dona County, we will be taking
over the water in the in the county
areas and investing probably over $und00
million into fixing the water that we
own down in Sunland Park. In addition to
that, this project that we're talking
about here, this opportunity has
guaranteed $40 million for helping to
fix the water problems in Sunland Park,
Santa Teresa. of that $40 million, we've
pledged 10 thou $10 million to Sland
Park to give them some of the money they
need, which they don't have in order to
address some of these issues. So, we we
are already taking as much action as we
can, even without the $40 million, we're
still taking as much action as we can to
address those water issues down there.
If you were in our board meeting about a
month and a half or two months ago, we
actually approved $187,000
to go in and try to address the 31 fire
hydrants down there that you can't even
take the covers off of. And that's a
problem that was part of what the KURA
had created by not having enough funds
in order to maintain the system
properly. number one. And number two,
the design of the system is such that it
needs to be totally redone in order to
provide the right kind of water service
for the entire area, both Sunland Park
and Santa Teresa. The funds that Sunland
Park has and Peru had are not enough.
They just uh did an um study to find out
how much they need to raise the water
for everyone. And even the amount
they're coming up with, which I think is
maybe as much as 30%. is still not
enough to to fix all the problems in
Santa Tree and Solomon Park.
And we as a county are going to actively
continue to use the assets we have and
the assets we can get in order to focus
solely on making sure the water in that
area is safe, available, and as much as
as needed in order for the community to
grow healthy. Um, having this
partnership with the Jupiter project
will provide us with more funding to be
able to continue to to help with that
issue and make it um make it correct it
more quickly. Um, however, even if this
project doesn't go forward for whatever
reason, the this county is committed to
working and making sure to provide as
much good clean water as we can in that
area to try to correct this the problems
that have happened in the past. So
that's all I want to say. Thank you.
Thank you, Commissioner Reynolds.
Commissioner Gomedos or Vice Chair
Chapto, anything?
Yes, Mr. Chair. I do.
Of course. Go ahead, Commissioner
Gometos.
Thank you.
So, I want to thank everyone who came
and spoke at the public input today. Um
it was wonderful to see you know both
sides there. Um since starting with the
county in January I've seen and heard
about the water issues in Sen Park in
Santa Teresa. Uh Kura is broke and it's
dissolving. The infrastructure is old
and failing. There are many issues that
need to be fixed but little funding
which may take many years at the rate we
are going to get accessible clean water.
this is a solution to get the funding
desperately needed for the
infrastructure so as not to have to wait
many years.
I also feel like you know keeping our
youth here by funding our community
college and high schools for training
for jobs in the data center fields with
highpaying jobs um is a great um
opportunity for our youth. There will be
apprenticeships in the construction
fields as well in the data centers. You
know, as a mother, my son left six years
ago to pursue a job out of state because
of the lowpaying jobs here.
Um, you know, we as commissioners along
with staff and the state will be
monitoring these companies and making
them accountable when not complying. Uh,
you know, we aren't just going to sit
back and let them do whatever they want.
We want to make sure that it's going to
be done right and that they are going to
follow suit for the community needs.
So, I thank you.
Thank you, Commissioner Gomedos.
You know, I
I think we've all
been going through and living this every
moment of every day for for quite some
time now
through, you know, the community
meetings and and, you know, our board of
county commissioner meetings and getting
the packets and staying up late and
reading them. And I know you all are
doing the same.
no doubt in my mind that you all are
taking the time and emailing us, calling
us out, you know, just wanting to have
those conversations and and I I
appreciate it because,
you know, it is a big undertaking today
and a lot of you have have noticed that
and said that and it is and it's
something that we're going to have to
really think out.
And I appreciate my fellow commissioners
more than they'll ever know because the
good thing about us up here is that we
all look at things differently.
But it seems like every single one of us
up here today have been highlighting
the continued commitment whether or not
this project goes through for water and
infrastructure in our communities.
We know that it's an issue. The
deselinization plant is a small part of
the solution. It's not going to fix
everything. I know that.
And
I've been, you know, since I've been
sitting up here, you know, this is what,
two and a half years. It's only two and
a half years. Holy moly. Um, a lot of
the calls that we get, not even from
south of town, but everywhere is about
water
through every single part of our
community is water. Water, wastewater,
critical infrastructure.
And
at the end of the day, that's, you know,
I I don't want this to be the only time
that we have this conversation. And I
think we've been doing a good job
bringing it up, coming up with, you
know, work sessions and understanding
and trying to evolve the county into
addressing these concerns. And I think
we've been doing that
the best of our abilities, but I
understand that there's a lot of things
that need to be answered in this. I
understand that fullheartedly. I am not
an expert in any of these fields to be
honest with you. energy, water,
infrastructure,
the kind of technology that we're
talking about. I'm not going to say I
am. I'm learning. I'm learning. I'm
doing the research. I'm reading
everyone's emails. I'm asking tons of
questions. I'm sorry, Denise. I know I
call you late at night and I apologize.
Um, that was always my thing. I was
never going to call someone after 5, but
I call you all the time after 5.
But I want to just reiterate the fact
that I'm very grateful today for
everyone that showed up. I'm very very
very grateful for these county
commissioners sitting beside me today.
And I want to say thank you to staff for
for your continued work and and going
through it with us. And I appreciate
you. Um but I know that this is a heavy
lift and it's a very very heavy
decision. So, Commissioner Topato, I I
know that you wanted to speak as well.
Please do.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
electronos.
[Music]
Thank you all for attending here today.
I've received over maybe close to 500
emails, dozens of phone calls
of people expressing their concern,
asking questions. And first of all, I
ask your forgiveness for not getting
back to you. My father passed away. And
as you can understand,
But when I read this ordinance that is
proposed,
the second whereas starts as the state,
these bonds are issued for the purpose
of promoting the use of natural
resources of the state and promoting
industry and developing trades or other
economic activity to secure and maintain
a balanced and stable economy in the
country in the county to promote public
health,
welfare, safety, convenience and
prosperity and the first one there is
public health.
Now
I know that many of us have been reading
this and I held this up hundreds of
pages and I'm not against your project
or for your project. I just need more
information.
We've had community meetings and Mr.
Jose had promised me at one of the
commission meetings that you'd be having
meetings at Sunland Park every Tuesday
or Thursday. You had one meeting there.
You've had five meetings in total. This
has been rushed for me and for the
people whom I represent.
We need more time.
[Applause]
And Mr. Rober, I appreciate you being
here. I know you've come a long way, and
I've know you've worked on this project
for a long time,
but you haven't included the residents
of this county. You haven't included
this commissioner. I don't know about
the other commissioners, but not this
commissioner. All these things were done
in Santa Fe
months before we became aware of it.
Negotiations, deals, money promised, and
then we come to the end of this process.
and we're being pushed forward very very
quickly. And we're we're all trying to
juggle all this information that at
least the people that have contacted me
are still having questions.
And if we believe in
real democracy,
in moving forward in a transparent way,
then we include the community from the
beginning so that we know what's going
on. So that we don't have fear. So that
we know that this community are also
stakeholders just as this commissioner,
Commissioner Sanchez, Commissioner
Shelnandez, Commissioner Reynolds, and
Commissioner Gomedos
are also stakeholders because we
represent you.
Now, I also have issue and I've been
trying to bring this up and I've talked
to our county manager about it. I've
talked to our county attorney about it.
I've talked to the bond attorney about
it. I've talked to Ben Young. And I also
spoke to my personal attorney. Number
one, I have issue that an NDA was signed
without my knowledge,
my authority,
and the the county manager is my
employee, and I didn't know about it.
These negotiations were being done
without it bringing it to my attention.
There's so many questions. I appreciate
Commissioner Sanchez that you went over
the the water issue, the different water
options.
Yes, this is the biggest issue. It's
been the biggest issue since you were
elected because you were elected before
I was and we've both been on CURA and
we've known the difficulties and we know
the difficulties of Sunland Park.
This commission has has stated time and
time again, we want to work with the
state, with Anthony, with Sunland Park,
with our residents. And one of our
partners, one of our community partners
is asking for more time so that they can
understand and and explain to their
constituents
meeting, but they went to those people
whom they trusted and that was their
city councilors of Sland Park and
they're asking for a little more time
so that we don't get documents as I
mentioned before where I'm missing 15
pages of exhibits and maybe there were
somewhere and I failed to notice them uh
because of the time crunch but these are
not the final documents. It they say
draft all over them and that's of a
concern to me. We're voting on this very
important issue with a draft and not all
the information that this commissioner
requires.
[Applause]
And I agree with you, Commissioner
Sanchez. We need to build up
opportunities for our community and
develop a stronger economic base,
but not on the backs of our people that
are not informed. And so I ask,
[Applause]
we're all representatives,
colleagues,
and this is important for me, too.
My father had a first grade education.
My mother has a third grade education.
Representing my community as you have
asked me. We also have
I thank Representative Small for being
here. I thank Representative Blat for
being here.
I know you're working in our best
interest, but please stop and listen to
the constituents. Please, I beg of you,
Representative Small, you represented my
dad as a city councilman, and he would
tell you
Sulari Subaloris.
You knew him
and he was proud that you were his
representative.
Make us proud again.
Lead us.
[Applause]
So again, thank you, Mr. Napier. And
again, I'm going to quibble with you
just a bit on your percentages because
I'm a numbers girl, just like
Commissioner Sanchez is. I got the bad
habit from you, Commissioner Sanchez.
Actually, sir, you said that 83%
of the calls that you made were in favor
and 17 were against. I received two
calls,
one in English espanol,
and they were pretty basically the same
message.
Hola, represent at Project Jupiter.
Hello, I'm representing Project Jupiter
Jupiter. Um,
we want more jobs in our community. Will
you support us? And here's a number to
call. And the the number that was given
was the county number. And so I asked
further questions.
Number one, what's your name? How did
you get my number?
And
who which calling center? How did you
you know all this information that one
would probably ask?
And it was such a generic message. And
so numbers can be shifted anyway. And if
somebody told me jobs, I'd say sure, I
want more jobs in this county. So, I I
don't know if I agree with the numbers.
Um I'd like to know a little bit more
about it. But again, I'm asking
um
for more time for our people to
understand everything that's been going
on. We're no rush. This has been going
on for
what, a year or two? Negotiations have
been going on for a year or two and
we're being asked to push this in two to
three weeks.
I don't think that's democracy.
I don't think it's fair.
I don't think it's equitable.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Thank you, vice chair.
Okay, commissioners,
any other comments or questions while we
have everyone here?
None.
Mr. Chair, if I may.
Yes, ma'am.
Ask one more time just based on comments
and also from our partner down south.
I'm asking this commission to table this
vote
so that constituents and our partners,
municipalities
and other organizations
would have more time to really look
through this and so I can get a final
draft
of what is to be presented with no blank
pages and so it could be explained to me
as it would a third grader. Thank you.
So my motion is to table this for 30
days.
[Applause]
Okay. We have a motion on the floor to
table for 30 days.
Mr. Chairman, I believe it has to be
either uh post that has to be indefinite
or a date certain. So if I'm I'd have to
ask the lawyer for or Miss Neil for
that.
Okay.
So if we can if if commission would like
to do that, she'll have to.
So 30 days would be
30 days this month. So that's 10.
So that would be October 20th.
Please correct me if I'm not correct on
this, but if we go by tomorrow being day
one, which is the 20th,
30 days in October, 20 would be the 20th
of October.
It would be the 20th of October, Mr.
Chair. Thank you. Would you like to
amend your motion to include the date
certain?
Thank you. I withdraw my previous motion
and uh my motion is to table this vote
until October 20th at a special meeting
as we are doing today so that we may
give our partners an opportunity and the
constituents an opportunity to fully
comprehend this and so that I may have
an opportunity to have a final draft
without
blank pages. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Madam Vice Chair.
Do we have a second?
Okay, the motion does fail.
Thank
you. Can we please have order? Can we
please have order?
Thank you.
Okay, commissioners, the motion did
fail. Do we have any final comments
before we would call the question today?
Okay,
Brandy, if you'll please roll call the
commission.
Commissioner Gometo.
Yes.
Commissioner Reynolds,
yes.
Commissioner Sanchez,
yes.
Vice Chair Chaparo.
No.
Chair Sha Jordnandez.
Yes.
The motion does carry.
Thank you.
rental.
Thank you.
Show me what democracy looks like.
This is what democracy looks like.
Show me what democracy looks like.
This is what democracy looks like.
Show me what democracy looks like.
This is what democracy looks like.
Let's go, guys.
Find them.
I don't find them offensive at all.
I'm not concerned for my safety. looks
like.
This is what democracy looks like.
[Applause]
[Music]
I
can't be quiet. They got to get
play working.
This is what democracy looks like.
democracy.
Mr. Chairman,
what democracy looks like,
can you please instruct security to the
people from
the chambers?
This is what democracy looks like.
If we can please have order back in the
chamber.
This is what democracy looks like.
You want to see me?
[Applause]
We're calling all your asses.
Only the under the spine.
Hernandez, you're a sellout.
Let's
fight democracy
democracy.
Sir, I'm Can you please leave so we can
get more order here? I understand.
[Applause]
Okay, we're going to take a 15minute
recess.
We'll be back at I don't even know what
time it is.
15 minutes. Thank you so much. We'll be
back.
Okay, everyone, if you'll please find
your seat.
Okay,
it is 4:30. We are back in session.
The next item we have is item number 11,
which is to approve an ordinance for Red
Chili A LLC, a Delaware Limited
Liability Company, Red Chili B LLC, a
Delaware Limited Liability Company, Red
Chili C LLC, a Delaware Limited
Liability Company, Red Chili's D LLC, a
Delaware Limited Liability Company.
collectively and together with their
successors,
assigns and affiliates, Red Chilies and
Yaka Growth Infrastructure LLC, a
Delaware limited liability company,
together with his successor assigns and
affiliates, Yaka Growth, and together
with
Red Chili's and the companies pursuant
to the Local Economic Development Act,
Lita and we do. Do we have a motion on
the floor? Commissioners,
make a motion.
Second.
Okay, we have a motion by Commissioner
Reynolds. We have a second by
Commissioner Sanchez. Uh, and we do have
our economic development administrator,
Miss Carter, here today. Welcome.
The mic is off. Um, if we can please
turn our mic on, please.
Thank you. You're good to go.
Okay. So, this item is for the project
participation agreement for the GRT
share.
Okay.
Commissioners, any questions on that
portion of this agenda item?
Mr. Chair.
Yes, Vice Chair.
Thank you.
Um, I just have a couple of questions
and maybe my fellow commissioners can
help me out on this because we're
talking about Red Chile A, a Delaware
limited liability company. Red Chile B,
a Delaware limited liability company, I
believe. I'm not sure. Red Chile C D
and Yaka Growth Infrastructure.
So,
I'd like to know where each of these
firms are located and if we can start
with Red Chili Z
Mr. Chair uh Commissioner Chaparo. So
this relates to the structuring of the
industrial revenue bond and the various
entities that they create to uh manage
the facility. So um as said in the title
they're incorporated in Delaware. I'll
defer to the company in terms of why
they're structuring it as they are. Um
but it is tied to the structuring of the
economic development project through the
IRB and then they'll lead a I don't have
any background in terms of what the
their thinking is. doing it this way is
not uncommon, but I'll defer to their
their council to provide further input.
Is there a physical address for each one
of the entities?
Two, three. There's five
uh commissioner.
Afternoon.
Yes, commissioner and um I'm sorry, Mr.
Chair, Commissioner Chapadro, Laura
Sanchez. I work for the ROI law firm.
I'm uh one of the IRB bond council for
the companies in this situation. So um
the local address for this will be the
project. Um they are incorporated right
now in Delaware and they have um
addresses that are from out of state,
but they are essentially required to be
registered um as foreign entities doing
business in New Mexico. So these um it's
not unusual to have companies create
what are called specialurpose entities
that um their purpose is to um
essentially do all of the construction.
It's not unlike real estate where you
have LLC's that are created just to just
for the purpose of doing the real estate
portion of a transaction. That's how
this has been set up. And it's a little
bit they used red chili, green chili um
a little bit reflecting you know the
chili of New Mexico but um just so that
you understand there's yucka yucka
growth infrastructure yi yucka growth
infrastructure is the the company that
goes with the series A bonds. Um that
one is is the one that largely will will
be uh working with the micro grid and
development of that. Um the second one
is the red chilies ones and they're
they're broken up into different
companies because there's it's a very
large project and there's phases and so
there's different kinds of um companies
that will be in each block. So ABC D as
the transactions work they're sort of
broken up that way but it's really all
the red chili entities is is one company
and then the the last ones are um are
and it's Green Chili Ventures is the
third company that's involved. Um, and
that's just one and that's essentially
in the in the transaction they're the
tenant of the whole thing.
Thank you. And I'm also asking for the
benefit of the public. So because you
know there's there's just so many
documents to go through.
Absolutely.
And so I was sent many many questions
but um the next question is how long
have each of these entities been in
business? So we can start with red
chile. Red chile. And it's not chile,
it's chile as a
how long have they been in business?
Um, thank you Mr. Chair and and
Commissioner Chapo. They were, as I said
before, they were created for the
purpose of this transaction. So they I
believe I'm sort of thinking back my
memory within the last month or so
probably within the last um maybe a
little bit longer because I'm trying to
think from August 26th um pretty close
to but prior to that I would say maybe
couple weeks before that meeting in
anticipation of having all this move
forward and again um in my experience
and my firm's experience it's not
unusual to have a company um create a a
separate LLC in order to um establish
sort of new procedures and and have all
the transactions run through that
company rather than having it be part of
their traditional corporate structure.
And this is identical for Red Chile A,
B, C, D. Is that correct?
Correct. These are all new companies.
Yes.
All right.
So, next question. What similar projects
have they involved in been involved in
as to each entity?
Again, they don't have um they're
created for the purpose of this
transaction. So, there are not other
entities that they or other projects
that they worked on. Um the companies
that are involved have had a history of
doing work in other states. Um they they
are in that business. Um but these
particular entities are for the purpose
of this transaction.
Thank you. Um, Miss Sanchez, I there's
other questions, but as you explained,
this LLC or these LLC's have only been
in existence probably less than a month.
And so to ask about debt level, credit
history, and their charters would
probably be moot at this point.
Uh, Mr. Chair and Commissioner Chapo,
with regard to those entities, that is
correct. They they are new entities.
If you give me a moment, go the chair. I
gota read the rest of my notes and I
can't read my own writing.
Again, we do have some blanks at least
in my copies that I would require more
information and have probably more
questions, but at this point, I don't
have a complete picture on which to
ask further questions. Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
Thank you, Vice Chair.
Yes, Commissioner Reynolds.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In in discussion about these um uh
LLC's, is there likelihood that those
date those names or companies will
change over the next 30 or 40 days or 5
years or anything like that? Do they
plan to to change the name or re or when
they get uh when they get a business
license here, do they plan to change the
names or just continue with these? Are
there any changes planned for any of
this?
Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman and
Commissioner Reynolds. Um, my
understanding is that the these are the
company names that will be part of this
transaction going forward. So you I
think that we can expect that they will
be the ones that will be part of all the
bond documents um as we go through and
and essentially what's called papering
the transactions. So all the documents
that um that have been approved in form
they will be part of that and u moving
forward there's no intent to change the
names at this point that I'm aware of.
However, if there's ever any um and
there is you you can understand I'm sure
that if there's any sort of transfer or
transaction then you might see a
different company name but at that point
you all would be notified as the county.
Now uh LLC's actually require a board
and in order to be a legal entity so
will we get some information about who's
on the who's on the board or what
companies are um actually become the
board? Will we get that at some point in
time?
Mr. Chairman and Commissioner Reynolds.
Um, actually an LLC require
if it's a single member, it's usually a
member manager LLC. Correct.
If you have multiple members, then you
could have, you know, multiple members
and one manager.
Um, and the structure at this point
doesn't have a board. So, it has um it
it has members or a member um and a
manager structure. Now you are correct
that you can form an LLC as a single
member is correct. But if I thought
there might be as corporations they
might have a board or may plan to have a
board in the future which I I think
actually for this opportunity they
probably should have a board. All right.
Thank you.
Okay.
Any other commission comment?
Any public comment?
Okay,
Brandy.
If you all can turn to Ry's mic, please.
Thank you.
Commissioner Gomedos.
Yes.
Commissioner Reynolds.
Yes.
Commissioner Sanchez. Yes.
Vice Chair Chapato.
No.
Chair Sha Nandez.
Yes.
Okay. Motion does carry.
Um, we did we do have two ordinances.
Um, item number 10 did have an
ordinance. That number was 367-2025.
Item number 11 368-2025.
Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate you.
Okay. Next up, we do have commission
follow-up input.
Okay. Correspondence, Brandy.
Okay, we do have two
Ernest and Lupe Nadarez versus Donana
County and Kenneth James Gutierrez
versus Doni County.
Thank you, Brandy.
We have another close session on the
agenda. Are we wanting to go into close
session? I was just informed.
Yes.
I believe that we could actually
postpone that item until uh Tuesday.
Until Tuesday. Yeah.
We don't have a meeting Tuesday.
This one is not urgent. Oh,
okay.
Then we will let it wait by all means.
Okay.
Commission. Anything else? Seeing none,
we are adjourned at 4:43 p.m.