After less than a month of community organizing and support from elected officials, Grant County commissioners in southern New Mexico are considering a one-year data center moratorium.
The vote on a resolution to pause data center development is scheduled for Sept. 24. If it passes, Grant County will become the fourth county in the state to pause data center development until appropriate regulations can be studied and passed.
“ It has been kind of a crazy month,” community organizer Oly Perez told Courier New Mexico. “ The community has really risen behind this and all it took was several people that were concerned and that provided an outlet.”
Support for the moratorium arose out of concern over a data center proposal south of Silver City that almost completely flew under the radar.
Community members first learned about potential plans to build a new data center from a public notice published in the Silver City Daily Press on Aug. 27. The listing in the classifieds announced that Site Layer 1 LLC would be filing an air quality permit application with the New Mexico Environment Department on Oct. 1.
“ I lived in bliss for like 24 hours after it was originally in our newspaper, and then it got on social media,” said Perez. “ Everyone was like, ‘Did we miss something? What is happening? Who are these people?’”
Community members stepped up
To try and answer those questions, Allyson Siwik, director for environmental advocacy group Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP), did some research and discovered that the data center project was being backed by a multibillion-dollar private equity firm in New York, Corner Venture Capital.
“ They haven’t told us anything about water use or the size – anything,” Siwik told Courier New Mexico. “ The company needs to provide that information to the community.”
According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, the listed address for Site Layer 1 is an empty floor of an office in downtown Manhattan.
“ This is a caricature,” Perez said. “Like, what do you mean an East Coast investor fund decided to come into like a rural community and just think that they were not going to be upset about it?”
GRIP analyzed the available information from the newspaper notice and determined that Site Layer 1’s data center would put “significant demand” on the available energy resources, in addition to causing light, noise, and air pollution.
Perez took it upon herself to organize a letter-writing campaign to the New Mexico Environment Department and elected officials for support. She told Courier New Mexico that twice a week all month she’s been training community members across the political spectrum on how to voice their concerns and draft their letters so they are collected by the state as public comment.
“ They didn’t offer us a public comment period,” said Perez. “ Maybe in other situations, one public notice is enough. In this case, it was not enough.”
Why are New Mexico communities seeking moratoriums?
On Sept. 8, County Commissioner Nancy Stephens said she would propose a data center moratorium in response to rising concerns from community members.
Similar to county-level moratoriums in other parts of the state like Socorro, Santa Fe, and Sierra counties, the Grant County resolution outlines pausing developments and permits until the county passes specific regulations that address community concerns.
“People generally recognize that we need some sort of pause to put guardrails in place to really guide this type of development that has the potential to impose huge consequences on the county, our environment, and our local economy,” Siwik said. “I believe that there is widespread community support.”
Ahead of Thursday’s vote, the Grant County data center moratorium has public support from local, state, and federal elected officials.
In a press release, US Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) said: “I stand with local residents and leaders in calling for a temporary moratorium on data centers in Grant County so the community has more time to understand the short- and long-term impacts of this proposal.”
In his statement, Vasquez echoed community members’ concerns about transparency, air and light pollution, and resource usage.
“ I’m grateful that we had recognition at that level,” said Perez. “ Now this is a big-ticket item, where people are asking their potential representatives these hard questions.”
Republican Greg Cunningham is running against Vasquez in a tight race that could impact Republican control of the House of Representatives.
Cunningham did not respond to a request for comment on Grant County’s proposed data center moratorium.
About 75% of New Mexico voters support a statewide data center moratorium, according to a poll from the Albuquerque Journal.
Last week, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland vowed to issue a data center moratorium on her first day in office, while her Republican opponent, Gregg Hull, does not support a statewide moratorium.
“ I think everybody across the state is concerned, said Siwik. “That’s why we’re seeing talk about a state-level moratorium because we’re not prepared statewide either.”
