‘Hoodwinked:’ New Mexico bill aimed at microgrids paves way for data center development

When New Mexico state Sen. Michael Padilla laid out Senate Bill 418, he presented it as a bill that would incentivize developers to build microgrids and bring power to Native American reservations, High Country News reports. While the initial bill failed, the state House and Senate passed a pared-down version as an amendment to House Bill 93. “Only in hindsight did it become clear that the amendment was tailor-made for industry, including the construction of what was to become one of the most controversial A.I. data centers in the West — Project Jupiter, a sprawling 1,400-acre campus slated for southern New Mexico,” Alicia Inez Guzmán writes for High Country News. 

High County News reports:

“I feel really hoodwinked in some ways,” House Rep. Kristina Ortez, D, told High Country News. In the final throes of the session, Sen. Padilla added the amendment, which Ortez, one of HB 93’s co-authors, believed would benefit local hospitals, schools, and fire departments. It wasn’t until months later, when Project Jupiter sparked local opposition, that the realization washed over her: “Oh, my God, this is what that amendment allowed to happen.” 

In an interview with High Country News, Padilla said the legislation “ignited” New Mexico's economy, pointing to companies such as Castileon Corp. and Pacific Fusion. Since the legislation passed, the companies have respectively broken ground on a 1,000-acre hypersonic missile manufacturing facility and a manufacturing campus for modular nuclear fusion power plants. Both companies claim they will create hundreds of jobs.