New Mexico County Regrets Approving Giant Data Center as Water Worries Shadow Gas-Fired Plant
Updated
Updated · NPR · Jun 14
New Mexico County Regrets Approving Giant Data Center as Water Worries Shadow Gas-Fired Plant
3 articles · Updated · NPR · Jun 14
Summary
Buyer’s remorse has set in after a New Mexico border county approved one of the country’s biggest data centers, a project paired with its own gas-fired power plant.
Water scarcity is driving the backlash, with residents and officials increasingly worried about how a massive facility would draw on limited supplies in the desert.
The county had backed the project in hopes of badly needed economic development, leaving it caught between promised investment and fears over long-term resource strain.
The dispute highlights a broader tension in the U.S. Southwest, where data-center expansion is colliding with drought risk and the high water and power demands of AI-era infrastructure.