Rep. Stansbury Demands Answers on Project Jupiter’s Water Use as New Mexico Supreme Court Issues Emergency Orders

ALBUQUERQUE - Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury (NM-01) is requesting answers from New Mexico state officials regarding the water use, water rights, permitting, quality, and compact compliance associated with Project Jupiter, a 1,400-acre artificial intelligence data center campus under construction near Santa Teresa in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. Stansbury's calls for answers come as the New Mexico Supreme Court issued two emergency orders Sunday night regarding the project's emergency well permit, used for construction of the project, and a proposed air quality permit.

Stansbury is directing the public request for information by close of business this Friday, August 28, as the Court has ordered the parties to respond to its orders by Wednesday of next week. Stansbury's letter, addressed to the New Mexico Attorney General, the State Engineer, the State Environment Secretary, and the Chair and Director of the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, requests information about the project's proposed water use, analysis of potential impacts, and compliance requirements under the Rio Grande Compact.

The request comes as New Mexico confronts unprecedented water challenges and works to meet its obligations under a court-supervised settlement following litigation with Texas over the Rio Grande Compact. Under the settlement, New Mexico must reduce groundwater pumping in the Lower Rio Grande Basin by 18,200 acre-feet annually by 2036.

Project Jupiter is expected to become a significant industrial water user in the basin, with estimates putting its water use at over a million gallons a day. Stansbury is asking the Office of the State Engineer (OSE) and others to provide a clear public accounting of how the project's water needs will be met and what water rights and permits support those needs.

"In New Mexico we know water is life and our communities are facing a historic water crisis," Rep. Stansbury said. "Every new major water use deserves a transparent accounting of where its water is coming from and how that use fits within our state's obligations to our tribes and Pueblos, acequias, farmers and ranchers, the communities who already depend on these waters, and our surrounding neighbors. New Mexicans demand and deserve to know how their water is being used, how those rights may be obtained or transferred, and what permits the State has approved. This is about transparency, accountability, and protecting New Mexico's water future."

In her letter to the OSE, Stansbury requests information on four key areas:

• Project Jupiter's water use: Estimated and reported daily and annual water consumption during construction and future operations, including the intended end uses of the water, such as cooling, power generation, and domestic use, and potential consumptive use and return flows.
• Project Jupiter's water rights: The water rights currently associated with the project, their origin-including whether they derive from prior agricultural use-and the legal process through which any transfer or change of use was reviewed and approved. The request also asks whether any new groundwater appropriations have been sought or granted.
• Project Jupiter's permits and applications: A complete list of applications and permits filed with or issued by OSE, including filing dates, current status, and any protests or objections submitted.
• Analyses Conducted on Project Jupiter's Water Impacts: Any analysis performed of the project's proposed water use or discharge on state water supplies, water quality, other users, and compliance with in-state, interstate, and international laws, agreements, and management requirements on the Rio Grande.

"The scale of Project Jupiter makes this an important test case for how New Mexico evaluates major industrial water users in a water-scarce future," Stansbury said. "The public should have a clear accounting of what water resources are being proposed for this project, the process by which those decisions are being made, and must have a say on how water in New Mexico is used."

This request follows two unanimous orders from the New Mexico Supreme Court on August 23rd, 2026, pausing Project Jupiter proceedings. One order temporarily halts a scheduled September 14th air quality permit hearing at the New Mexico Environment Department on Project Jupiter's proposed natural gas fuel cell system. The second order directs the Office of the State Engineer to pause an emergency permit for a specific well being used for the data center's construction. These orders follow concerns from environmental groups alleging a lack of due process in the state's permitting processes. The New Mexico Supreme Court gave the parties involved until September 2, 2026, to respond to their orders.

Find a recording of the press call on this topic here.

Find a copy of the letter here or read the full letter below:

Dear Attorney General Torrez, State Engineer Anderson, Secretary Kenney, Chair Sanchez, and Director Riseley-White:

I am writing to urgently request information from applicable state agencies regarding the water usage, water rights, water permitting, and potential impacts to water quality and interstate river compact compliance associated with Project Jupiter, a 1,400-acre artificial intelligence data center campus under construction near Santa Teresa in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. While the New Mexico Supreme Court has stayed the administrative proceeding on the project's air quality permit and the use of its emergency water-well authorization this week, we remain deeply concerned about the proposed water usage by this facility. Specifically, we are concerned about whether it has obtained the proper water rights and/or permits to operate in compliance with New Mexico water law and the state's obligations under the Rio Grande Compact and interstate agreements.

This request comes at a critical moment for New Mexico's water future. As you know, the state is currently experiencing one of its worst water years on record: water curtailments have hit users and farmers statewide following record-low snowpack, Elephant Butte Reservoir has fallen to its lowest storage level since 1971, and the Rio Grande has now run dry through the middle reach for more than three months-one of the longest such stretches on record. While we are hopeful that weather conditions will improve this year to provide increased precipitation, we understand that these conditions represent a longer-term trend and shift in our water supplies due to climate change-which raise significant concerns about the impacts of this project.

With increasing constraints on our water supply, New Mexico is already experiencing significant pressures to restrict and reduce existing uses. Following litigation with Texas over the Rio Grande Compact, New Mexico is now under a binding, court-supervised settlement requiring a reduction in groundwater pumping of 18,200 acre-feet annually in the Lower Rio Grande Basin by 2036-the very basin from which Project Jupiter draws its water. Given New Mexico's record-breaking drought and ongoing water availability crisis, your agencies' decisions governing the allocation, permitting, and oversight of our limited water resources deserve the utmost public accountability and transparency. This is especially true when the State is legally obligated to bring into balance a large new industrial water user entering the basin-one that is currently reported to require over a million gallons of water a day.

The questions Project Jupiter has raised matter to and affect New Mexicans statewide. Given the size of this project and the precedent it may set for how similar large-scale industrial water developments will be reviewed in the future, the public deserves a clear and complete record of the water resources at stake and how water rights and permitting determinations will be made.

This request follows significant public concern raised regarding the project's water requirements at several local proceedings. At the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners meeting in September 2025, commissioners voted to approve $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds for Project Jupiter. That meeting drew several hundred residents, many of whom requested that the vote be delayed, to allow more time for questions about water and other impacts to be answered. Subsequently, on October 29, 2025, the New Mexico Legislature's Water and Natural Resources Committee met in Artesia and received a briefing on Project Jupiter, during which committee members raised concerns regarding water use and the availability of information about the project to the public.[4] Similar concerns were also raised in recent public listening sessions held by New Mexico lawmakers over the last several weeks and have been raised by federal state, tribal, and local leaders across New Mexico.

At this time, a full accounting of Project Jupiter's proposed water usage, permits and water rights has not been made publicly available nor has any analysis of its potential impacts on New Mexico's water supply, water quality, and compliance with interstate compacts, agreements, and court orders been made public. To shed light on these issues we are respectfully requesting that each of your agencies provide the following information as it pertains to your agency, office, or commission and any relevant information your office may have on the matter:

• Project Jupiter's estimated and reported water usage, in daily and annual volumes, for both the construction phase and ongoing/future operations, including the intended end uses of that water (e.g., cooling, power generation), potential consumptive use, and potential return flows.
• Any proposed or confirmed water rights or permits currently associated with Project Jupiter, including their origin (e.g., prior agricultural use) and the legal and/or administrative processes by which any transfer or change of use was reviewed and approved-and whether any new groundwater appropriations have been sought or granted for the project, including quantities, places of use, and relevant dates of administrative action.
• A list of all permits and applications filed with or issued by OSE for Project Jupiter, including dates and status of each and any protests or objections filed against them.
• Any analysis performed of the project's proposed water use or discharge on state water supplies, water quality, other users, and compliance with in-state, interstate and international laws, agreements, and management requirements on the Rio Grande.

Given the level of public concern regarding this project and its potential water impacts, and considering imminent court decisions regarding project completion, we request your responses in writing to my office no later than close of business Friday, August 28. We also request that your office make all non-privileged information available to the public.

Thank you for your attention to this request.

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