Doña Ana County Commissioners received updates on Project Jupiter from Oracle for the third time at their meeting Tuesday. Last minute announcements from Oracle prompted commissioners to express concerns.
The presentation was given by Mahesh Thiagarajan, executive vice president and head of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Julia Robin, head of Infrastructure Planning and Sourcing at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Jake Oster, vice president of Sustainability Policy and Community Relations.
Thiagarajan said this presentation was going to focus on accountability which is part of Oracle’s mission to “be a good neighbor.”
Robin announced a proposed Energy Services Agreement with El Paso Electric. In this ESA Oracle expects to pay $10 million annually for 10 years, even if they use less power than expected, she said.
“In addition, a separate agreement includes a proposal to provide as much as $55 million annually in direct credits for up to three years for EPE’s New Mexico residential and small business customers. This credit could begin benefiting customers in 2027”, according to a news release published on Oracle’s website Tuesday morning.
Robin said the credit is intended to eliminate a proposed rate increase.
Commissioner Christopher Schaljo-Hernandez said that Oracle cannot keep EPE from raising rates because the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission is responsible for setting rates.
“I understand you want to come in and make a grand gesture. And it is grand, but I don’t see how this is going to work,” he said.
During a previous presentation by Oracle, Commissioner Schaljo- Hernandez expressed concern over Project Jupiter tying into EPE, saying that it is not allowed according to the IRB and Community Benefits Agreement.
About 3 minutes into Robin’s presentation, Commissioner Susie Kimble interrupted.
Frustrated, Kimble asked why this announcement was not included in the copy of the presentation that was provided to commissioners 10 days earlier.
Commissioner Susana Chaparro said Oracle not providing information on time is an ongoing bad habit.
“Every time you’re here there’s new information that the people whom I represent have not heard. That’s very disrespectful,” she said.
Thiagarajan told the commission they will take action to not publish announcements before the commission meetings.
“We’ll treat you with respect. This will not happen,” said Thiagarajan.
Kimble followed up saying that it was hard to trust the information that was being presented.
Commission Chair Manuel Sanchez clarified that Acting County Manager Stephen Lopez forwarded three press releases around 8 in the morning Tuesday.
Oster presented on the workforce developments provided to residents by Oracle, Stack and Bloom. Over the next month, advertisements will be pushed out in Las Cruces and surrounding areas, urging people to seek information about Project Jupiter job opportunities, he said.
Oster announced that Oracle will provide $1 million to the county to help with flood recovery.
Thiagarajan went over Project Jupiter’s economic impact for New Mexico. In a news release also published Tuesday morning, Oracle says the data center is expected to generate more than $13 billion in economic impact for New Mexico during the construction phase.
Commissioner Susana Chaparro asked if Thiagarajan planned to attend the newly established Project Jupiter Community Monitoring Committee meetings.
He committed to attending if called, he said, because there is nothing more important to him than this data center.
He ended the presentation saying “we’re going to be here for decades. We may make mistakes, I said that in the first meeting, but we will correct it. We want to do what is right”.