No Data Centers
Meta-BlackRock Data Center
Support the litigation of the 380 agreement the city entered with Worldwide LLC for the Meta-Blackrock Data Center on the basis that what was presented to city officials was a completely different project than what is now being built. Meta promised 6x as many permanent jobs, that it would run on solar, and have a much lower energy/water demand.
On this basis, the very least the city should do is cut subsidies to the infrastructure and resources to support such a large project, which was not approved or properly disclosed to the public.
We should not be paying for the gas plant that is needed to power the data center.
Our city owned water company should not be used supply the data center’s demand on water, not to cool the facility and not to power it.
Fort Bliss Data Center
EP Water should not be entering into contracts with the federal entity without public disclosure and approval.
At this time the Fort Bliss Data Center will be using EPWater for its power and cooling needs, despite EPWater being city owned. Fort Bliss has their own water company and should not rely on this city owned resource. City officials should approach Fort Bliss about moving its data center further into the desert, rather than across the street from El Paso housing, as it currently plans to do, as a show of good faith with the community.
Reform
Work with the county to create a strong framework to prevent data centers from moving in outside of city lines, which is where future projects are most likely to be planned, since county jurisdiction under Texas state law is weaker than the city’s against the billionaire conglomerates pushing these data centers state.
EPWater needs to be restructured to be composed of a board that has no other vested interests in the company’s decisions.
The estimate the city provided to break the agreement with Meta did not offer detailing or breakdown and was presented by City Attorney Neiman. City Attorney Neiman also oversaw the 380 agreement, which many experts have concluded is a very poorly drafted contract. It is my belief that this shows a conflict of interest or an inability to perform to the standards the city needs, to warrant seeking outside counsel on dealing with the 380 agreement and a full investigation of the City Attorney’s department.
Our reliance on the privately owned JP Morgan Electric Company, and their vested interest in the data centers should be investigated, and as a city, we should diversify our power sources to lower our reliance on the company.