Attorney General Raúl Torrez Files Responses Backing Emergency Petitions Challenging Project Jupiter Permitting Decisions
State Agency Press Release – From the New Mexico Attorney General
September 3, 2026
Santa Fe, NM — New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced today that the New Mexico Department of Justice office has filed responses in support of two emergency petitions pending before the New Mexico Supreme Court, arguing that state agencies cut corners on legally required process to accommodate Project Jupiter, a large-scale artificial intelligence data center development in Doña Ana County anchored by Oracle Corporation.
“The same rules must apply to everyone,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “Whether you’re a family defending a water right or a global corporation with money and political clout. Notice and a fair hearing exist to protect the public, and bending those rules for a powerful applicant undermines public trust, regardless of the outcome. My office will keep using every tool available to make sure state agencies follow the law and answer to the people they serve.”
Water Case: Center for Biological Diversity v. Anderson (No. S-1-SC-41580)
The NMDOJ is filing a response in support of an emergency writ of mandamus against State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson. The petition challenges the Office of the State Engineer’s (OSE) two-day approval of an application that allowed Santa Teresa Capital, LLC to repurpose an existing agricultural well, without the notice and hearing New Mexico law requires, to supply construction water for Project Jupiter.
The NMDOJ’s filing argues that:
- The Water Code’s narrow emergency exception, NMSA 1978, § 72-12-22, applies only to a genuine emergency threatening crop loss or serious economic loss to an existing use. It does not authorize the State Engineer to approve, without notice and hearing, a change in the purpose and location of use to supply an unrelated construction project.
- OSE ignored its own guidance on what qualifies as a genuine “emergency” and disregarded prior hearing decisions rejecting similar claims of economic loss.
- OSE has failed to schedule a hearing on petitioner’s timely protest, filed January 9, 2026, for nearly ten months, denying petitioner any hearing while a totalizing meter shows the well has pumped more than 100 million gallons of groundwater from the Lower Rio Grande Basin, an area already facing severe drought and subject to New Mexico’s Rio Grande Compact obligations to Texas.
Air Case: New Energy Economy v. Kenney (No. S-1-SC-41579)
The NMDOJ is filing a response in support of an emergency request to stay and for prohibitory mandamus in a New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) air quality permitting matter for Project Jupiter’s proposed power plant: 2,275 methane-fueled fuel cells that would generate 2.46 gigawatts of electricity, an unprecedented concentration of this technology anywhere in the world.
The NMDOJ’s filing argues that:
- On July 15, 2026, the NMED Hearing Officer set an October 19, 2026 hearing date and, on July 27, rejected the applicant’s request to accelerate it, citing the case’s complexity and due process concerns.
- Just two days later, on July 29, the Hearing Officer reversed course without explanation, moving the hearing to September 14 and advancing the deadline for technical evidence and expert testimony by nearly 40 days, from October 1 to August 24.
- On August 12, the Hearing Officer further denied discovery entirely, less than two weeks before that evidence was due, and when the administrative record would not be produced until August 24, the very day parties needed it to prepare their case.
- Nothing in the Air Quality Control Act required this compressed timeline: NMSA 1978, § 74-2-7(B)(3) allows NMED to extend its own permitting deadlines for good cause, meaning no statutory deadline justified eliminating discovery and due process protections for the parties challenging the permit.
Copies of both filings are below: