(CN) — A community advocacy group sued New Mexico’s second most populous county Friday over the approval of a $165 billion AI data center it says violates state law.
The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners approved three new ordinances in September and October to fund the OpenAI-backed Project Jupiter, a development that began construction last week in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. According to the project’s application for an industrial revenue bond, the project will be the largest AI facility in the state, comprising at least four data centers, microgrid facilities, natural gas power plants, a battery storage center and a desalination plant to use brackish groundwater to cool its servers.
Pointing to flaws and omissions in its application, the nonprofit Empowerment Congress says the commissioners violated state law by approving funding for the project and asks that a state judge review and overturn the decision…