Las Cruces, New Mexico: Dona Ana County Issues Second Breach Notice to Project Jupiter

The Dona Ana County Board of County Commissioners voted on Tuesday to notify the developers of Project Jupiter of a potential breach of contract, the second time in a month the county has put the massive data center project on notice.

The vote came after more than two hours of closed session at the board's November 10 meeting. Board Chairman Manuel Sanchez made the motion after 6 p.m. to authorize the acting county managers and the interim county attorney to issue a notice of breach of the Project Jupiter industrial revenue bond agreements and the community benefits agreement, over the companies' failure to report jobs data as the agreements require. District 4 Commissioner Susana Chaparro seconded the motion, and it passed 4 to 0, with one commissioner absent.

Project Jupiter is the artificial intelligence data center campus that Oracle and OpenAI are building at the Santa Teresa Industrial Park, near the Texas border west of El Paso.

What the county says was missed

Under the Local Economic Development Act agreement tied to the industrial revenue bonds, which the board approved in September 2025, the Project Jupiter companies must send quarterly jobs reports to the New Mexico Economic Development Department. Without up-to-date quarterly reports, the companies cannot receive the gross revenue tax disbursements the agreements promise them.

The companies also owe the state an annual economic data sheet starting in February 2027. Missing the April 15 deadline in any year could bring a clawback of 10 percent of all funds received.

The reporting problem is not new. Project Jupiter missed its first two reporting deadlines, in January and April. There was no discussion after Tuesday's motion, and it is not clear whether the companies sent in a report before the October 31 deadline. The Las Cruces Sun-News said an email to an Oracle spokesperson seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The jobs the county is counting

In an October 2026 presentation, Project Jupiter executives reported a workforce of more than 4,000 people, with 1,230 from New Mexico and 630 from Dona Ana County. Under the community benefits agreement, the project committed to 2,500 construction jobs and 750 permanent jobs. The quarterly reports are how the county checks those promises against the tax breaks behind the project.

The second notice in a month

Tuesday's action follows an October 28 letter in which the county told the Project Jupiter companies that the path they are on with power connections through El Paso Electric may lead to a breach of the industrial revenue bond obligations. That first dispute is about power: the project was sold to the county as self-powered, and Oracle's October proposal to connect with El Paso Electric for part of its supply caught commissioners off guard.

The new notice is about paperwork, but it lands on the same point. The county approved the bonds and the benefits agreement on stated commitments, and commissioners are now using the agreements' own breach process, twice in a month, to hold the developers to them.