Project Jupiter developer waives air permit deadline, seeks to postpone Dec. 7 hearing
Project Jupiter's developer has waived a Nov. 23 air permit decision deadline as New Mexico regulators seek to postpone the Dec. 7 public hearing.
Yucca Growth Infrastructure and the New Mexico Environment Department jointly requested the delay after the developer revised its application. A new hearing date would depend on completion of the state's technical review.
Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News
LAS CRUCES - The developer of Project Jupiter's proposed natural gas-powered energy facility has waived a previously contested Nov. 23 deadline for a decision on its air quality permit application, joining New Mexico regulators in a request to postpone a Dec. 7 public hearing without immediately scheduling a replacement.
Yucca Growth Infrastructure LLC and the New Mexico Environment Department's Air Quality Bureau filed a joint motion Nov. 3 asking hearing officer James O. Browning to vacate the hearing date and associated prehearing deadlines. The request follows revisions the developer submitted in October to its application for the facility intended to power the massive data center project under construction in Santa Teresa.
The filing represents a significant reversal for the developer, which had previously resisted extending the permit decision timeline despite concerns from state regulators about whether they could complete their technical review before the scheduled hearing.
As of Thursday morning, Nov. 5, an order granting the joint motion could not be independently verified. The Dec. 7 hearing therefore has not been confirmed canceled.
Developer reverses position on deadline
The Nov. 23 decision deadline had become a central point of contention in the permit proceedings.
In an Oct. 23 filing, Yucca Growth Infrastructure maintained that it had not waived the deadline and should not be required to do so.
Eleven days later, the company's position changed.
In the Nov. 3 joint motion, Yucca Growth Infrastructure expressly agreed to waive the deadline governing its application, identified as air quality permit No. 10883.
The motion also states that the Air Quality Bureau will not seek denial or dismissal of the application unless it makes a finding under the cited air quality statutes and regulations.
The waiver removes a deadline that had complicated the hearing schedule as the department worked to evaluate revisions to the proposed facility.
It does not constitute approval of the permit, and the application remains under review.
Technical review must come first
According to the joint motion, the department needed to submit its public hearing notice to newspaper publishers by Nov. 3 to meet the requirements for the Dec. 7 hearing.
But the department said it needed additional time beyond that date to complete its technical review of revisions Yucca Growth Infrastructure submitted in October.
The parties requested that Browning not reschedule the hearing until the Air Quality Bureau places its revised recommendation into the administrative record.
If the bureau recommends approving the permit, that recommendation must include an amended draft permit, statement of basis and modeling report.
Those documents would provide updated technical information for evaluating the proposed facility's potential air quality impacts.
The motion does not specify when that review will be completed or when another public hearing might take place.
The Environment Department's public permit page contains the application, revisions, draft permit materials, modeling review report and administrative record.
Latest turn in contested permit proceedings
Project Jupiter's proposed power source has faced months of regulatory disputes involving the developer, state officials and organizations challenging the permit process.
The New Mexico Supreme Court temporarily halted the administrative proceedings in August amid legal challenges to the hearing process. The stay followed the recusal of the original hearing officer, Max Shepherd, after environmental groups raised allegations of bias.
The court subsequently lifted its stay, allowing proceedings to resume under Browning, a retired federal judge appointed as the new hearing officer.
As Organ Mountain News reported Oct. 21, Browning scheduled the public hearing to begin Dec. 7 at the Sunland Park Multi-Generational Center, with the opening day reserved for public comments.
Joshua Bowling
That schedule came under renewed pressure after Yucca Growth Infrastructure revised its application and the Environment Department raised concerns about the time needed to evaluate the changes.
The revisions prompted New Energy Economy, a Santa Fe-based environmental advocacy organization, to seek dismissal of the application, arguing that the changes required additional technical review.
On Oct. 27, the Albuquerque Journal reported that Browning had rejected the dismissal request, leaving the Dec. 7 hearing on the calendar.
The Journal also reported that the proposed 2.4-gigawatt power facility would use natural gas-fed electrochemical fuel cells to supply electricity to the data center.
The Nov. 3 joint motion takes a different approach: Rather than dismissing the application, the developer and the department are asking to suspend the existing hearing schedule while regulators complete their review.
What happens next
Browning must decide whether to grant the joint request to vacate the Dec. 7 hearing and its associated deadlines.
If granted, the hearing would remain unscheduled until the Air Quality Bureau submits its revised recommendation, under the terms requested by the parties.
The filing does not establish a deadline for that submission.
The application remains pending, and neither the hearing delay request nor the developer's waiver resolves whether the proposed energy facility will receive the air quality permit.
The administrative record and supporting permit documents are available through the New Mexico Environment Department's Project Jupiter public notice page.
Damien Willis is founder and editor of Organ Mountain News. If you have a personal story to share or a lead we should follow up on, reach out at OrganMountainNews@gmail.com or connect with him on X at @damienwillis.
