Project Jupiter hearing officer recuses after groups allege bias
Project Jupiter hearing officer Max Shepherd has recused himself after environmental groups alleged bias in the air-permit proceeding.
Max Shepherd stepped aside after environmental groups sought his disqualification, one day before the New Mexico Supreme Court stayed the air-permit proceeding
Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News
LAS CRUCES - The hearing officer overseeing Project Jupiter’s air-quality permit proceeding has recused himself after environmental groups sought his disqualification, alleging a pattern of rulings they said showed bias toward the project developer and the New Mexico Environment Department.
Max Shepherd signed the recusal order Saturday, Aug. 22, according to the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. The Environment Department published the order Monday.
The recusal came after the law center and the Center for Biological Diversity filed an emergency joint motion Aug. 19 seeking Shepherd’s removal from the proceeding over Yucca Growth Infrastructure LLC’s application for an air-quality permit for Project Jupiter.
The groups alleged Shepherd had demonstrated favoritism toward Yucca Growth Infrastructure, Oracle and the Environment Department through a series of rulings and reversals.
Shepherd’s recusal does not amount to a finding that he was biased.
The development became public one day after the New Mexico Supreme Court separately stayed the underlying air-permit proceeding while it considers a legal challenge brought by New Energy Economy.
Groups challenged Shepherd’s rulings
The disqualification motion followed several disputed scheduling and procedural decisions in the air-permit case.
Shepherd initially scheduled the public hearing to begin Oct. 19, then later moved it to Sept. 14 after attorneys for the developer argued the later date could leave too little time for the Environment Department to act before its permit deadline.
Environmental groups objected to the accelerated schedule and argued it would compress the time available to prepare for what they described as a highly technical proceeding.
Shepherd also issued an Aug. 5 order directing parties to address questions about whether Project Jupiter had a legally obtainable natural gas supply after the New Mexico State Land Office rejected a proposed pipeline route.
Five days later, Shepherd withdrew that order, calling it “inadvisably filed,” and said the issue could instead be addressed through testimony during the permit hearing.
The New Mexico Environmental Law Center and Center for Biological Diversity cited those and other actions in seeking his disqualification.
Maslyn Locke, senior staff attorney for the law center, said Shepherd ultimately “did the right thing” by stepping aside.
Locke said the groups perceived his reversals as a pattern of favoritism that would have prevented a fair hearing and said they hope affected residents and organizations will have a role in selecting any replacement hearing officer if the proceeding resumes.
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Support Organ Mountain NewsRecusal precedes Supreme Court stay
Shepherd signed the recusal order Aug. 22.
The following day, the New Mexico Supreme Court granted New Energy Economy’s emergency request to stay the underlying administrative proceeding involving Yucca Growth Infrastructure’s air-quality permit application.
The stay remains in effect until further order of the court.
The Supreme Court also issued a separate order staying an October 2025 emergency drilling authorization allowing water from a new well to be used for construction of Project Jupiter.
Responses in both Supreme Court cases are due Sept. 2.
The Supreme Court orders do not decide the merits of either legal challenge.
Shepherd’s recusal similarly does not resolve the air-permit application or the allegations raised against him.
If the administrative proceeding resumes, the Environment Department would need to move forward without the hearing officer who had been presiding over the case.
The Sept. 14 air-permit hearing had already been thrown into doubt by the Supreme Court stay.
A separate Project Jupiter case is also scheduled for Sept. 2 in Third Judicial District Court, where Judge James T. Martin is sitting by designation in litigation over $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds authorized by the Doña Ana County Commission. The upcoming hearing concerns Yucca Growth Infrastructure’s motion to supplement the record with material it says commissioners considered before adopting the bond ordinances.
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.
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