Deception in AI Data Centers

Investment Analysis Clubs Macro Economic Trends and Risks
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We have a data center project in my county.

September 10, 2025

The campus, which would include four data center facilities, would feature a “closed-loop” system of pipes to cool the computer servers inside the buildings, which developers say would require a one-time fill-up before the water is recycled over and over. Filling up the four data centers would require about 10 million gallons of water, and the developers said the campus’ ongoing consumption would be 7.2 million gallons of water every year that it’s operating.

*The closed-loop system “is not a new technology. It’s well-proven. We have experience designing and building that,” Greer said. *

The project would use a daily average of 20,000 gallons when it’s up-and-running, with a maximum consumption capped at 60,000 gallons in a day, according to figures provided by the developers.

Quite a bit of water for a region that annually receives only 10-12 inches of rainfall a year.

April 22, 2026

We got snookered.

The Dona Ana County Commission gave the green light to Project Jupiter, a massive $165 billion data center being built in the south county, based on its belief that the project would use an average of 20,000 gallons of water a day, capped at 60,000 gallons.

Reporting by the Santa Fe New Mexican, along with planning documents by the State Engineers Office, estimate the usage at nearly 1 million gallons a day. The word “potable” was slipped into the original agreement, allowing for the huge increase in water usage, independent investigative reporter Heath Haussamen explained during a recent community radio interview.

The word “potable” was not in the original agreement voted on in September. It was added after other commissioners had abdicated their responsibility and authorized the chairman to negotiate the final agreement.

County Attorney Cari Neill appears to have been caught flat-footed. In an interview with KRWG, she dismissed the New Mexican article as “misinformation,” but acknowledged that the county does not have enough information yet to determine if the report is accurate.

The rubes have been taken again.
Around 1970 consultants convinced the city to close the main street in a 4 block for a pedestrian mall. Killed the downtown businesses.
1994 consultants convinced the city to start its own electric utility to replace El Paso Electric utility. The legal hurdles and complications were too much 4 years later, God only know the cost, the attempt ended.

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Data centers are being proposed in Missouri because we have low energy costs and abundant water. Missouri & Mississippi rivers and many springs.

Nymby advocates are claiming the same concerns. We have lots of water but data centers might make it dirty. I think doubtful.

The opposition to data centers is strong, well organized and very vocal. In Festus MO four city council incumbants lost reelection in April election soon after approving a data center project.

Opponents can get the vote out. The tax benefits of data centers makes them attractive. It’s hard to believe the silent majority opposes them.

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In other data center news, the CEO and CFO of Fermi America recently both resigned. The company plans to build a huge 11 gigawatt energy campus in northern Texas to supply electric power to data centers.

Fermi co-founder and CEO Toby Neugebauer and CFO Miles Everson have suddenly departed the AI nuclear power firm, sending shares down 22% on Monday.

The company said Neugebauer has stepped down as chairman, although he still remains on the board. Lead Independent Board Director Marius Haas has stepped into the role of chairman, the company said Monday. Everson has been elected as a board director as a result of the exercise of director designation rights held by the Melissa A. Neugebauer 2020 Trust.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I always thought the published plan sounds a little too ambitious to be real. The 11 GW is supposed to consist of four Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors, plus natural gas power plants, utility scale solar, batteries and perhaps more. It wouldn’t surprise me if they eventually scale this down to something more manageable. Now, with this major shakeup in the CEO and CFO offices, it doesn’t look good.

_ Pete

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Google cloud? Steam from data centers may be disrupting aviation along Columbia River - oregonlive.com

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I was there this week. The clouds are … impressive.

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So 20,000 gallons a day for the data center is about 0.02 percent of the city’s average supply.

There is a controversy about the META data center. I don’t have good information on it. From what I can gather it is using about 400,000 gallons of water a day. Roughly 0.4 percent of the cities average consumption.

For comparison a golf course consumes about 300,000 gallons of water daily.

Cheers
Qazulight

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The Caracas Country Club advertised that they used gray water for irrigation.

The Captain

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Yep. We had a developer put in a new course about 10 years ago. The more water he uses the cheaper it is.
Meanwhile now here in New Mexico.

https://sourcenm.com/2026/01/14/report-says-new-mexico-faces-looming-groundwater-crisis-from-climate-change-overuse/
Report says New Mexico faces ‘looming groundwater crisis’ from climate change, overuse

Santa Fe:

population-of-santa-fe-nm-population-by-year-2000-2022
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Albuquerque:
population-of-albuquerque-nm-population-by-year-2000-2022
population-of-albuquerque-nm-population-by-year-2000-20221800×1200 50.8 KB

Las Cruces:
population-of-las-cruces-nm-population-by-year-2000-2022.jpeg1800×1200 52.2 KB

Elephant Butte dam & Caballo Lake drought:

C0530545-DroughtaffectingElephantButtereservoir,NewMexico,USA
C0530545-DroughtaffectingElephantButtereservoir,NewMexico,USA800×533 141 KB

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Didn’t you get the message? There is no climate change. Do your own research…you’ll see. /s

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Freaking absurd statement illustrative of the true nature of the crisis, which is NOT some shocking unexpected change, but rather the total inability to hear and respond to what climatologists have been screaming for over two decades. We are at the end of an unusually wet few centuries in the Western USA, and are now returning to “normal’”, and we are also suffering early results of global warming erasing what had been fairly reliable ‘storage’ of water as snow in high Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada.

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It is fairly common throughout much of the southern USA - sometimes makes morning and evening walks an adventure if you don’t want come back with a new fresh scent.

I generally like the idea - but then I don’t have to live with the idea of my lawn smelling like a sceptic tank. Perhaps you get nose-blind to it after while.

Hawkwin

PS, don’t let the kids play in the yard until the following day.

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And from the other side of the pond…

Revised analysis accompanying a government “Compute Roadmap,” published on Thursday, shows U.K. emissions of greenhouse gas from AI could reach 123 million metric tons of CO2 (MtCO2) — the equivalent of 3.4 percent of the U.K.’s emissions between 2025 and 2035.

That’s significantly higher than a forecast published in July 2025 of up to 0.142 MtCO2 from AI in 2035. The initial modeling was withdrawn in March in order to “reflect new analysis.”

The forecast for water consumption from AI data centers has also been increased, from 1 trillion cubic meters in 2035 to between 0.1–0.5 trillion cubic meters each year over the decade.

DB2

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Update:Data Center permits put on hold.

The New Mexico Supreme Court issued orders Sunday to pause state regulatory proceedings for critical water use and air quality permits for the massive Project Jupiter in Doña Ana County, throwing into question the timeline of its accelerated construction, which is well underway.

Both orders came in response to petitions from environmental groups alleging a lack of due process.

Meanwhile, an attorney appointed as a hearing officer in a New Mexico Environment Department proceeding for the project’s proposed air quality permit has removed himself from the case after critics alleged several contentious rulings he issued showed he is biased toward the developers.

The actions come as many elected officials throughout New Mexico have become more vocally critical of Project Jupiter, raising concerns about projected emissions and water use, in part due to recent revelations about the use of millions of gallons of fresh water for the data center’s construction in recent months.

Oracle spokesperson Calin Gunn said in a statement Monday.

Gunn noted the company will comply with the Supreme Court’s orders, but it was not clear Monday what effect that would have on construction.

*Attorneys for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy organization, have argued the state engineer violated New Mexico law by granting Project Jupiter an emergency permit to drill a new well and to use water rights for construction that previously had been permitted for agriculture without holding a hearing on the issue.

Since April, a new well drilled by Project Jupiter developers has pumped more than 103 million gallons of fresh water, according to meter readings the group obtained from the State Engineer’s Office.

One of the Supreme Court orders will halt the pumping of water, at least temporarily, from the new well. The court order halted the permit “until further order of the court.”

The hyperscale data center — which is planned to run on a natural gas fuel cell plant — has been under construction for months while a proposed air quality permit has been pending before the Environment Department. The permit would allow the plant to produce more than 10 million tons of greenhouse gas, measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, per year.

A spokesperson for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham indicated the governor’s support of Project Jupiter has not waned
Which is why,IMO, state employees have been so helpful in aiding the construction.

The pictures at the link show how rapidly construction has been progressing.
This is a bulldoze job by the governor & developer to get this data center built as a fait accompli.
The local networks have been flooded with TV ads telling how great the data center is for the locole.
Oops, those funding the ads are in a bit of trouble.

New Mexico’s ethics commission sued over Project Jupiter ads, saying the group behind them must register as a lobbyist and disclose who paid.

The State Ethics Commission said Elevate New Mexico, an anonymous out-of-state company tied to ads supporting the data center in Doña Ana County, violated New Mexico’s Lobbyist Regulation Act.

The commission claims Elevate should count as a lobbying organization because of the money it spent on behalf of Project Jupiter, but it did not register as required by law.

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The original plan used about 1 million gallons per day mostly for emissions control. They switched to fuel cells that use almost no water.

Project Jupiter developers overhaul data center’s power plan, April 28, 2026
“Oracle and BorderPlex Digital Assets announced this week they plan to power Project Jupiter with solid oxide fuel cells made by the company Bloom Energy. … The announcement on the new plans for Project Jupiter said the facility will now “use a negligible amount of water,” but provided no details… The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer estimated water use for the previously proposed gas turbines at about 1 million gallons per day. The agency described the water use as largely for emissions control technology.”

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Jupiter project fuel cells will emit 10.1 million tons of greenhouse gases a year compared to about 14 million tons from the gas plants

“Ten million tons per year is more than the greenhouse gas emissions from Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe—New Mexico’s three biggest cities—combined,” Cox said. “That absolutely trashes our state’s climate progress and makes a joke out of climate goals.”

The developers appear to have tried to underplay the fact that the two power systems (East and West) would have required nearly one million gallons of water per day prior to the fuel cell proposal by instead focusing on how the data center cooling would require only around 20,000 gallons per day. Either way, most of New Mexico is mired in a severe drought, and the local water utility is already facing legal action for mismanagement, including failed arsenic tests. Adding the demands of the data center complex further strains the utility’s resources as well as existing water supplies.

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If that’s true, it’s not too bad. The average household in El Paso uses 84,000 gallons of water per year. So 7.2 million gallons is the annual consumption of just 86 households.

The average 18 hole golf course in El Paso uses about 140 million gallons per year – about 20 times that of the data center.

intercst

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But the area only gets 10 to 12th inches of rain annually.
And our region has had years of drought condition:

Record-breaking July temperatures have left nearly 95% of New Mexico in some degree of drought, according to a new outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and “isolated” monsoon rains failed to provide meaningful relief to water supply challenges across the West.

New Mexico’s Elephant Butte Reservoir remains at 1.4% of its capacity, prompting state officials earlier this month to close the lake’s main boat ramp due to safety concerns.

The lowest it has ever been. Elephant Butte is on the Rio Grande river. The Colorado river is having similar problems.

The federal government had to step in there.

https://www.thetravel.com/low-water-levels-lake-mead-national-recreation-area-human-remains-discovery/
Lake Mead’s Record-Low Water Levels Lead To Discovery Of Human Remains
Is the arid West the best place the build data Centers? IMO NO.

Then there is the air pollution from the Project Jupiter just 13 miles North of El Paso/Juarez Mexico.
(https://borderzine.com/2016/11/air-quality-one-of-the-biggest-threats-on-u-s-mexico-border/)

Is the arid West the best place for data centers? IMO Nope! Likely the politicians are cheaper to buy out here. Local residents will suffer & pay the price as CEOs and investors reap the benefits. Is it any wonder distrust of the government is growing?

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Given the growing opposition to data centers, we can expect many challenges to them in court. Even when approved and under construction.

It will be interesting to see how many get completed.

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Next door in Texas…
[Fermi America is a Texas-based energy company developing private grids for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.]

Texas Is Sending a Clear Message on AI Infrastructure. Fermi Was Built for It.
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2026/08/24/texas_is_sending_a_clear_message_on_ai_infrastructure_fermi_was_built_for_it_1201578.html
Governor Greg Abbott’s recent directive on data center development is sending an important signal about where the AI infrastructure market is heading. The governor has asked Texas regulators to examine an increasingly important question: as data centers consume power at an unprecedented scale, how much of the infrastructure required to support them are developers prepared to provide themselves?

Fermi’s entire plan is built around bringing our own power…We did not start with a data center and then ask where the power would come from. We started with the power…

This is why the governor’s pause does not negatively impact Project Matador. Fermi is developing multi-gigawatt power generation directly at the campus.

DB2

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It helps that most of Texas has annual rainfall of 20" to 50". Plenty of water for cooling.

The Project Jupiter developer is BorderPlex Digital Assets LLC out of Austin. Couldn’t they find any land in Texas?

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Fermi America appoints Lee McIntire as their new CEO

DALLAS, TX / ACCESS Newswire / August 12, 2026 / Fermi Inc. (NASDAQ:FRMI)(LSE:FRMI), operating as Fermi America™ (“Fermi” or the “Company”), today named Lee McIntire Chief Executive Officer, effective Tuesday, August 11, 2026. McIntire has served as an independent director on Fermi’s Board since September 2025.

“Fermi’s next chapter is a construction and power delivery story, and we believe Lee is the ideal executive to lead Fermi through that process,” said Marius Haas, Chairman of the Board of Fermi Inc. “The job now is to build on schedule, on budget, and safely. Lee has spent 40 years delivering exactly this kind of large, complex project. He also knows Fermi from the inside, having served on our board through our latest period of growth, and he brings a reputation for integrity that Fermi’s customers, employees, regulators, and neighbors can rely on.”

“Fermi is grateful for the community support and for our Texas Tech partnership,” said McIntire. “We have the land, fuel, water, people, permits, power equipment, and fiber. Our talented engineering and construction crews have made good progress building the infrastructure to support this world class operation. Our executive leadership team and our board of directors are fully aligned on our mission to create shareholder value. We are all excited to execute our strategy as Fermi moves from development to construction and first power.”

About Lee McIntire

McIntire has more than 40 years of executive leadership and governance experience in engineering, construction, and global infrastructure. He began his career in the field before moving into project and executive leadership on major energy and infrastructure programs across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas.

He spent 15 years at Bechtel Corporation as a Partner, Executive Vice President and member of the Board of Directors, serving as president of several of the firm’s multi-billion-dollar businesses, including its global civil infrastructure business. He joined CH2M Hill as Chief Operating Officer in 2006 and served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President. Its work under his leadership included the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, the venues for the 2012 London Olympics, the expansion of the Panama Canal, multiple combined cycle gas-power projects in Texas, and the Abu Dhabi Nuclear Program in the United Arab Emirates. From 2015 to 2018, he served as Chief Executive Officer of TerraPower, where he was brought in to carry the company’s advanced reactor program from research and development toward commercial execution.

Lee McIntire was my boss at Bechtel until he left.

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