Proposal for new data center back on the drawing board at Spaceport America with solar energy and water extracted from the air

Green Data, whose proposals to build data centers in Socorro and Sierra counties have been blocked by moratoriums, is renewing its efforts in Sierra County. The company aims to resolve previous objections by keeping the new project small, at or near Spaceport America, relying on solar energy and batteries, and extracting water for coolant directly from the air.

Green Data founder and chief executive officer Jason Bak, PreReal Investments founder and chief executive officer James Prendamano, Truth or Consequences Mayor Rolf Hechler, Truth or Consequences City Manager Gary Whitehead and Elephant Butte Mayor Richard Holcomb and others attended a closed, unannounced meeting August 19 to discuss the new proposal. 

Sierra County Commission Chairman James Paxon, who joined the group by phone, said because no other members of the governing bodies of the county or municipalities participated, there were no quorums and the meeting was not subject to state open-meetings rules. Nevertheless, Holcomb recorded the meeting and used a program to produce a written transcript and summary that were obtained by Project Consequences, which opposes new data centers.

The error-laden transcript does not identify the speakers, but some can be determined by the subjects or names mentioned by other speakers. It begins with “Speaker 1” (presumably Bak) talking about two proposed buildings of 11,000 square feet each (about the size of 10 small houses) and each using about 5,000 megawatts of electricity per hour (about what is used by 2,500 to 5,000 residences, requiring 20 to 25 acres of solar collectors) and about 15,000 gallons of water (about what a single household would use in a year) in a closed-loop system that would not need to be refilled for years. The water would not come from aquifers or surface flows, but would be extracted from the air by atmospheric water generation devices. A single unit could produce 125,000 gallons a year, so the extra water could be used by the Spaceport for other purposes, including fuel. 

“We don’t believe it is science fiction,” said another speaker on the transcript. “Generation one, which is basically a large dehumidifier … is already being utilized elsewhere around the world.” Skeptics question if the units could work in arid climates, but the speaker said the units don’t have to operate year-round and could be limited to the monsoon season. Even more efficient atmospheric water generation devices are being developed for the military, a speaker said. He said Green Data, a Canadian firm, is partnered with an Australian company aiming to set up a factory for such devices in Santa Teresa where Project Jupiter is located 

Asked how often the units need new water, the speaker said they just need to be topped off regularly and flushed only every 10 Ito 15 years. The flushed water doesn’t contain “forever” chemicals but only “food grade” ones. “The reason why you wouldn’t want to drink (it) is there’s a lot of plastic. … There’s metal, there’s lead. … There’s actually other things that is, you know, incredibly below any environmental requirements. So the whole point is that it’s not like a radiator fluid.”

Asked how the proposed data center would compare to the Jupiter Project, underway in Doña Ana County, Speaker 1 (presumably Bak) said it would be less than one or two percent of the size. On July 14, the Sierra County Commission, following the lead of Socorro County, approved an 18-month moratorium on large data centers on private land. But that would not include smaller data centers on state land, like Spaceport America, though locating it there would need approval of the county commission, the State Land Office and the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. Another speaker (presumably Prendamano) said that to be successful, the Spaceport must be open to all sorts of proposals, whether data centers or “spin launches,” and to move quickly to take advantage of opportunities. The Spaceport has “been working with these guys for five years … and that’s not how business works. It’s not the speed of business,” he said. “The state land should have nothing to do with Sierra County. But you’re basing your decision on Sierra County.”

President Donald Trump has been a proponent of artificial intelligence and data centers since meeting with OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman in 2019, according to the recent book Regime Change. Trump, who has become an investor in AI and data centers, recently mocked data center opponents on his Truth Social site by saying they are choosing to be “backwards and poor” while those welcoming them will see lower taxes and new jobs. China, for instance, “could not be happier” with opposition to data centers in the United States. Those at the August 19 discussion were concerned how the November election might affect Sierra County’s willingness to accept a new data center. The participants leaned toward dealing with state Sen. Crystal Diamond Brantley rather than state Rep. Rebeca Dow because Dow must tread carefully as she faces re-election while Brantley does not.  

The conversation kept looping back to the perceived opposition to data centers, with one speaker calling it “an international funded effort of disinformation on social media. … I’d love for someone to do a study and find out (about) the people who show up and speak out. What groups are they connected to? How are they funded? Are any of these people influencers that are paid by outside groups? What are the groups. Let’s start doing come IPRA (Inspection of Public Records Act) and do studies on where the opposition is coming from.” Another speaker said the local opposition is led by what he called “cane” or “cain” people for “people against virtually everything.” (The acronym would seem to be “cave.”)