Google held its first public town halls in southern New Mexico this week to pitch a massive data center planned for Lea County, but residents who showed up in Lovington, Tatum and Hobbs say they walked away with more frustration than answers. Critics described the sessions as polished public-relations stops rather than genuine dialogue, with county sheriff's deputies on hand and attendees reportedly barred from bringing clipboards, petitions or pamphlets inside.
The events, held Monday and Tuesday, marked Google officials' first public appearance in the region as they try to build support for what the company is calling Project Rancho — a proposed hyperscale data center spanning 1,890 acres of Lea County land near Hobbs. According to Searchlight New Mexico, Lovington business owner Clayburn Griffin, who attended all three town halls while pushing for a six-month moratorium on data centers in the county, said the meetings were PR events and that the county commission has not been fair throughout the process. Griffin also said a booth-style setup at the events prevented any real public conversation, and he told the outlet that many community members oppose data centers and deserve to have their voices heard.
Lea County commissioners are weighing whether to approve up to $134 billion in industrial revenue bonds for the project, according to the same Searchlight New Mexico report. Google has proposed an $18 million housing fund for the county and says the project could generate more than 1,000 construction jobs, with ground work beginning in 2027 and construction continuing through 2030, per the company's own account relayed in the report.
Recording Restrictions Disputed
Pam Keller, identified in the report as a member of Protect Lea County, said attendees were told they could not film Google representatives' answers during the sessions. A Google spokesperson denied that attendees were prohibited from recording the events, the outlet noted, leaving the two accounts in direct conflict. The Hobbs town hall was held at the Lea County Event Center, and sheriff's office deputies attended all three stops, including what was described as a sizable group in Lovington.
Critics quoted in the piece said Google's representatives were hesitant to provide official details about expected energy consumption, water-use promises and the project timeline. Lorraine Villegas said the public lacks basic information about the project and argued that a company valued at $3 trillion, by her account, could simply fund the buildout itself. Google maintains that the town halls gave every Lea County resident an opportunity to speak with its team and get questions answered, and the company said it would continue listening, learning and supporting local communities.
Jobs, Water and Power Figures Vary by Source
Project Rancho would include two 900,000-square-foot facilities and, according to the Searchlight report, is intended to power emergency 911 systems, electronic health records, small businesses and digital classrooms in the area. The project would be developed on county land under an option-to-purchase agreement with Excelsior Hobbs Power LLC, a company created for the project with ties to Excelsior Energy Capital, which would also construct a 2-gigawatt solar field three miles from the data center site.
Estimates of how many jobs the completed center would create differ depending on the source. The Searchlight report cites a figure of 125 to 130 full-time positions with salaries between $85,000 and $100,000, a number that roughly matches a separate Albuquerque Journal report describing up to 130 permanent jobs once the project is complete. Google's own project website, by contrast, describes expectations of “hundreds of long-term, operational jobs initially, as well as thousands of jobs during construction” — a considerably higher estimate that has not been reconciled with the smaller figures reported locally.
Water-use estimates also vary by phase. Google says it will use a closed-loop cooling system to recirculate water, requiring a one-time initial fill of up to 9.7 million gallons, and the company's project website separately describes construction-phase water use averaging just over 900,000 gallons per day, with a peak average near 1 million gallons daily for roughly four months. Once operational, the Searchlight report describes the facility using roughly 40,000 gallons daily for bathroom and kitchen needs, or about 14.6 million gallons annually — figures in the same range as the 42,000-gallons-per-day estimate for normal, fully staffed operations reported separately by the Lea County Data Center project website. Google has pledged to replenish more water to the community than the data center consumes and to cover 100% of its energy costs, while describing its power mix as likely majority clean energy supplemented by gas-powered resources for firming.
Moratorium Push Heads to Commissioners
Griffin has collected almost 900 signatures supporting a six-month moratorium on data center development in Lea County and plans to present them to commissioners at a special meeting scheduled for Thursday. That meeting's agenda also includes certification of the canvass for the Nov. 3 election and an executive session on possible real estate transactions, according to the Searchlight report. The county commission's next regular meeting is scheduled for Nov. 19.
Data center opponents quoted in the report called for independent experts to weigh in on water and energy concerns rather than relying solely on company representatives. Lea County commissioners did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday, per the same account.
Part of a Statewide Pattern
Lea County's fight is unfolding against a broader statewide backdrop. Four New Mexico counties — Sierra, Santa Fe, Socorro and Grant — have already passed data center moratoriums this year, according to the Albuquerque Journal. Sierra County enacted an 18-month moratorium in July, Santa Fe County followed with its own 18-month pause to develop rules on noise, power demand, emissions and water use, Socorro County passed a one-year moratorium and later appointed a 15-member committee to study the issue, and Grant County commissioners enacted a one-year moratorium in October after opposition to a separate proposed center near Hachita. The Journal reported that more than a dozen states nationwide have considered similar moratoriums in some form.
Statewide, a September Journal poll found 65% of respondents opposed developing large data centers in New Mexico. Separately, a researcher told state lawmakers that New Mexico data centers currently use just over 500 million gallons of water annually — about 0.5% of statewide water use — but that figure could climb to 23.6 billion gallons per year if every planned data center in the state becomes operational, according to Source New Mexico.
Elsewhere in the state, data center deals have come with negotiated water infrastructure commitments. Doña Ana County's Project Jupiter, a separate 1,400-acre development in Santa Teresa backed by developers including Oracle and STACK Infrastructure, secured $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds and will set aside $50 million in gross receipts taxes for water and wastewater improvements. Doña Ana County commissioners recently allocated $3 million of that money toward refurbishing three Sunland Park water tanks and opened applications for the remaining $7 million.
