Month: September 2026

(KVIA) — Thursday, the New Mexico Supreme Court denied the request for a writ of mandamus requested by the New Energy Economy against the state Environment Department regarding an air quality permit application for the Project Jupiter data center.

The data center is under construction in the Santa Teresa area.

Additionally, the court denied a writ of mandamus requested by the Center for Biological Diversity against the New Mexico State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson and Santa Teresa Capital, LLC. The court also lifted a stay imposed on Aug. 23.

That day, the court unanimously paused an air permit proceeding and water use from a new well for the data center.

These rulings are the result of legal challenges by the two entities in hopes of stopping some areas of Project Jupiter.

The main point of contention is how the permitting was processed regarding air quality or pollution that could emanate from this facility, and if any regulations were cut or curbed.

The stay that lifted will allow the drilling of wells supporting the center’s construction to continue.

The state engineer had been mentioned in the lawsuit because the filer felt she had sidestepped due process protections while allowing the drilling of a new well without a public hearing.

SANTA TERESA, N.M. (KVIA) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday the livestock crossing in Santa Teresa will reopen next week after more than two years. Santa Teresa’s port is part of a series of reopenings amid New World screwworm prevention efforts.

The New Mexico Border Authority shared some of its facilities with USDA so it can bring in and prepare sterile flies before releasing them across the border within the three borderland states: New Mexico, Texas, and Chihuahua, Mexico.

ABC-7 spoke with Gerardo Fierro, executive director of NMBA, who said they have been coordinating with USDA to facilitate its headquarters in Santa Teresa for them to prepare for the reopening.

“We offered them office space and, on our commercial parking lot, a space for them to bring their equipment, a cold storage container, among other things, so they can bring sterile flies for their release,” Fierro said.

The New Mexico Border Authority is an executive branch state agency

“We are a state government agency; we help other departments like the New Mexico Agriculture Department and we help them coordinate on the binational aspect,” Fierro said. “They have their own channels of communication, but we are an office that is headquartered at the border, and we coordinate and collaborate with other state agencies or departments of the state of New Mexico, as well as with Texas and the state of Chihuahua.”

“Our main goal now is for the cattle to start crossing again, to be good partners with the state of Chihuahua, to have that Mexican cattle coming across the border and going into the Texas and New Mexico feedlots and ranchers and generate more jobs for the whole region, not just here on the border, but also in Texas in the panhandle area and northern New Mexico,” Fierro added. “I think it’s going to be great; the hopes are to have that crossing open. It’s part of what we do at the border, as Santa Teresa is the biggest and most important cattle crossing in the US, and I think it’s important to have it reactivated, just as Sonora and Arizona did it about a month ago.”