Grant County, New Mexico, adopts one-year data center moratorium

Grant County commissioners in New Mexico voted 4-1 on Oct. 22 to adopt a one-year moratorium barring anyone from building, expanding or operating a data center, or infrastructure built mainly to serve one, in unincorporated parts of the county, with the pause running from Nov. 21, 2026, to Nov. 21, 2027, while the county studies whether and how to regulate the facilities, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. Residents learned of the project behind the vote, Site Layer 1 LLC’s planned data center near Hachita and Playas, from an Aug. 27 legal notice in the Silver City Daily Press, which said the facility could consume about 2.3 million cubic feet of natural gas an hour, per the New Mexican. At the meeting, the developer said it plans 715 megawatts of solar and 715 megawatts of storage, while the New Mexico Environment Department said the company’s air permit application included no documentation of community engagement.