A new volunteer committee overseeing Project Jupiter in Doña Ana County elected its first officers Saturday, Oct. 31.
The 11-member Community Monitoring Committee spent four hours at the Doña Ana County Government Center in Las Cruces adopting bylaws, debating how the public should participate and choosing its leadership, according to KVIA. The county Board of County Commissioners established the committee through Resolution No. 2026-101 to provide a forum for community input and oversight related to Project Jupiter, a proposed data center development in southern Doña Ana County.
The committee described its own mission as transparently and independently monitoring the project's operations and environmental impact, KVIA reported.
Through open roll-call votes, members elected Lynn Moorer as chair. KVIA described Moorer as a local resident with extensive experience in environmental law. Art Terrazas, who had also been nominated for chair, was elected vice chair. Don Bassett, a career environmental health and safety professional, was chosen as secretary.
The committee includes two representatives from each county commission district, plus one additional member from District 2, where Project Jupiter would be located, according to a Doña Ana County announcement in October. Members serve voluntarily and were required to disclose any financial interest or affiliation related to the project.
Bylaws and public access
The Oct. 31 session featured debate over procedural rules. Members discussed setting a 60-minute public comment window with a three-minute limit per speaker, while allowing the chair to grant extensions.
Attendees pushed back. They wanted a format allowing back-and-forth dialogue between residents, project representatives and experts rather than timed single statements. Committee member Jerry Prochazka said the board intended to create a format distinctly different from standard county commission meetings to foster direct answers to citizen questions, KVIA reported.
The committee adopted updates to its bylaws governing personal gifts, gratuities, favors and benefits. Future bylaw amendments will require a two-thirds vote.
Members also discussed rotating future meeting sites south of Las Cruces to improve access for residents living closer to the Project Jupiter footprint. The committee is considering mileage stipends for traveling members.
What's next
The committee is inviting the public to submit suggested topics and expert speaker recommendations for upcoming study sessions. A date and location for the next meeting have not been set. The committee said it will finalize those details once meeting locations closer to the project site are confirmed.
The Las Cruces Green Chamber of Commerce has separately called for a pause on Project Jupiter, citing concerns about water use and air quality in an opinion piece published Oct. 30. Board chair Sommer Mitchell wrote that the chamber opposes the project as proposed and urged decision-makers to engage with the community on those concerns.
