Google's New Mexico Project Tests Water Limits

Google is evaluating a data center in Lea County, where commissioners have agreed to consider more than $134 billion in industrial revenue bonds for a proposed 1,890-acre development with two facilities and a 2-gigawatt solar field.

The project remains under evaluation, and its final site, schedule, power arrangements, and water needs are not fully established; county rules and local concern over water scarcity make those details significant. A separate Grant County proposal has also raised air-permit concerns and prompted calls for a temporary pause on data center development.