Recycled Water
Dear editor, I was told that McKinley, Socorro, & Donna Anna counties do not want any Data Centers in their communities that would bring more jobs, add more energy to electric grids. McKinley County still has the Escalante Generating Station in Prewitt, NM standing which laid of107 employees at closure, and was working with McKinley Paper Company to maintain steam/water supply. A 200 MW solar plant near the site began operation in June 2024, replacing the coal facility. I have seen several large solar farms all over Cibola County, in Grants, Bluewater Village, Cubero, & Seboyeta but my electric bill is still high. I Googled “all new data centers use groundwater”. Some use air cooling or closed-loop cooling with recycled water, reducing direct withdrawal of ground water. Others are sited in regions with abundant surface water or reclaimed water.
A meeting is set for Sept 9th from 5-8pm at NMSU College where the Homestake Mining Company may want to stop pumping water to clean because is not working or maybe no longer needs to be done. The Village of Milan has a large tract of land near the Homestake they have been trying to start an industry for years behind the Mount Taylor Mill Works.
I do not pretend to be the smartest person in the world but maybe putting a Data Center in Cibola County, using the water from Homestake, and the VOM Industrial Site would make sense.
I often wonder if any of the people we elect to city, state, and federal offices would consider these things. When you do not complain, speak up, attend political meetings for the people you elect except for the worst decisions, and outcomes.
Harry Hall
Data Centers in New Mexico
Dear editor, Let's talk data centers. All over the nation, and around our state people are complaining that they don't want data centers near their neighborhoods or in their towns. The problem seems to be that the water that the data centers use would be too much and destroy their towns.
Well here in Cibola & McKinley Counties we have legacy uranium mining sites. These sites like Home Stake, Kerr McGee, the old Gulf mine have plenty of water that's contaminated. If that water could be cleaned to use as a coolant for the data centers? The electric & sewage infrastructure already exists at these sites.
So, here's a question from somebody that's lived in Grants all his life. Why don't we kill two birds with one stone? Why don't we bring the data centers to Cibola & McKinley Counties, put them on the old Legacy mine sites like Home Stake, Kerr McGee, Anaconda, Church Rock or any of the other legacy mine sites that are out of towns, have the water & infrastructure in place to help both our communities & the AI needs to further improve our State & Nation? Maybe our Politicians that represent us at the Federal, State, County & City will have an open mind and look into this issue. Seems to make a LOT more sense than trying to evaporate that water by spraying it into the air. Let's create the jobs take the revenue from the tech giants, improve our communities & clean the water at the same time.
Martin Hicks, Grants, N.M.