The El Paso City Council is set to mull another round of safeguards for the coming Meta data center in Northeast El Paso.
City Reps. Cynthia Boyar Trejo and Danna Maldonado-Rocha — who joined city Reps. Alejandra Chavez, Ivan Nino and Art Fierro, who killed a plan to terminate economic incentives for the data center project at the last City Council meeting, are introducing a proposal to establish a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) between the city and Meta Platforms, Inc.
The CBA would “address environmental protections, financial commitments, utility infrastructure improvements, ratepayer protection, workforce development initiatives, support for the Advanced Training Center, and community accountability measures, including safeguards related to water and electric utility resources,” according to the agenda for the Tuesday, June 23, City Council meeting.
Additionally, the agreement would include an “El Paso First” hiring commitment for the 300 operational jobs associated with the data center.
Trejo and Maldonado-Rocha are hoping the following items will be included in the final agreement:
If approved by the City Council, City Manager Dionne Mack would be tasked with hosting a series of roundtable discussions with a panel to include Mayor Renard Johnson, City Attorney Karla Nieman, representatives from El Paso Electric, El Paso Water, the El Paso Chamber, the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors and Meta Platforms, a resident representative and an environmental advocate. The assembly would be tasked with ironing out a final CBA to be presented to the City Council within 45 days.
Even if approved, there is no assurance that Meta would accept any of the policy changes being presented.
More action on data centers
The other three opponents of the plan to cancel Meta’s economic incentives — Chavez, Nino and Fierro — are introducing their own proposal to hold data centers accountable.
The City Council on Tuesday will consider amending its state legislative agenda to include advocacy for protections for residential ratepayers who may be affected by rising utility bills due to the proliferation of data centers.
The item would also direct Mack and Nieman to determine “that the electrical utility grid that the city of El Paso’s residents utilize is incorporated,” according to a document accompanying Tuesday’s agenda.
Adam Powell covers government and politics for the El Paso Times and can be reached via email at apowell@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso City Council to mull new Meta data center protections
Reporting by Adam Powell, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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By Adam Powell, El Paso Times | USA TODAY Network
