// Position · El Paso del Norte corridor
Data centers, water, and power, on terms the public can enforce.
I am not against data centers. I build the equipment they run on. My concern is narrow and factual: El Paso and Santa Teresa are approving facilities that consume large volumes of our water and power without enforceable limits, and shifting the cost and risk onto residents.
The rules are too weak, and the same pattern will repeat unless the City sets enforceable terms now.
My background is electrical infrastructure: more than twelve years, including critical power systems at large data centers and switchgear manufacturing. I have read the public records behind the region's data-center projects and run the water and power math, and I have submitted that work, sourced and reproducible, for the Council's consideration.
The draft Data Center Policy Framework is a good list of goals. It has no teeth. It should be replaced with an enforceable ordinance: a special permit and a Council vote, a buffer from homes and schools, a potable-water cap with reclaimed-water cooling, public metering and reporting, one hundred percent applicant-paid cost causation, daily penalties, and a teardown bond.
I do not raise the specifics of any one deal to single out a company. Each project followed the rules that exist today. The point is that the rules let our water and power leave the table without limits, and the City can fix that with a law that applies equally to everyone, before the next signature.
“I am not against data centers or technology. I build the equipment they run on. My concern is that the City is approving facilities that consume large volumes of our water and power without enforceable limits.”
From the public comment letter
Christopher Celaya to Mayor Johnson and the El Paso City Council · June 9, 2026
Which water-supply number did the City rely on to find we have enough water for data centers, and where is it published?
El Paso Water provides on the order of 105 million gallons per day, with a documented regional surplus on the order of 8.71 million gallons per day. The Northeast El Paso facility alone is authorized for up to 1.5 million gallons per day. If that supply number cannot be shown with a citable source, the approvals rest on trust, not data.
What El Paso gave up for one data center.
Every line below is drawn from the executed agreements for the Northeast El Paso project (Chapter 312, Chapter 380, and the Stan Roberts records), counterparty WURLDWIDE LLC, d/b/a Statue LLC.
El Paso cannot easily undo this deal. It can refuse to repeat it. The fix is a city law that sets clear, equal terms before the next signature.
Three projects. Two states. One basin and one airshed.
These facilities draw on the same regional water basin and the same air. They are being approved at the same time, with no public study of the three of them together.
El Paso Electric reports a record peak demand of 2,173 MW against roughly 2,300 MW of capacity, projects large-load-driven needs of up to 1,650 MW, and has proposed billions in upgrades and a residential rate increase. El Paso is non-ERCOT, so the 2025 Senate Bill 6 large-load protections do not reach it. That is the regulatory gap a city ordinance can close.
Five things, before the next approval.
Adopt an enforceable ordinance
Generally applicable to all hyperscale data centers, in place of the non-binding framework: special permit and Council vote, a 1,000-foot buffer from homes and schools, a potable-water cap with reclaimed-water cooling, public metering and reporting, 100% cost causation, daily penalties, and a teardown bond.
Publish the water-supply number
State the supply figure relied upon for data-center approvals, with its source. If the math cannot be shown, do not approve further capacity.
Require a cumulative regional study
Count Meta, Wiwynn, and the adjacent Doña Ana County project together, for water and power, before any new approval, phase, or incentive.
Make operators pay for what they cause
One hundred percent of the utility upgrades they trigger, with no rate increases on residents, and require the water and interconnection service agreements be filed with the City and made public, redacted only as the law requires.
Require a decommissioning bond before operation
Financial assurance equal to the full cost of teardown and site restoration, posted before a certificate of occupancy, so an empty facility never becomes the public's liability.
What I have built and submitted.
Independent, sourced, and reproducible. Not an official City of El Paso publication, and not legal advice.
Public Comment Packet
The comment letter, the exhibit, and a filled, court-ready model ordinance, submitted to the City Council and City Plan Commission.
Download the packet →Model Data Center Ordinance
A neutral, generally applicable draft amending Title 20: definitions, zoning, performance standards, metering, enforcement, and decommissioning, with 16 local-policy values filled in.
Read the draft ↗CORRIDOR, the public record
Do not take my word for any of this. CORRIDOR gathers the primary documents for all three projects and answers questions with the sources attached, fingerprinted so the record cannot be quietly altered.
Check the record yourself ↗Water & load analysis
The water-supply math and the El Paso Electric load study behind the figures on this page, compiled in the companion Evidence Record with citations to every source.
In the Evidence RecordThe position, the one question, and the five asks, addressed to the Mayor and Council.
What El Paso gave up for one data center, line by line, from the executed agreements.
A filled, neutral, court-ready ordinance written for introduction and City Attorney review.
How this got on the record.
Council directs staff to draft a framework
The City Council directs staff to develop a data center policy addressing impacts on water, energy, infrastructure, and the community.
CSR water analysis
I run the regional water-supply math: the 105 MGD provided, the 8.71 MGD surplus, and the 17.9% one facility is authorized to draw.
Load study, instrument CS-INST-007
The El Paso Electric load study: record peak against capacity, the large-load need, the proposed upgrades and rate increase, and the non-ERCOT regulatory gap.
City staff publishes the draft framework
The staff Data Center Policy Framework circulates: a list of goals, with no enforceable limits.
Public comment packet submitted
The letter, exhibit, and model ordinance go to the City Council and City Plan Commission, copied to the City Clerk for the record and the City Attorney.
CORRIDOR goes public
The full document set for all three projects opens to the public, searchable, with every answer carrying its sources.
Available to brief, at no cost
Open to brief the Council, the City Plan Commission, or City staff on the analysis and the ordinance.
Out in the open.
r/ElPaso and the local conversation
I have been posting this work and answering questions in public. If you want to weigh in, push back, or ask for a source, these threads are the place. The record is meant to be argued with.
I will brief Council, the Commission, or staff. At no cost.
If you are a resident, a reporter, or sit on the Council, and you want the analysis walked through or the ordinance explained, reach out. The math is reproducible and the sources are open.
Independent, sourced, and reproducible. Not an official City of El Paso publication, and not legal advice. Company and agency names are used only to identify the public matters discussed. Every figure on this page is drawn from the executed agreements and public filings compiled in the companion Evidence Record. Citations to area facilities support generally applicable standards and do not direct any proposed ordinance at a single project. Prepared by Christopher Celaya, Celaya Solutions Research LLC, El Paso, Texas, June 2026.