A proposed pipeline that would supply natural gas to a data center now under construction for Oracle and OpenAI in southern New Mexico has been delayed until at least early next year, according to a recent federal regulatory filing.In a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulatory filing on Friday, Dallas-based midstream giant Energy Transfer revised the 17.7-mile-long Green Chile pipeline’s targeted in-service date from August 2026 to early 2027.The Green Chile Pipeline would cross federal, private, and state trust lands in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, to provide gas to a new power plant for “Project Jupiter,” a 2.5-Gigawatt data center that would be located just south of Las Cruces.The proposed pipeline project lost its expedited federal status last month following challenges by the Sierra Club and other environmental advocacy groups.Energy Transfer had initially sought an approval for the pipeline under a federal “blanket certificate” program. This fast-tracked regulatory process allows pipeline developers to bypass case-by-case review for minor infrastructure projects without the extensive public comment windows or multi-year environmental impact reviews required of major interstate pipelines.The formal challenges by environmental watchdogs forced the commission to remove the Green Chile project’s fast-track status, triggering a longer, more detailed federal review process.In addition to the challenges filed by environmental advocacy groups like the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Food & Water Watch, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff also objected to Energy Transfer’s Green Chile pipeline application. In April, the commission’s staff formally protested the request because Transwestern’s representatives had not provided a copy of a finding by the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office demonstrating the project’s compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act.On Sunday, the New Mexico Supreme Court temporarily halted a scheduled hearing on an air quality permit for Project Jupiter’s on-site power network. Plans call for the campus to generate its electricity using natural-gas-powered fuel cells provided by Bloom Energy. Environmental groups contend that voting on the power system’s emissions is premature because the pipeline proposed to transport the natural gas has not been allowed to begin construction.New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, a Democrat who is the party’s nominee for Lieutenant Governor in the upcoming November 2026 general election, twice denied Energy Transfer’s lease applications this year. Garcia Richard ruled in March and again in July that the placement of fossil-fuel pipeline infrastructure across a 0.63-mile stretch of state trust property is not in the best interest of New Mexico’s natural resources. This forced Energy Transfer to find an alternative route to Project Jupiter.”In New Mexico, we truly mean it when we say ‘water is life,"” Garcia Richard said in July. “We can’t live without it and we know how precious and rare it is in our dry climate. Massive AI data centers like Project Jupiter can rapidly deplete critical natural resources like water and threaten ecosystems by generating shocking levels of emissions to power their operations.”Following Garcia Richard’s denials of the lease applications, an Energy Transfer spokesperson told Natural Gas Intelligence that the company continues “to work through the permitting requirements as we move this project forward.”Several New Mexico lawmakers said in July they’re considering introducing legislation that would impose a statewide moratorium on large-scale data centers. Earlier this month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statewide moratorium on all new data center approvals and grid connections. Other states, like Georgia and Virginia, have recently moved to curtail tax incentives or impose stricter environmental reviews on hyperscale data center construction over concerns about strains on regional supplies of electricity.
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