By Kevin Hendricks, New Mexico Political Report — Students across New Mexico traded lecture halls for picket signs Tuesday. They walked out of class to demand that lawmakers stop fast-tracking AI data centers, which they say will drain the state’s water, power and land.
In Albuquerque, UNM students rallied outside Scholes Hall then joined over 100 marchers at the UNM Bookstore and marched down Central Avenue to U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich’s downtown office for a rally. Marchers held signs and yelled anti-Heinrich and Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham chants as they headed down Central.
The same day, New Mexico School for the Arts students marched to the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, and youth rallied at the Las Cruces Civic Plaza.
Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA) led the “Pull the Plug on AI” walkouts. The group took aim at Project Jupiter, the hyperscale campus going up in Santa Teresa, and at the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act. Organizers say the bill would gut environmental protections and tribal consultation and would let corporations sue when their projects get denied.
A Heinrich spokesperson defended the bill to New Mexico Political Report before the walkouts, pointing to provisions they say Heinrich fought to include in the bill: language to hold data centers accountable, and to maintain the federal government’s obligation to meaningfully consult with Tribes under Section 106, prevent the Trump Administration from excluding cultural landscapes from consultation requirements, and lay out in statute, for the first time ever, what a consultation process must include.
“Senator Heinrich’s Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act is the only bill in Congress that forces data centers to pay their fair share for the energy they use, shifting that cost away from families. Let’s be clear: This bill actually holds data centers accountable for their energy usage while speeding up the approval of clean energy projects that put cheaper and cleaner electricity on the grid. That means lower utility bills, more good-paying jobs, and a path toward unlocking our clean energy future.”
Heinrich introduced the bill with Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Mike Lee of Utah and Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. It would speed federal permits for solar farms, power lines and oil and gas pipelines, narrow environmental reviews and limit litigation to federal courts. It would also require data centers drawing 20 megawatts or more to cover their transmission costs. Solar and gas industry groups back the deal, while Earthjustice and the Sierra Club oppose it.
The walkout capped a three-day convening in Las Cruces over the weekend. YUCCA says the event drew more than 100 people from 20 organizations to build a coordinated campaign for a statewide data center ban.
Weigh in on the bill:
- Read S. 5653: congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5653
- Sen. Heinrich, Albuquerque office: 01 Third Street NW, Ste. 1360, Albuquerque, NM 87102,
- Sen. Heinrich, D.C. office: (505) 346-6601
- YUCCA: yuccanm.org/