Data-center law in New Mexico

N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 3-21-1, 4-57-1

Applies to both

Section 3-21-1 makes a county or municipality a zoning authority for the purpose of promoting health, safety, morals or the general welfare, authorizing it to regulate building height and size, lot coverage, yard and open-space dimensions, population density, and the location and use of buildings and land for trade, industry, residence or other purposes, dividing its territory into zoning districts.

Section 4-57-1 separately lets a county establish its own planning commission by ordinance, appointed by the board of county commissioners. A data-center rezoning or special-use approval proceeds under a local ordinance adopted pursuant to these enabling statutes.

Source: Full text of law

N.M. Stat. Ann. § 62-6-4

Applies to both

Under the Public Utility Act, the Public Regulation Commission has general and exclusive power and jurisdiction to regulate and supervise every public utility's rates, service regulations and securities.

The commission's jurisdiction does not reach a utility owned and operated by a municipal corporation or by certain classes of county, or a generation and transmission cooperative, so a data center served by a municipally owned utility or a rural cooperative negotiates its interconnection and service terms outside the commission's rate and service jurisdiction.

Source: Full text of law

N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 72-1-1, 72-12-1

Applies to both

Section 72-1-1 declares that all natural surface waters flowing in streams and watercourses belong to the public and are subject to appropriation for beneficial use. Section 72-12-1 makes the same declaration for underground waters of a stream, channel, artesian basin, reservoir or lake with reasonably ascertainable boundaries.

A person intending to acquire the right to beneficial use of either must apply to the state engineer for a permit to appropriate before commencing construction (Section 72-5-1), so a data center's water draw for cooling, whether from a surface source or a well, requires an appropriation right rather than a private property right in the water itself.

Source: Full text of law

N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 60-13-1 to 60-13-3

Applies to both

The Construction Industries Licensing Act (Section 60-13-1) licenses contractors, defined to include constructing, altering, repairing or installing a building or structure, or work covered by codes adopted under the Act.

Unlike a state that leaves building codes to local option, New Mexico's codes are adopted at the state level under the Act and administered through the Construction Industries Division; a data center's building permit issues under those state-adopted codes rather than a code a locality chose to incorporate on its own.

Source: Full text of law

N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 74-2-1, 74-2-5

Applies to both

The Air Quality Control Act (Section 74-2-1) empowers the environmental improvement board and local boards to adopt regulations requiring notice of intent to introduce an air contaminant and, for a source above the regulations' thresholds, a permit before construction or operation (Section 74-2-5). A data center's backup generator fleet permits under these new-and-modified-source rules, administered by the New Mexico Environment Department or a delegated local air quality program.

Source: Full text of law

N.M. Stat. Ann. § 3-32-1 et seq.

Applies to private

The Industrial Revenue Bond Act lets a New Mexico municipality issue bonds to finance a project consisting of land, buildings or other improvements suitable for use by, among others, an industry for manufacturing, processing or assembling products, or a commercial enterprise storing, warehousing, distributing or selling agricultural, mining or industrial products.

The Act excludes a facility for retail sale or for distributing electricity, gas, water, telephone or similar public-utility services to the public. Because the municipality holds title to the project while the bonds are outstanding, an industrial revenue bond financing is New Mexico's principal mechanism for a municipality-level property tax abatement on a qualifying project's real and personal property.

Source: Full text of law

N.M. Stat. Ann. § 5-10-1 et seq.

Applies to private

The Local Economic Development Act lets a state, local or regional government provide public support, including land, buildings or other infrastructure by purchase, lease or grant, and the construction of a building for a qualifying entity's use, to an economic development project. A qualifying entity includes an industry for manufacturing, processing or assembling products, a warehousing or distribution enterprise, and several other listed business categories.

The Act does not include water rights within the public support that may be provided. There is no dedicated data-center category among the Act's qualifying-entity definitions, so a data-center project would need to fit one of the Act's general categories, most plausibly as a distribution or storage enterprise.

Source: Full text of law