After nine hours of public pressure, El Paso votes to keep its Meta data center deal

After hours of testimony on Tuesday, El Paso city leaders chose not to pursue an effort to unwind the tax incentive deal connected to Meta's planned data center in Northeast El Paso.

Public comment lasted more than nine hours, according to KVIA.

With council chambers overflowing and audience members booing some speakers, the fight over the project became a flashpoint in a broader debate about what large-scale AI facilities could mean for the communities around them.

What happened

183 people registered to speak, and attendance climbed past 220 earlier in the day, leaving the chamber over capacity as comments stretched late into the session.

The hearing centered on Item 37, brought forward by City Reps. Lily Limón and Josh Acevedo, which told the city manager and city attorney to negotiate an end to the agreement with Meta.

The proposal was rejected, 5-3. Josh Acevedo, Lily Limón, and Chris Canales supported looking at a path out of the deal, while Alejandra Chávez, Ivan Niño, Art Fierro, Deanna Maldonado-Rocha, and Cynthia Boyar Trejo voted against it.

Backers of the project described it as a source of jobs that could help keep local workers in El Paso.

Critics countered that the facility could burden local resources and ultimately put taxpayers at risk.

Why does it matter?

Massive data centers are central to the AI boom, powering chatbots, cloud storage, and other digital tools people use every day.

AI can also offer real benefits, including helping utilities balance the energy grid, forecast renewable power, and improve efficiency. But those same facilities can consume enormous amounts of electricity and water, create security and misuse concerns, and potentially contribute to higher energy costs or other unintended consequences for nearby communities.

Mayor Renard Johnson has argued that trying to undo the agreement could end up costing residents if the city were sued.

"If you were to enter into any litigation with that particular company, and if El Paso was to lose, we would also have to pay their attorney fees. So that would be a significant amount of money that would be based on the taxpayers," he said, per KVIA.

Groups opposing the project, including Amanecer People's Project, said the city was minimizing the environmental and financial downsides.

Co-founder Matthew Rodriguez said, "This talk about 'trust' and 'we need to honor our word' and 'this will hurt our reputation,' these things just aren't fit to this situation. Meta is is trying to extract from us, people don't want that to happen, it's very clear that people don't want it."

What are people saying?

After being booed, one speaker in favor of the data center said, "They were very rude. It's a group of rude individuals that have a lot of misinformation, and they've been saying it for months, and now I'm happy to see the unions and people that are actually out on the front lines, actually building this with accurate information, come out and speak in support of their community."

A speaker against the project painted a much bleaker picture: "It will be a tragedy. There will be nothing left of El Paso. Nothing. Can you not see it? Because I can."

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