To more smoothly manage future big data center construction projects, members of the El Paso County Commissioner’s Court are on the verge of putting together a best practices guide.
The guide, as envisioned, would both establish rules for the development of such centers, as well as putting in place various standards that the centers must meet to win county approval.
Proposed by commission member Jackie Butler, the best practices guide would provide public officials with substantial information to help inform their actions when it comes to approving such facilities.
The guide, said Butler, could provide clarity on such issues as “water and energy use and costs associated with public safety coordination, fiscal impacts, and overall community benefit.”
In an editorial for the publication El Paso Matters, Butler also said that the “intent is to keep this effort focused and practical – centered on data collection, preparedness, coordination, and early evaluation.”
In response, the commissioner’s court has directed county staff to begin a process of putting together a guide that would also put an emphasis on community engagement.
The proposal comes in the wake of a heated debate last year over the building of the $1.5 billion Meta data center on the northeast side of El Paso.
A seminar sponsored last fall by the National Association of Counties revealed that county officials across the country are increasingly being tasked with weighing the merits of any given data center proposal, while also feeling that the information regarding the impact of such proposals is often lacking.
During that session, Broderick Green, public affairs manager with Google, told the county officials that they should “get up to speed on the latest technology, how they’re built, their resource management, their job numbers, and community involvement.”
January 8, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
