City council approves initial water supply agreement with Fermi America after hours of public comment

After more than two hours of public comment, the Amarillo City Council on Oct. 14 approved a water supply agreement with Fermi America that lets the city supply up to 2.5 million gallons of potable water per day to the company’s proposed Advanced Energy and Intelligence campus in the Panhandle. The 5-0 vote authorizes city staff to enter the contract while staff and Fermi continue negotiating implementation details and related infrastructure work.

The council and city staff framed the action as an initial step that secures a defined, limited supply while leaving future, larger requests for further review. City officials said Fermi will pay the construction costs for the new wells, pipelines and meter infrastructure needed to deliver the water and will reimburse the city for other project costs; the agreement sets the delivery cap at 2.5 MGD and contains standard provisions on drought response, metering and termination.

Why it matters: Council members and staff described the vote as a consequential, but narrowly tailored, decision: it creates a contract vehicle that would allow the city to sell water for a large industrial campus while preserving the council’s ability to require mitigation, monitor use and negotiate additional conditions before any larger future allocations are approved. Opponents said the deal could accelerate depletion of the Ogallala aquifer and urged a slower, more public process.

What the council approved - The agreement authorizes city staff to supply up to 2.5 million…