El Paso residents urge council to cancel 380 agreement with Meta; effort to open termination talks fails

Hundreds of residents packed the El Paso City Council chambers on June 9 to urge elected officials to cancel the city'9s 380 economic-development agreement tied to a planned Meta data center, warning that the project would drain water, worsen air quality and hand the company long-term tax breaks while providing few lasting local jobs.

The council considered a motion to direct the city manager and city attorney to begin negotiations to terminate the 380 agreement. After public comment ran for most of the day, the motion failed on a roll-call vote: the motion did not pass. Representatives recorded as voting yes included Representative Lemon and Representative Canales; Representatives Chavez, Rocha, Tjo, Nino and Pierro voted no.

Why it mattered: Speakers from dozens of neighborhoods, labor groups, health professions and community organizations described what they called an unfair, one-sided deal and predicted long-term harms to the desert region'9s scarce water supplies and already-challenged air quality. Mary Woodruff, who said she was representing nearly nine neighborhoods and around 1,200 public comments, urged the council to "vote unanimously on item 37" to give neighbors a voice after the original 2023 approval. Several public-health speakers cited academic studies estimating millions in health damages from similar gas-powered data centers and urged the council to weigh those projected costs against the legal and financial risks of canceling the contract.

What residents said: In repeated public comments, speakers described specific complaints and demands. One resident asked the council to "be brave" and protect El Paso'9s water and air rather than preserve a contract officials said the city might have difficulty undoing. Others called for a formal investigation into how the 2023 agreement was negotiated and whether financial or procedural conflicts of interest existed between private financiers, utilities and local government.

Business and labor perspectives: The El Paso Chamber of Commerce'9s CEO, Ricardo Mora, told the council the contract supports what he described as a multibillion-dollar investment and warned that cancelling the agreement would damage El Paso'9s credibility with investors and could cost the city hundreds of millions in liabilities. On the other side, unionized construction workers and labor organizers said the site has created thousands of construction jobs but emphasized those are temporary and argued that long-term public-health and resource costs outweigh the short-term benefits.

The council vote: After the public-comment period, a motion to authorize staff to open termination negotiations failed in a roll-call vote. The council did not approve formal steps to terminate the 380 agreement or to direct litigation; no formal contract cancellation or repudiation was recorded that night.

What'9s next: With the motion defeated, the 380 agreement remains in place. Residents and organizers said they will continue community pressure and legal and legislative advocacy; some speakers threatened recall campaigns against council members who oppose reopening the agreement. Councilmembers who opposed the motion cited legal and fiscal risks and urged the public that any steps must be taken in a way that protects taxpayers.

The record: The proceedings included extended public comment spanning morning through evening and an extended roll call. The motion to begin termination negotiations was introduced and put to a roll-call vote; it failed, so no termination talks were authorized that night.