Santa Fe County

Santa Fe County sits in north-central New Mexico, with its seat at Santa Fe, the state capital. The county spans arid high-desert terrain along the upper Rio Grande valley and retains a centuries-old acequia culture, the traditional communal irrigation ditches introduced under Spanish colonial rule that still govern water-sharing in many of its communities.

On 2 July 2026 the county's Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt an 18-month moratorium on new data-centre development. Commissioners Lisa Cacari Stone and Hank Hughes strengthened the ordinance from an originally proposed 12 months and a 100 MW threshold down to 1 MW, roughly the draw of 1,000 homes, after public input warned the higher bar would let a developer build a 99 MW facility without review. During the pause the county will draft standards covering groundwater, acequia flows, regional water supply, grid reliability and infrastructure mitigation.

Santa Fe's move became the template for a wider New Mexico revolt: Socorro County followed, and Sierra County adopted its own 18-month pause on 21 July 2026 to block a proposed solar-powered data centre at Spaceport America. state lawmakers have since pledged a statewide moratorium bill for the 2027 legislative session, making New Mexico's county-by-county approach the most concentrated data-centre resistance bloc the topic has tracked, distinct from Maine's failed single statewide attempt.