The New Mexico Building and Construction Trades Council has taken a firm position on one of the state's most contested development questions, announcing on September 28, 2026 a partnership with Green Data Center Real Estate, Inc. that places the state's skilled union workforce at the center of a new approach to data center construction.

A Workforce-First Answer to the Data Center Debate

The Council, a statewide alliance of 14 building and construction trades unions, described the agreement as the first of its kind in New Mexico, and the first it has entered that elevates renewable energy, water stewardship, and environmental performance to explicit union priorities alongside family-sustaining wages, workplace safety, and registered apprenticeship.

For the Council, the arrangement is a statement about economic development itself. In a September 15, 2026, announcement, the organization framed the partnership as evidence that New Mexico need not choose between jobs and the environment.

"We can demand all of them, and this partnership is the path forward to doing that. We can build it here.

We can build it responsibly. And we can build it union," Council representatives said.

Rejecting Blanket Opposition, Setting a Benchmark

The Council was equally clear about what it considers the wrong path. While communities are justified in rejecting poorly planned projects or developers unwilling to protect local resources, blanket opposition to data center development is, in the Council's view, not a responsible answer; it simply sends the jobs, the investments, and the state's young workers elsewhere.

Instead, the Council said it is establishing a different standard, one it expects other developers to meet or exceed.

That standard includes protecting water, developing responsible energy solutions, transparency with communities, investing in workforce development and registered apprenticeships, and creating family-sustaining careers for New Mexico residents. The approach, the Council noted, avoids importing a workforce that departs once construction wraps up. "

Green Data Centers presented a vision that recognizes those priorities can work together.

This is the type of project the Building Trades have elected to stand behind," said Jeffrey L. Steele, the Council's Executive Director. He described the Council as pro-union, pro-New Mexico, and pro-economic development that actually benefits New Mexicans.

"How," Not "Whether": Leaders Define the Terms

Both leaders framed the debate as one of method rather than merits.

"This is the conversation New Mexico should be having about data centers," Steele said. "The question shouldn't simply be whether or not we build them. The question should be how we build them, who benefits, who does the work, and what commitments developers must make to New Mexico communities.

Green Data Centers has come to the table prepared to make those commitments.

" Jason Bak, CEO of Green Data Centers, said the company came to New Mexico to prove a data center can be built responsibly, powered by the sun, producing its own water, and open to independent verification of every one of those claims.

"The Building Trades are asking the right question: not whether New Mexico should host data centers, but how they get built, who does the work, and who benefits," Bak said.

"Our answer is that the people who build and operate these facilities should be New Mexicans, trained in New Mexico, earning family-sustaining wages. This partnership puts that commitment in writing."

Inside the Development Model

The agreement rests on the development model Green Data Centers has committed to for its New Mexico projects. On the power side, the company plans on-site solar generation designed to exceed 100% of each project's annual electricity use, with backup provided predominantly by battery storage, reducing reliance on both the grid and conventional fossil-fuel backup generation.

Water is addressed through atmospheric water generation designed to make each facility water-neutral: rather than drawing down local aquifers or municipal supplies, each facility produces its own water, with the potential to supply water beyond its own needs to the surrounding community.

The model also features what the company calls radical transparency, technology that allows stakeholders to independently validate the company's energy, water and environmental commitments.

Apprenticeships and a Building Legacy

Bak tied the partnership to New Mexico's construction history. "A data center is only as good as the people who build and maintain it. The men and women of New Mexico's building trades built Los Alamos and White Sands.

They are exactly who should build today's frontier opportunities," he said.

He added that the state has a skilled union workforce and an apprenticeship system capable of growing with the industry, and that the training center exists to ensure that growth happens in-state, so the careers these projects create start in New Mexico and stay in New Mexico.

The Organizations Behind the Agreement

Green Data Center Real Estate Inc., based in Vancouver, British Columbia, New Mexico and Texas, develops autotrophic data centers, facilities designed to feed themselves by generating their own power from on-site solar backed by battery storage, producing their own water through atmospheric water generation, and using technology that lets stakeholders independently verify their energy, water, and environmental performance.

The company is developing projects in New Mexico and Texas with the aim of building AI-economy infrastructure without straining local electricity grids or water supplies.

Mexico,The New Mexico Building and Construction Trades Council represents affiliated skilled construction trades throughout the state and advocates for family-sustaining wages, workplace safety, Registered Apprenticeship, strong labor standards, and responsible economic development that creates lasting opportunities.