Meta’s planned data center could be El Paso’s biggest electricity user. Some residents worry that a new power plant to run it would worsen air pollution and guzzle water.

El Paso’s dry climate — it rains just 9 inches annually — is one of the reasons the city has taken water management so seriously.

The program helps low-income people with heating and cooling bills, but advocates say it disadvantages Texas and other warm-weather states, even though extreme heat is a key cause of weather-related deaths.

As global efforts to combat climate change falter, climate activists have turned to local initiatives to rein in carbon emissions. A May vote on a city charter amendment has thrust El Paso into the fray.