Texas State Senator Questions Meta on El Paso Data Center's Adherence to State Guidelines
State Senator César Blanco is asking Meta to clarify how recently announced Texas guidelines for large-scale data centers will apply to its $10 billion project in El Paso. Concerns include water and energy conservation, infrastructure costs, and community impacts, particularly because the El Paso facility is outside the ERCOT power grid. Blanco seeks transparency and assurance that local ratepayers will not bear infrastructure costs.
Texas State Senator César Blanco has sent a letter to Meta Public Policy Manager James Hines, seeking clarification on how new state guidelines for large-scale data centers will be applied to the company's more than $10 billion data center project in El Paso.
The guidelines, announced by Gov. Greg Abbott, aim to address development and operation concerns across Texas, including water and energy conservation, infrastructure cost payment, and transparency regarding public incentives and community impacts. While Meta has agreed to adhere to these guidelines, Senator Blanco highlighted that El Paso's location outside the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) power grid raises questions about the full applicability of these commitments.
Blanco specifically inquired whether Meta's commitment to Abbott's standards fully extends to the El Paso facility despite its non-ERCOT location. He also sought details on how Meta's pledge to cover its own infrastructure costs would apply to necessary infrastructure like the proposed McCloud natural gas facility, aiming to prevent these costs from burdening El Paso ratepayers. Furthermore, the senator requested disclosure of the El Paso facility's projected water needs, the water-efficient cooling technologies to be used, and their impact on daily water consumption.
Additional questions included how Abbott's guidelines might affect existing or future tax incentives for the El Paso project, and what protections Meta will implement for neighboring communities regarding noise, lighting, setbacks, traffic, and emergency response. Blanco emphasized the need for Meta to voluntarily subject the El Paso project to the same level of disclosure and review as projects within ERCOT, informing future legislative sessions on data center growth. KTSM has reached out to Meta for comment and is awaiting a response.