Caldwell County residents pushback on data center development

Residents in Caldwell County, Texas, are expressing growing calls for transparency and pushback against plans for nine new data centers in the area. A packed town hall meeting was held just outside La Crosse, where community members like John Castillo voiced concerns regarding high water consumption, utility rates, and possible health effects associated with data centers. Caldwell County Judge Hoppy Haden, who also attended the meeting, stated that the county has limited power to halt these developments, primarily controlling drainage, engineering, and permits for driveways and septic tanks, as granted by state legislatures. The primary concern among residents, especially in a county experiencing extreme drought, is water usage. The Houston Advance Research Center estimates data centers could consume 161 billion gallons of water in Texas by 2030, a figure KXAN investigators found to be over three times the City of Austin's annual water use. Haynes Traitor, representing Skybox Datacenters, an industry leader with a facility in Williamson County (Round Rock), addressed some misconceptions. He explained that many modern data centers utilize closed-loop cooling systems that recycle water, with evaporative cooling becoming less common, particularly in water-constrained regions. Traitor acknowledged that industry pushback has led to changes in some data center plans and emphasized the need for better community education and transparency. Many residents, however, desire a moratorium on development to fully understand the impacts before proceeding.