Texas governor candidate Hinojosa calls for special session on data centers during El Paso campaign stop
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa used a campaign stop in El Paso to call for an emergency legislative session to address data center developments, citing public concerns over water and electricity consumption, noise, and subsidies. Her proposals contrast with Governor Greg Abbott's recent directives and agreements with tech companies. The Public Utility Commission is set to decide on El Paso Electric's plan to build a power plant and implement special rates for Meta's data center in El Paso.
Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, during a campaign stop in El Paso, called for an emergency legislative session to address data center developments. Her announcement comes amidst growing public anger statewide over data centers' water and electricity consumption, noise, and public subsidies.
Hinojosa criticized Republican Governor Greg Abbott's recent directives, which included agreements with Meta and other tech companies for them to pay for electric infrastructure and conserve water. She pledged that if elected, she would intervene if these massive facilities threaten Texas residents' water supplies and would invalidate contracts that deny residents essential water. The campaign stop highlighted the ongoing debate between state leaders regarding the regulation of the burgeoning data center industry.
The article specifically references Meta's data center in Northeast El Paso, which has seen its investment increase from $800 million to $14 billion and recently partnered with BlackRock for financing. El Paso Electric is seeking approval from the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to build a 366-megawatt power plant to supply Meta's facility and to implement special rates for data centers. El Paso Water, a city-owned utility, maintains it can accommodate Meta's average daily water demand but has cautioned against supporting many more data centers in the area due to limited existing infrastructure capacity.
Opponents, including Crystal Martinez and Jay Mania of the Amanecer People's Project, spoke alongside Hinojosa, expressing concerns about water conservation in the desert community and stating that Abbott's current measures have not impacted Meta's El Paso project.