Texas lawmakers meet to address Gov. Abbott's data center audit
Texas lawmakers held a hearing following Governor Abbott's order for an audit of data center projects to verify compliance with power and water requirements. Community members, including one from Henderson County whose local data center project was blocked, voiced concerns about the industry's impact on resources and land.
A Texas House Committee convened a hearing to discuss the rapidly expanding data center industry in the state, two weeks after Governor Greg Abbott mandated an audit of all data center projects. Governor Abbott had previously outlined requirements for data center operations, instructing the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) to ensure companies comply with his stipulations to "bring their own money, bring their own power, reuse their own water."
The audit requires data centers undergoing ERCOT's interconnection process to disclose information regarding their power sources, water usage, and community impacts. Officials from ERCOT and PUC testified they would gather this data through surveys and provide descriptive statistics to lawmakers, validating companies' attestations before approving their projects.
The hearing also featured testimonies from concerned Texans, including Stacy Farmer from Henderson County. Farmer shared how her community's persistent "time-consuming, money-consuming, energy-consuming" pushback against a proposed data center near Cedar Creek successfully led developers to abandon the project. She emphasized that while it was a local victory, the broader fight to protect Texas's land, air, water, and grid is ongoing, urging elected officials to listen to citizens' voices. No new legislative action is currently underway.