Governor Abbott Freezes Texas Data Center Permits as Trump Pushes AI Buildout
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state environmental regulators to cease issuing permits for information middle tasks. The pause stays in impact till the state’s grid operator completes its audit.
The determination comes from a Republican governor whose occasion chief in Washington has spent the previous month attacking this type of restraint.
Texas Data Center Permits Stop Until the Audit Clears
Abbott despatched the directive on September 21 to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the company that points these permits. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) expects to complete its audit by December.
The order reaches previous TCEQ. Abbott wrote that no different state company can approve information middle improvement till the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), ERCOT, and the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) receive the knowledge to make knowledgeable selections.
PUCT and ERCOT are additionally directed to ask builders to disclose power technology plans, projected consumption, water use, cooling expertise, tax subsidies, and possession.
“Simply put, Texans should come first. Data facilities should pay their very own manner, shield our grid and water, and full the ERCOT and TWDB audits. Until they do, TCEQ will situation no permits sought by information middle tasks,” Governor Abbott said.
Nothing right here cancels a undertaking. The directive units a situation. TCEQ should report an replace by October 19. In addition, Abbott plans to ask the Legislature to strip information middle incentives subsequent session.
Texas now follows New York’s July permit freeze and Pennsylvania’s August permitting rules. Meanwhile, native resistance has already stalled information middle tasks value $68 billion in Q2.
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The Republican Split Trump Keeps Widening
Abbott’s freeze places him at odds with a key information middle advocate in his personal occasion. President Donald Trump known as the Texas stance a “mistake” in a Punchbowl News interview in early August, arguing that the business might find yourself greater than oil.
He returned to the topic later, warning on Truth Social that communities rejecting the facilities would find yourself backwards and poor. In that submit, he mentioned China couldn’t be happier with the motion towards them.
The language hardened once more weeks later.
“There is a SICK conspiracy happening towards AI and Data Centers, and the one one that’s joyful about it’s China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!” he posted.
Trump also announced an “AI Force” on September 19 and promised to not “hinder or stifle the Growth of this unimaginable Industry.” Abbott is transferring the opposite manner, and the polling explains the incentive. An NBC News Decision Desk poll discovered 69% of adults oppose native AI information facilities, together with 57% of Republican voters.
Abbott faces these voters on November 3, when he seeks a fourth time period towards Democratic state consultant Gina Hinojosa. His October 19 deadline for TCEQ falls two weeks earlier than that vote.
Meanwhile, the case for velocity will get louder this week, with Trump hosting Xi Jinping in Washington for talks that embody AI. ERCOT continues to be weighing greater than 474 gigawatts of connection requests, roughly 90% of them from information facilities, so Texas might clear each allow and nonetheless lack the facility to serve them shortly.
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