Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) said technology companies that develop data centers “dug their own grave” when they failed to win the support of local communities.
Earlier this month, Abbott placed a moratorium on the development of new data centers in Texas until state regulators can audit the proposed sites that are seeking connection to the electric grid.
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The governor is now explaining his newfound position on data centers as the large-scale infrastructure projects face widespread backlash.
“Gaining the support of people in local communities is essential,” Abbott told ABC News’s This Week co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday. “Because they did not do that, that’s why I am now coming in as governor, saying, ‘Listen, if you’re a data center and you want to operate in Texas, you have to first get the approval of those in local communities.'”
The moratorium sets guidelines and guardrails for data centers that govern the rates of their water and electricity consumption. Additionally, data centers must help lower the cost of electricity for ratepayers and ensure that they won’t disturb Texas neighborhoods or rural communities.
Texas previously welcomed data centers with tax breaks until Abbott changed his tune over concerns of the state’s strained water supplies and power grid. The Texas Republican criticized the quick pace with which data center developers have been moving to build the sites.
“They pop up in places that nobody ever heard of before until they started the construction,” Abbott said of data centers. “And so they had not been working in collaboration with the state. They had not been in collaboration with local governments, and so they basically dug their own grave for the problem that’s been caused for them, and that’s why they got the backlash they deserve.”
“And that’s why these new standards are in place to make sure they’re not going to be able to operate until they come into compliance with the standards that I have set,” he added.
During the sit-down interview, Karl noted Texas environmental regulators approved an application to power a massive Meta data center project in El Paso within 20 days. Abbott maintained that the project was approved at the local level, not the state level.
“To actually begin the data center, they don’t need to get approval from the state of Texas, which is the way the law currently works,” he said. “One thing that they would need to do, eventually, is to get the approval to plug into the power grid.”
The governor went on to say that because El Paso lies outside the state’s primary power grid managed by ERCOT, the data center project wasn’t required to get immediate approval from the power grid operator.
Because the moratorium is so clearly laid out, Abbott said, the developers of that particular data center project “have announced they will be in full compliance with the guardrails and guidelines that I’ve set out.”
ABBOTT’S DATA CENTER CONSTRUCTION PAUSE WILL TAKE ‘SEVERAL MONTHS’ FOR UP TO 300 PROJECTS IN TEXAS
Like many other Republicans, Abbott quickly embraced data centers before their potential consequences were fully understood. When he announced a $40 billion investment by Google last year, Abbott called his state the “epicenter of AI development.”
Texas has 335 existing data centers and at least 248 more in the works, according to the Texas Tribune. The Lone Star State is second behind Virginia as the state with the most operational data centers.
