Hinojosa urges Gov. Abbott to pause new data centers until lawmakers act

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa is calling on her November opponent, Gov. Greg Abbott, to issue a moratorium on new data centers until the state legislature can adopt statewide regulations.

What they're saying:

"The people of Texas are being taken advantage of, in a big way, by corporations who are operating under no rules," Hinojosa said. "Data centers are coming in and doing as they please – they are guzzling up all our water, guzzling up all our electricity – and the people have no say. They have no power. That is the Wild West of data centers that Greg Abbott has created in Texas. People need relief."

Hinojosa also outlined her positions on data center development in the state:

• Requiring American union jobs, so operators hire skilled, licensed, union labor, and undoing the fast-track rollbacks that let corporations cut safety corners.
• Giving Texans a seat at the table to decide if and how data centers come to their communities.
• Creating full transparency by stopping data center companies from using NDAs.
• Lowering costs for Texans by ensuring data center companies prove households won't pay more for electricity or water, including the hidden costs passed through for grid upgrades, transmission, and new capacity.
• Make data centers pay for themselves by stopping subsidies. These data centers are owned by the richest men in the world; Texans shouldn’t foot the bill.
• Putting water and power for Texans first by ensuring any water contract with data centers becomes unenforceable if it threatens a community’s water supply.

State agencies announce new regulations for data centers

Hinojosa comments come the day before the Public Utilities Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas published the new rules this week as an answer to a letter sent by Abbott on June 10.

Among the new data center regulations is a requirement that data centers pay for transmission infrastructure built for them and a screening process to prevent developments from putting too much pressure on the electric grid.

The new rules also require data centers to quickly reduce their power consumption when ERCOT orders them to do so.

Data centers are latest fight as election draws near

Data centers have become the latest flash point in Texas politics, with a majority of Texans saying they oppose the building of data centers in their neighborhoods. Local governments have tried to slow the building process down by attempting to install their own regulations and moratoriums, but most regulations are required to go through the statehouse.

In June, the University of Texas’ Texas Politics Project polled voters about data centers. 

By the numbers:

About 56% of people polled said they opposed construction of data centers in their community. Only 29% supported it.

Even Abbott has seemingly shifted his stance on data centers in recent months.

Earlier this month, Abbott called for a prohibition on building data centers near rural Texas neighborhoods.

What they're saying:

"Pushing back on these AI data centers that are trying to build in our neighborhoods. I’ve made it clear already, any AI data center thinking about coming here, they have to bring their own money, bring their own power, use their own water, and do it in a way that reduces the cost of electricity for residents across our state. We must prohibit them from building AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods. We must eliminate the tax break they are getting," he said at a campaign stop earlier this month.

The comments were a seeming about-face from the governor, who last year said Texas would be the "centerpiece for AI data centers."

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