Another Abbott Data Center Letter, but No Real Action
Legislative, not performative, action is needed, Public Citizen says
AUSTIN, Texas — In another attempt to respond to growing backlash to data center development, Gov. Greg Abbott today directed a state agency often criticized for failing to protect Texans to delay permits for data centers.
Today, Abbott wrote to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), directing it to stop issuing air and water permits to data centers until the governor’s previous directive to audit the industry is fulfilled. Data centers need TCEQ permits for air pollution from backup diesel generators and natural gas power plants, as well as for wastewater and fuel storage.
“The TCEQ is broken, as anyone who has ever appealed to the agency to protect them from industry pollution will tell you,” said Kathryn Guerra, director of Public Citizen’s TCEQ Watchdog Campaign. “It’s doubtful that TCEQ can legally pause permitting without legislative action. Abbott’s directive also does not clearly apply to behind-the-meter gas plants associated with data centers.The governor, who issued an open invitation to data center developers to come to the state, is taking a piecemeal approach while refusing to call lawmakers to Austin for a special session to craft data center-specific rules. Unless Abbott puts his signature to real protections passed by the Texas Legislature, today’s letter is just more words that won’t do much to protect residents across the state.”
Even if a temporary moratorium were enacted, a pause alone would not address broader concerns regarding public participation in the permitting process. Currently, some air permits for data center construction may be authorized through permitting mechanisms that provide limited opportunities for public notice, comment, or contested case hearings.
This follows the TCEQ’s cancellation of two public meetings on major air permits for AI data centers in San Antonio and Amarillo. The agency hasn’t rescheduled those meetings or scheduled any new public input opportunities for any data center permits.
Abbott’s data center mandate pushes developers to build natural gas power plants, bringing pollution to communities alongside the data centers. Data center power plants are now some of the largest sources of pollution in the state, and for an Amazon data center in Pecos – the largest in the nation.
Last month Abbott ordered the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to deny data center connections to the state’s electric grid until those agencies complete an industry audit. The audit is scheduled to conclude in December. However, many data center developers regularly bypass grid connections and instead build their own gas-burning power plants, effectively exempting those projects from Abbott’s August directive.