Public Citizen Backs Proposed San Antonio Data Center Moratorium
San Antonio is already home to 30+ data centers, with more on the way; it would be the first large Texas city to approve a pause
SAN ANTONIO — With state leaders taking little action to curb Big Tech’s strain on local resources and alter communities’ way of life, Public Citizen today called on the San Antonio City Council to quickly pass a proposed data center moratorium, urging other Texas cities to do the same.
The proposal submitted by District 6 Council Member Ric Galvan would impose a moratorium on new data center development. Galvan announced the proposed moratorium at a news conference this morning.
“Gov. Abbott has been asked repeatedly by deep-red rural communities and solid-blue big cities like San Antonio to do something concrete to protect Texans from data center sprawl,” said DeeDee Belmares, a Public Citizen organizer in San Antonio. “The governor’s response has ranged from sluggish to purely performative. Abandoned by their leaders in Austin, cities must step up to do everything they can to act where Abbott and the legislature simply will not. The San Antonio City Council must take this necessary step as soon as possible and pass Council Member Galvan’s proposal before it’s too late.”
San Antonio is emblematic of the potential crisis ahead in communities across the state. Local concerns include:
- Costly Rise in Energy Demand: CPS Energy, the city-owned electric utility, says it expects demand for electricity to grow 30-33% in the next decade, with data centers driving about half of the increase.
- Public Health: In one notable case, citizen plaintiffs assert that a pair of data centers owned by Vantage and VoltaGrid are illegally avoiding stringent air permit requirements by masquerading as minor sources of air pollution in a county already suffering from poor air quality.
- Water: Residents have expressed concerns about data centers’ water usage in what is a drought-prone city and state.
There are more than 30 data centers already operating in San Antonio, with 43 other projects in various stages of planning.
Because of state laws, cities have substantially more power than counties to stop data center construction, leading opportunistic data center developers to build outside of cities, in rural areas and often benefiting from tax giveaways. Still, large cities like San Antonio have not been immune. El Paso, for example, is home to one of the largest such projects in the state, currently under development by Meta.
If Abbott does not call a special session, the Legislature’s next regular session starts in January, putting any legislation addressing data centers approximately a year away from taking effect. Advocates warn that developers will use such a delay to build at a faster pace.