North Texas is divided over data centers. Local officials’ votes highlight the tension

Texas is divided over data centers, and that was made clear during several recent local government meetings.

Though the debate isn’t new, city and county officials have reached a critical juncture where they’re making decisions that either halt data center projects or clear the path for them to continue building.

Last week, at least two county commissioners courts made efforts to slow these kinds of developments while one city council cleared the way for its latest data center campus and approved a tax break for the project.

On May 11, Somervell County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a resolution and letter to state leaders asking for a pause on new data center developments until lawmakers can address concerns over water, energy reliability and impacts on infrastructure. 

“These facilities have a significant impact on the local community,” the letter reads. “It remains a continuous challenge for local governments to prepare for and support the needs of the community these facilities require.”

Later that day, during a meeting that lasted past midnight, Red Oak City Council voted 4-1 to rezone a nearly 830-acre property to be used for a data center campus. More than 130 people attended the meeting in opposition.

“I know people think that this has been a one-month period of time that we’ve been working on this,” Red Oak Mayor Mark Stanfill told the crowd immediately before the vote. “This has actually been about 6 years in the making and that is a lot of investigative work, trips to see things and commitments.”

On May 12, the Hill County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 to impose a yearlong moratorium on data center and power plant construction in unincorporated areas.

It’s the first county-level moratorium in the state, though Hood County officials considered one earlier this year but ultimately voted 3-2 to reject it.

The legality of whether county governments have the authority to temporarily suspend such projects is being questioned with Hill County commissioners saying they’ve already been threatened with lawsuits.

“I’m not trying to break the law, I’m not trying to thumb my nose at the governor or the Legislature, but my constituents, my people, are literally begging for help right now, and I have no other mechanism but this,” County Judge Shane Brassell, a Republican who leads the commission and voted for the ban, told Politico.

The same day, Fort Worth City Council tabled a discussion and vote until June 23 on a site plan for a $10 billion data center development. The delay gives the council the opportunity to be briefed by city staff on data centers beforehand, which will take place on June 2.

Texas is the fastest-growing data center market in the country and is poised to overtake northern Virginia as the world’s largest data center hub within the next few years. 

Dallas-Fort Worth has emerged as a key market within the state. The region has 181 of Texas’ more than 460 data center projects, according to Data Center Map. An official total can be hard to track because no state agencies publish a list of data centers under construction.

“Data centers are the backbone of the 21st-century economy, and they’re economic drivers for D-FW and in Texas communities,” Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy at the Data Center Coalition, previously told The Dallas Morning News.

He said the state “is poised to really become a center of data center development and technology innovation.”

Texas has solidified itself as an attractive place for data centers to do business because of its availability of land, power and connectivity. The pro-business state also has little red tape for these sorts of developments.

As the U.S. attempts to assert itself as a global leader in artificial intelligence, speed to market matters and Texas has proven these data centers can be proposed, approved, constructed and operating in a swift timeline.

Gov. Greg Abbott has been a proponent for AI infrastructure in Texas. 

“When you see the demand for them for artificial intelligence, you will see the power that it will inject into the future of the Texas economy,” he said at an event last year, likening it to the California gold rush that made the state an economic powerhouse.

Opposition from Texans has grown, leading to the founding of resident coalitions like Red Oak TX — Say NO MORE Data Centers Committee and DFW Communities Over Data Centers. Virtual petitions to stop data center projects have also been floating around online.

Concerns are wide-ranging from strain on natural resources like water and land, growing energy demand, health effects from living nearby these kinds of facilities, noise and light pollution, environmental impacts, flooding, traffic, transient jobs and more.

Elda Jazmin Villegas, a Red Oak resident whose residential land abuts the 830-acre property that was rezoned for a data center campus last week, called for local officials to research more about how these projects impact communities. 

“We aren’t against data centers,” Villegas said ahead of the city council meeting. “We’re here requesting responsible growth.”  

Developers and data centers supporters have repeatedly explained the advancement in technology that have made their operations moire water and energy efficient, boasted the economic benefits these types of projects can bring to an area and said businesses are doing their best to be good neighbors.

This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.