Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on Monday to stop issuing new permits for data centers, broadening his existing moratorium on the industry's development in the state, The Texas Tribune reported. The move comes as rapid data center buildout across Texas draws anger from local communities ahead of Abbott's November reelection bid.
Abbott sent a letter to TCEQ Executive Director Kelly Keel directing the agency to halt all data center permits until the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) complete an audit of data centers seeking to be built in the state. Those audits are collecting information on planned facilities' electricity use, water use, impact on local communities, ownership, and use of tax breaks.
"Simply put, Texans must come first," Abbott wrote. "Data centers must pay their own way, protect our grid and water and complete the ERCOT and TWDB audits. Until they do, TCEQ will issue no permits sought by data center projects." TCEQ will need to weigh the audit findings when it evaluates future permit applications, which is why approvals are being paused, according to the letter.
The order is the latest in a series of escalating steps Abbott has taken this year to slow data center growth, despite previously saying he wanted Texas to become an "epicenter of AI development." In June, he ordered ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas to require data centers to fully fund the electric infrastructure needed to serve them. In August, he announced a moratorium on new data centers connecting to the state's grid and ordered ERCOT to audit similar information on power, water, community impact and ownership before granting connections.
Abbott also instructed the TWDB to partner with the PUC and ERCOT on the audit, writing that "no other state agency shall move forward with regulatory approvals related to data centers until this information is acquired."