Texas To Data Centers: Win Over Locals First Or Don’t Plug In

Data center developers seeking to operate in Texas will now be required to secure approval from local communities before opening their facilities, Governor Greg Abbott announced in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”

The move comes amid rapid growth in artificial intelligence infrastructure across the state, which has led to tension between tech operators and residents concerned about power demand and neighborhood disruption.

Speaking with host Jonathan Karl, Abbott said the speed of the industry’s expansion caught many by surprise, while operators failed to engage local residents early in the process.

“One thing is the rapidity that these data centers are coming online, that people didn’t see coming,” Abbott said. “The other is the way that the data centers, they didn’t do their job to get the support of people in local communities. Gaining the support of people in local communities is essential.”

Abbott said the lack of community outreach created friction across the state, prompting the new requirement.

“Because they did not do that, that’s why I am now coming in as governor saying, listen, if you’re a data center and you want to operate in Texas, you have to first get the approval of those in local communities,” Abbott said. “No data centers disturbing local communities in Texas.”

When questioned about Texas’s previous push to become a national hub for artificial intelligence, Abbott pushed back on the idea that state regulators moved too quickly, pointing instead to company development timelines.

“It wasn’t Texas that was moving fast, it was these data centers,” Abbott said. “They pop up in places that nobody ever heard of before, until they started the construction. And so they had not been working in collaboration with the state, they’d not been in collaboration with local governments, and so they basically dug their own grave for the problem that’s been caused for them, and that’s why they got the backlash they deserve.”

Under current Texas law, developers are not required to obtain state approval to break ground on a data facility, though they must ultimately secure authorization to connect to the electric grid.

Karl noted that some power plant projects tied to major tech facilities, including a Meta data center, had previously moved through approval processes in mere days or weeks.

Abbott pointed to Meta’s facility in El Paso, which operates outside the primary Texas power grid, noting that local approvals were handled regionally and that the company has committed to following the state’s updated framework.

“Because my guidelines and guardrails that I’ve set up are so clear, the Meta data center in El Paso, which is outside the Texas power grid area, they have announced they will be in full compliance with the guardrails and guidelines that I’ve set out,” Abbott said.

The governor emphasized that facilities will not be permitted to operate until they demonstrate compliance with the new local approval standards.