Texas Governor Pauses New Data Centers, Mirroring Growing U.S. Skepticism

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Written by John Egan for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Opposition to proposed data centers continues to grow across the nation, as shown by a decision to pause new projects in Texas and results from primary election contests.

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Texas Pauses New Data Center Projects

Normally, it would be hard to find any meaningful policy differences between President Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Both Republican elected officials are closely aligned on border security, illegal immigration, economic development and other hot-button issues.

But a decision earlier this month by the GOP governor, who is running for re-election this November, opened up some difference between the governor and the president. On August 3, Abbott told two state energy regulatory agencies he controls to pause permitting of new data centers until a comprehensive audit can be conducted to ensure they comply with state water and electric usage rules.

Shortly thereafter, Trump criticized the move, saying, "I think it's a mistake when a community wants it. It means a lot of money is going to come into that community."

Under Abbott's leadership, Texas has become a hotbed of data center enthusiasm: Industrial Info Resources data show that hundreds of data centers are scheduled to be built or expanded in the Lone Star State, at a cost of about US$1.2 trillion. Readers can review the detailed project reports for these Texas proposed facilities by clicking here.

Texas accounts for about 17% of all proposed data center construction across the U.S. According to Industrial Info Resources, developers have plans to build 4,477 data centers across the U.S., valued at approximately US$4.73 trillion. Both numbers have risen sharply this year.

In Texas, proposed data centers would add an estimated 474 gigawatts (GW) of new electric demand, roughly five times the peak electric demand served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state's main grid manager.

"Approximately 90 percent of the new power requests are data centers," Abbott wrote in a letter to the heads of ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT). "That unprecedented load growth could endanger the reliability and stability of the Texas electric grid."

Specifically, Abbot said his goals in ordering the audit were to ensure that data centers:

• Paid for their electric infrastructure instead of shifting costs onto Texas families and small businesses.
• Reused their own water.
• Reduced the cost of electricity for Texans.
• Did not disrupt residential neighborhoods to preserve Texas' quality of life
• Paid their own way and eliminate reliance on outdated taxpayer-funded incentives.

For that reason, he instructed ERCOT and the PUCT to halt processing data center requests to interconnect with the Texas grid until both agencies completed a "comprehensive verification and audit of all data centers advancing through ERCOT's interconnection process."

Abbott said some proposed data centers previously failed to comply the PUCT's survey measuring water and power usage.

It's unclear how large an impact the governor's pause will have on data center construction in Texas. In the 10 days after Abbott's order, his office said proposed data center applications from Google, Rowan, Meta, EdgeConnex, Oracle, Stream Data Centers, Open AI and others had been certified as compliant with the state's water and electric regulations and laws and could move forward.

In a separate move earlier this summer, the GOP governor said he wanted to pause construction of data centers in rural parts of the Lone Star State.

By the Numbers

• 91: Current peak electric demand in gigawatts provided by ERCOT, the Texas grid manager.
• 474: The aggregate demand, in gigawatts, of large electric loads that have requested to be interconnected with the Texas electric grid, roughly five times he current electric capacity provided by the state's grid manager.
• 90%: The percentage of Texas large load interconnection requests that have come from proposed data centers.
• US$1.2: The dollar value, in trillions, of proposed data center projects to be built in Texas

Abbott Moves Reflect Changing Views of Data Centers

"Governor Abbot is well-informed when it comes to the views of Texans, and his decisions about data centers reflect a deep understanding of what the politics of this looks like," Joshua Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, told KEYE-TV, the CBS affiliate in Austin, Texas. A June 2026 poll commissioned by the Texas Politics Project showed a majority of Texans oppose or strongly oppose construction of data centers in their community.

Public and political concerns about data centers are rapidly rising across the country. Mid-year public opinion polls show as many as seven in 10 people across the U.S. oppose building a data center in their communities, nearly double the percentage that opposed them a year ago.

Skyrocketing plans to build new data centers have triggered pronounced opposition. This summer, New York instituted a year-long pause on large (over 50 megawatts) new data centers. Before that, Maine's legislature passed a temporary moratorium on those facilities, but the outgoing Democratic governor vetoed it, and the legislature could not override her veto.

In all, about a dozen states have considered pausing construction of data centers until complicated and interconnected issues of electricity, water, pollution, noise and land use can be addressed.

Data centers also have emerged as an issue in this summer's political contests in New York, Louisiana, Michigan, Utah, Virginia and elsewhere.

Industrial Info Resources has closely tracked the progression of plans to build new computer campuses across the U.S. For more on this companies' plans to build new data centers, and public pushback, see: August 4, 2026, article - Data Center Capex Grows in U.S., But Some Cracks Start to Appear; July 20, 2026, article - Data Centers Face 'Arc of Outrage,' But Consultant Has a Plan; and July 7, 2026, article - Money, Votes and Data Centers: Will Political Spending Overcome Rising Public Opposition to Data Centers?

Country Music Superstars Come Out Against Data Centers

Data centers have become so politically charged that country music superstars, normally reticent to speak out on controversial issues, have come out against them.

One exception to country musicians' reticence is Willie Nelson, who has never been shy about voicing potentially controversial opinions. Earlier this summer, he came out against data centers in rural Texas. "The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter)," Nelson wrote in a social media post.

His opposition, perhaps with less color, has been echoed by several country music superstars, including Brad Paisley, Tanya Tucker and Gavin Adcock, according to an article last month in Rolling Stone magazine.

Data centers, the magazine said, "are quickly becoming this era's radioactive-waste dumps, with residents in both rural and urban communities shouting 'not in my backyard.' "

Key Takeaways

• Texas Governor Greg Abbot (R) recently instructed Lone Sar State utility regulatory agencies to pause approval of new data centers until they can show they comply with state laws and regulations regarding electricity and water.
• Earlier this summer, the Texas governor came out against construction of data centers in rural parts of his state.
• A public opinion poll conducted by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas showed that a majority of Texans oppose or strongly oppose construction of a data center in their community.
• Abbot's moves reflect a growing shift against data centers in Red and Blue states across the U.S.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).