On Tuesday, Hill County Commissioners Court voted to impose a temporary moratorium on data centers—a decision that followed hours of public comment.
“We need all that you guys can do to stop this and speak for us,” one resident said during the open forum at Tuesday’s meeting. “Your county is trying to speak and they need you to step in and do whatever it is possible that you can do to shut this down.”
The 3-2 vote puts a one-year pause on construction of data centers in unincorporated areas of Hill County, located about 55 miles south of Fort Worth.
Local officials said the pause is intended to give officials time to study the effects of data centers before deciding to move forward with any projects.
“The data center folks have found a sweet spot in the state that has limited regulations, limited enforcement…and they’ve come even faster than we can keep up with,” Commissioner Jim Holcomb said. “I think it’s imperative, given the empirical evidence of the data centers that have been developed here before, that we tap the brakes and we get our arms around what we’re faced with and we do the research.”
Before Tuesday’s decision, Texans pushing back on data center proposals in their counties have continually pointed to Van Zandt County.
In February, commissioners in Van Zandt, which is located about 50 miles east of Dallas, passed an indefinite moratorium on all green energy projects until the Texas attorney general could review their impacts.
Marie Egyed, executive director of Grimes County Citizens for Responsible Development, and Daniel McCoslin, founder of Citizens for Responsible Growth in Leon County, recently told Chron the Van Zandt County moratorium set a precedent for counties hoping to slow the influx of industrial projects.
In recent months, other Texas counties, such as Hood and Hays, have reportedly considered similar moratoriums on data centers.
In Hays County, the moratorium was tabled after legal questions were raised during a February commissioners meeting, according to Spectrum News. However, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra has vowed to continue his fight to preserve the county’s natural resources.