LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – After opening remarks from mayor Mark McBrayer, city manager Jarrett Atkinson highlighted a survey more than 1,500 people completed. The top concerns are water and electricity usage.
Assistant city manager Erik Rejino showed how much water and electricity would be needed if a data center were built in the city. Before citizens comments, some council members raised their own concerns.
Councilwoman Christy Martinez-Garcia discussed how districts one or two would likely be where any data center would be built.
“Districts one and two already have all of the industrial companies as it stands,” Martinez-Garcia said, “so now we could potentially have all of the industrial and now we’re going to add all of the data centers. Somehow, that just is a little bit concerning to me.”
Then the public had the chance to let their voices be heard. Most reactions ranged from concern to disappointment and even frustration.
Here are some of the comments made by residents on Tuesday:
“I would like to ask the council, what economic benefit is there to the average citizenry of Lubbock, Texas to have this?”
“The impacts of large scale AI data centers are not being fully considered due to rush and demand, and rural, lower income communities are being targeted as a result.”
“It’s crazy to me that you would consider pushing this forward. The fact that you’re going to put it on the east side of town, okay, everybody knows why.”
“You said 100,000 gallons a day for water usage, where are you getting that number?”
“Y’all serve us, you don’t serve billionaires. Serve your citizens, it’s a social contract.”
Meanwhile, Lubbock state representative Carl Tepper sees great benefit in data centers. He stopped by KCBD and said the reaction is overblown, and Lubbock should be welcoming them with open arms
“I will take every data center that is rejected by any other county in Texas,” Tepper said, “because we’re a economic development town. We believe in jobs, we believe in efficiency, we believe in development, we believe in private property rights. We are going to go ahead and leverage those beliefs into real money for Lubbock, Texas to be able to fund our schools, our parks, our hospitals, and I can’t wait to get more of these data centers.”
Mayor McBrayer expressed more work and research is needed before any potential data center is considered.
Needless to say, this conversation is far from over.
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