On Tuesday, Nelson, the Texas country music legend who shouldn’t need an introduction, wrote on social media to voice his opposition to an AI data center near his hometown of Abbott, Texas, in Hill County. Nelson wrote that he still has a home there, “where I can still see stars at night.”
“Now our community, like many others, needs to fight against data centers invading our land,” Nelson wrote in a statement. “The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center near our town (or any others for that matter).”
Concerns about the noise, light and water usage have been a focal point of protests at city councils and county commissions around Texas as AI companies have begun building data centers around the state in mostly rural areas at a rapid clip. Hill County, where Nelson hails from, became the first county in Texas to pass a moratorium on data centers only to rescind that policy a few weeks later after a developer sued the county for $100 million.
Nelson’s statement casts data center development as an existential threat to rural way of life.
“America deserves thoughtful stewardship that doesn’t steal farmland (where our essential shared-food is grown) and small family farmers’ livelihoods, and not data centers that only destroy the environment around them,” Nelson wrote. “Whoever controls food and water controls the masses.”
Data centers are used to power all sorts of mundane operations like video streaming but are booming in particular due to AI companies’ need for computing power. According to a Texas Tribune analysis of AI data center permits, Texas may soon become the biggest market for data centers in the country, behind only Virginia. Per the Tribune, Texas has 355 data centers operating in the state with another 248 planned. Tech companies building data centers have been attracted to Texas due to its abundance of land and the state’s business-friendly atmosphere. Many data centers have been exempted from paying Texas sales tax.
While Nelson didn’t specify exactly which data center he’s taking issue with, several have been proposed near Abbott. Per KWTX, Texas developer RCM Hill has offered eye-popping sums for land in Hill County for data center projects, outlined in the company’s lawsuit against the county in June. Another massive data center was proposed in Hillsboro, just north of Abbott.
That Nelson is weighing in on data centers is not necessarily a surprise. Nelson has long been politically vocal, especially on issues impacting rural Americans. Alongside John Mellencamp and Neil Young, Nelson founded the concert series Farm Aid in 1985 to benefit American farmers. Nelson has also been a staunch environmentalist and advocated for the use of biofuels. He is also a strong supporter of decriminalizing marijuana, LGBTQ+ rights, and endorsed Beto O’Rourke’s run for U.S. Senate in 2018.
But still, Nelson is pretty beloved. And if you’ve gotten Shotgun Willie riled up over something, people are sure to listen.