Several data center companies — including those with projects in Dallas and Tarrant counties — are part of a “landmark” investigation after they failed to respond to state-mandated inquiries about their water usage.
Hundreds of developments are included in the attorney general’s initial criminal investigation, the office announced Thursday.
Under Texas law, the Texas Water Development Board is required to conduct surveys of entities that use ground and surface water for municipal, industrial, power generation and mining purposes.
A water board official recently said fewer than 30% of data centers responded to the state-mandated information requests about their water usage.
Attorney General Ken Paxton said in the announcement that the developments are being investigated to ensure they are transparent about their water usage and fully compliant with state law.
“It is our responsibility to steward our state’s land well, and we cannot do that if companies are blatantly disregarding their legal obligations to Texas and to our citizens,” Paxton said. “We cannot sacrifice our resources, water, or energy supply, and I will continue to fight for our communities across this state.”
Data centers under investigation are located in counties throughout the state, including Bexar, Brazos, Dallas, Ector, El Paso, Harris, Lubbock, Midland, Montgomery, Nueces, Potter, Randall, Smith, Tarrant, Tom Green, Travis, Victoria and Wichita.
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.