Permits related to data centers issued after Abbott’s halt directive, advocacy groups found

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Advocacy groups say a state agency kept issuing data center permits after Gov. Greg Abbott directed a halt to all approvals last month.

On Sept. 21, Abbott wrote a letter directing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to halt all permits sought by data centers.

But watchdog groups Public Citizen and FracTracker Alliance found data showing TCEQ approved 35 different permits in the last month. A map released by the groups showed the locations of those approvals.

Kathryn Guerra, TCEQ Watchdog Campaign Director for Public Citizen, described the permits as “specifically authorizations that allow those data centers to construct, to clear the land, to grade the land, to do excavation things that they need to do to begin the construction of those sites.”

TCEQ disputed the characterization, writing that the approvals “are stormwater general construction Notices of Intent (NOI) and are automated authorizations,” not operational permits.

But Guerra said the agency has since suspended 17 data-center-related permits after the groups released their findings.

“The TCEQ took the unprecedented step of suspending 17 authorizations that it issued to data centers, despite, you know, sort of refuting the fact that they had issued them. So I think that that speaks to the fact that that was the TCEQ’s error. They should not have been permitted,” Guerra said. “The state’s website refers to these as permits, and the state and federal code also refer to these as permits, and so we very much believe that the TCEQ dropped the ball and continued issuing these authorizations despite the governor’s order.”

TCEQ’s website showed its electronic reporting system is now temporarily shut down.

The governor’s office said in a statement that “TCEQ has not taken and will not take any proactive actions related to the approval of data center permits.”

Guerra said real change is still needed.

“If the TCEQ and the governor’s office want to play word games, you know, that’s fine,” Guerra said. “Texans are tired of games when it comes to data centers. And what they need are real protections and real laws in place.”

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