{"id":386181,"date":"2026-07-25T10:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T10:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/386181\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T10:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T10:53:09","slug":"texas-ag-commissioner-says-abbott-should-put-farmers-over-data-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/386181\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas ag commissioner says Abbott should put farmers over data centers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas ag commissioner says Abbott should put farmers over data centers<\/p>\n

Published 5:25 am Saturday, July 25, 2026<\/p>\n

\n By Mary Ella Hastings, Fort Worth Star-Telegram\n <\/p>\n

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is once again calling for Gov. Greg Abbott to convene a legislative session to address the dangers of data centers.<\/p>\n

In a statement released Friday, Miller said Abbott has heard \u201cevery one of those warnings and still not acted.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is asking Abbott to call a special legislative session to talk about the \u201cunchecked expansion of massive data centers\u201d that he says will threaten Texas Agriculture, rural communities and Texas\u2019s electric grid.<\/p>\n

Miller criticized Abbott for pointing to the withdrawal of a proposed East Texas data center as evidence his policies are working.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Abbott wants a victory lap because one project walked away after failing to meet standards he announced only after Texans across the state demanded action,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Earlier this summer Abbott said data centers are not welcome in rural neighborhoods.<\/p>\n


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He also sent a letter in June that ordered state regulators to shield Texans from the electricity costs related to data centers. He also said data centers must be built with water efficient technologies and large ones must report annual water and electricity use to the Public Utility Commission of Texas.<\/p>\n

Miller added that one withdrawn project does not erase the hundreds of data centers planned or already in Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t bring back the farmland that\u2019s already been lost, reduce the pressure on our electric grid, or replenish the water supplies these facilities threaten,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

He said the governor calls special legislative sessions when he thinks topics are urgent, and the fact that he hasn\u2019t called one regarding data centers shows he doesn\u2019t take the consequences of them seriously.<\/p>\n

Miller said that data centers use millions of gallons of water every day to keep their servers cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cTexas can build more power plants and transmission lines, but we can\u2019t manufacture water. Water is the lifeblood of Texas agriculture, and once it\u2019s gone, it\u2019s gone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Miller said he wants Texas to remain the nation\u2019s economic leader, but he criticizes Texas leaders who allow \u201cbillion-dollar technology\u201d companies to get \u201cpreferential treatment\u201d while rural Texans face the consequences.<\/p>\n

Miller said Abbott has the power to bring lawmakers to Austin immediately to address this topic, but he has failed to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe warning signs have been flashing for months from all corners of our state: rural communities, landowners, and electric consumers,\u201d Miller continued. \u201cGovernor Abbott has heard every one of those warnings and still hasn\u2019t acted. I\u2019m not opposed to technology, I\u2019m opposed to government picking winners and losers. Right now, state policy favors global tech companies over Texas farmers and ranchers. That\u2019s unacceptable,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Abbott\u2019s Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris said the governor has been clear that data centers cannot come before Texas families. He told the Star-Telegram that\u2019s why the governor directed the PUC and ERCOT to require data centers to pay for their own infrastructure, bring their own power, reuse their own water, and lower residential electric bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese steps protect Texans from higher costs and negative impacts on their communities. Gov. Abbott will continue to work with the Legislature to protect Texans and ensure their voices are heard,\u201d Mahaleris said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas ag commissioner says Abbott should put farmers over data centers Published 5:25 am Saturday, July 25, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-386181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}