AMARILLO, Texas. (KVII)–With Project Matador billed as the world\u2019s largest data center and planned for the Texas Panhandle, water use and growth are emerging as key issues in the governor\u2019s race as Democratic nominee Gina Hinojosa campaigns in the region.<\/p>\n
Hinojosa recently visited the future site of Project Matador, where some residents have raised concerns about what large data centers could mean for the area\u2019s limited water supply.<\/p>\n
Asked how she would address those concerns if elected governor, Hinojosa said, \u201cAs governor, if I had to declare an emergency to stop consumption of water by data centers to protect it for the people I would like, but there should be legislation to do that to ensure that the people are prioritized with water.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about calling for an immediate moratorium on data centers and whether that would stop construction for Project Matador, Hinojosa said the moratorium would apply to new data centers. \u201cSo it would be for the construction of new data centers,\u201d she said. Hinojosa tied her position to what she said Gov. Greg Abbott has signaled about tax policy, saying, \u201cAnd that’s because Greg Abbott said that next year he will work with the legislature to do away with all of the tax breaks that the data centers get. And what has happened is he has just he has just announced to all these data centers that it is time to get their project in under the wire so they don’t have to pay taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Border security also came up during her visit, as Abbott has criticized Democrats as weak on the issue. Asked about Operation Lone Star and whether she would continue using the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to help secure the border, Hinojosa focused on how state money is spent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to make sure is that that money is being spent on things that make us safer,\u201d Hinojosa said. \u201cLet’s look at local investment in, our local police force in our local county sheriff’s office. Let’s make sure our local communities who know best, what are the public safety dangers in our communities are being properly funded.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hinojosa also said she opposes Abbott\u2019s school voucher system, which gives parents money to help pay for private school or to home school their children. She criticized how she said education-related money is being used in Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I see in the Texas House is that more and more of that money is going to pay Greg Abbott’s donors in vendor contracts to people who are very well connected,\u201d Hinojosa said. \u201cWe need to basically dodge those contracts, wipe clean all the corrupt vendor contracts, use that money to pay our teachers to be amongst the highest paid in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hinojosa also pointed to growth in the Texas Education Agency under Abbott, saying, \u201cAlso, what we see is that the Texas Education Agency, the agency, the bureaucracy in Austin has almost doubled under Greg Abbott. That’s the money that belongs in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hinojosa faces Abbott in the general election on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AMARILLO, Texas. (KVII)–With Project Matador billed as the world\u2019s largest data center and planned for the Texas Panhandle,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-392861","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\/392861","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=392861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}