GUADALUPE COUNTY, Texas \u2013 Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a statewide audit of data centers Monday, directing regulators to review every project seeking to connect to the Texas power grid before it can move forward. But the state\u2019s top agriculture official says the move is more politics than policy \u2014 and residents in Guadalupe County say they\u2019re not convinced it changes anything for them.<\/p>\n
Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT to conduct what he called a \u201ccomprehensive verification and audit\u201d of all data centers advancing through ERCOT\u2019s interconnection queue. Projects that don\u2019t comply with state requirements, he said, should be denied a grid connection. <\/p>\n
The directive comes as ERCOT tracks more than 1,800 data center projects totaling roughly 474 gigawatts of requested power \u2014 more than five times the state\u2019s record peak demand. Abbott\u2019s office says approximately 90% of all new power requests in the queue are from data centers. <\/p>\n
But Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller isn\u2019t impressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe governor\u2019s declaration doesn\u2019t put the brakes on anything. It doesn\u2019t stop them,\u201d Miller told KSAT. \u201cIt\u2019s political speak to gain favor with the voters. So it looks like he\u2019s doing something, but actually it doesn\u2019t do really anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller said the audit\u2019s requirements are so vague that any data center could satisfy them almost immediately with basic paperwork. He is calling on Abbott to call a special legislative session instead, arguing lawmakers could have meaningful regulations written and passed in as few as two to three days.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he really wanted to get a handle on and slow down these data centers, he could do a one-year moratorium \u2014 which he\u2019s refused to do,\u201d Miller said. \u201cOr he could call a special session.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott\u2019s directive also requires data centers to disclose projected water use, cooling technology, power consumption and whether they are using public tax incentives. The governor\u2019s office cited low compliance with an earlier PUCT and Texas Water Development Board survey \u2014 only 28 of 377 companies notified submitted responses \u2014 as part of the reason the audit is needed.<\/p>\n
In Guadalupe County, the debate is already playing out in real time. <\/p>\n
A coalition of residents and property owners filed suit last month seeking to block two proposed data center developments \u2014 Cloudburst and Palomino Alpha \u2014 alleging issues with public notice and potential strain on local water and utilities. That lawsuit is still pending.<\/p>\n
Dawn Elam lives less than five miles from the proposed Palomino Alpha site and said water is her biggest concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur water rates are already pretty expensive in comparison to a lot of surrounding areas, and we have a lot of restrictions on water usage already,\u201d Elam said. \u201cData centers use an extreme amount of water.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crystal Clear, the local water provider for the area, is expected to vote as soon as this month on whether to approve water allocations for the Palomino Alpha project. That vote could be a critical turning point for the development.<\/p>\n
As for Abbott\u2019s audit, Elam is skeptical it will make a real difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI personally think that Governor Abbott is more concerned about getting reelected than he is about actual restrictions on data centers,\u201d she said. \u201cI think he had years and years of opportunity to put moratoriums and do evaluations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott\u2019s directive does not include a timeline for how long the audit will take. ERCOT has already said it is postponing a key transmission planning study \u2014 known as the Batch Zero review \u2014 while it reviews the governor\u2019s order. <\/p>\n
Miller said the stakes could not be higher.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat dog won\u2019t hunt. We cannot do that. We do not have the capacity to hook them all up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Read also:<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GUADALUPE COUNTY, Texas \u2013 Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a statewide audit of data centers Monday, directing regulators to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5421,392,2507,2879,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-397888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-data-center","tag-greg-abbott","tag-guadalupe-county","tag-sid-miller","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397888","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=397888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}