<\/p>\n
Public commenters speak out against a proposed data center at a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting in Westlake, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Journalists have a phrase for hiding the most important news: burying the lead. That\u2019s when the real story isn\u2019t at the top, where everyone will see it. It\u2019s tucked deep inside, where readers might never notice. The town of\u00a0Westlake<\/a> recently produced a textbook example.<\/p>\n The town newsletter opens with a story about the annual Military Heroes Run.\u00a0<\/p>\n Next comes an item about a tree-trimming project. Only after scrolling to Page 2 do readers find the\u00a0biggest news<\/a>: \u201cInside Westlake\u2019s Newest Development.\u201d But even that\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That headline could have been much simpler\u2014and much more honest:<\/p>\n Westlake announces a massive data center on its southern border.<\/p>\n The newsletter wraps the project in glowing language, calling it exciting, an important investment that will boost the economy and \u201ckeep money in your pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n But that\u2019s only part of the story.<\/p>\n Year of the data center<\/p>\n The Watchdog hereby proclaims 2026 \u201cThe Year of the Data Center.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Data center proposals<\/a> are popping up like mushrooms after a Texas rainstorm.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just\u00a0Westlake, Red Oak<\/a>, Dallas<\/a> or Fort Worth<\/a>. It\u2019s also happening across the state, even in Europe and Asia, too.<\/p>\n Most cities face a sudden dilemma. Do they want to trade precious land for billion-dollar plants\u2014and gain promised property tax deductions?<\/p>\n Governments are so anxious not to lose projects that they wait until the last moment to make the announcement. That\u2019s a problem in\u00a0Westlake where the proposals are slammed through in a minimum number of public meetings.<\/p>\n This doesn\u2019t give opponents time to organize. That\u2019s the point. But that fuels more anger.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Governments are so anxious for the millions even billions of dollars that it\u2019s like grabbing the brass ring while on a merry-go-round. Nobody wants to miss out.<\/p>\n While city leaders often welcome data centers, many residents don\u2019t. They see huge windowless buildings, high electricity demands, heavy water consumption, diesel backup generators, noise and traffic. They don\u2019t want these industrial-scale facilities in their backyards.<\/p>\n In my next column, I\u2019ll show you 10 strategies neighborhoods are using to fight back\u2014and how some communities have succeeded in stopping data centers before construction ever begins.<\/p>\n The secrecy<\/p>\n The secrecy\u00a0\u2014 burying the lead\u00a0\u2014 has caused such non-partisan anguish that\u00a0Gov. Greg Abbott went from declaring Texas as the \u201cepicenter\u201d of data centers to seeking a postponement of new rural projects until next year.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t solve the problem. Whether rural, suburban or urban, residents are mostly against.<\/p>\n Not every city is trying to slip these projects past the public. Fort Worth leaders have discussed proposals in public from the get-go and are working on zoning changes to protect the city and its residents and still allow the centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n These changes allow bigger buffers, planting of trees, sound deflection and other landscape improvements. Still big, ugly buildings, no matter what.<\/p>\n Residents against the centers must fight not only their local leaders, but they also must stand up to the most powerful and richest companies in the world\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Google, Facebook\/Meta and Amazon, to name a few.<\/p>\n What happens if in future years new technologies make these centers obsolete? Do they become schools, housing or medical centers? These buildings are sometimes close to a mile in length.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n One fear is that national gas power plants emit tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases. But science teacher Andy\u00a0Masley has made a name by claiming environment fears are overstated.\u00a0He suggests that one question you ask ChatGPT is the equivalent energy-wise of running a microwave oven for one second.<\/p>\n There is one solution that is quite wacky.\u00a0Elon Musk says if you don\u2019t want the centers in your town, he\u2019ll put them in space.<\/p>\n Next: Ten ways communities are fighting back\u2014and what you can do if a data center is headed for your neighborhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Public commenters speak out against a proposed data center at a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting in Westlake,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-398530","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\/398530","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=398530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n