{"id":425349,"date":"2026-09-03T20:30:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T20:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/425349\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T20:30:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T20:30:35","slug":"fort-worth-texas-data-center-advisory-group-takes-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/425349\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth, Texas, Data Center Advisory Group Takes Shape"},"content":{"rendered":"

(TNS) \u2014 On\u00a0Nov. 3, as voters head to the polls in the 2026 midterm elections, the\u00a0Fort Worth City Council\u00a0and Mayor\u00a0Mattie Parker\u00a0are set to receive a briefing on data centers from a new commission days before the city could hold its first public hearing on a\u00a0potential data center moratorium.<\/a><\/p>\n

The commission, proposed by\u00a0City Council\u00a0member\u00a0Jeanette Martinez\u00a0and led by\u00a0Mike Slattery, director of TCU\u2019s director for the\u00a0Institute of Environmental Studies, will help the city adopt new standards for the development of data centers in\u00a0Fort Worth.<\/p>\n

The 11-member group \u2014 titled the\u00a0\u201cFort Worth Data Center & Infrastructure Commission,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0according to a press release from the city \u2014 will be made up of academics, data center and real estate experts, residents who have been vocal about data centers, and members of prominent\u00a0Fort Worth\u00a0organizations. QTS, a data center developer with several locations in the Metroplex, is set to be a member.<\/p>\n

Slattery, the professor, said he\u2019s keenly aware of the attention that will be on the committee as data centers continue to be a top political issue for voters. Slattery has also\u00a0conducted research<\/a>\u00a0on renewable energy and rhinoceros conservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very new territory for us,\u201d Slattery said. \u201cThis is going to be very public. It\u2019s laced with politics. There\u2019s lots of misinformation and rhetoric out there, as it pertains to data centers. But it\u2019s an incredibly important task that we face.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commission, which starts its work on\u00a0Friday, Sept. 4, will deliver a report to the city detailing research on power, water usage, land use, neighborhood impacts, and economic development.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tall order to be sure, Slattery said \u2014 but he does not want to approach the issue politically.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not going in there with you know any political beef, I\u2019m not going into this commission wearing red or blue or anything remotely close to that,\u201d Slattery said. \u201cI understand that there are very strong feelings around data centers and what that means. My job is to navigate all of these issues from a fact-based evidence perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slattery was tapped by Parker in early August, he said, to lead the commission.<\/p>\n

The idea of an advisory commission on data centers is not brand-new \u2014 states including\u00a0Maine<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Oregon<\/a>\u00a0have adopted statewide advisory councils, and smaller cities have tried them as well \u2014 but it\u2019s still fresh territory on top of rapidly evolving technology, Slattery said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is still, in many ways, I think, an early stage nascent technology,\u201d Slattery said. \u201cSo I think to try and do something now and do it right is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s who will be a voting member of the commission, according to a press release from the city:<\/p>\n

David Berzina, vice president, JLLThe Rev.\u00a0Vernon Elisher, president,\u00a0Youth & Family Community Outreach Inc.Krista Erbe, community organizer, 2871\u00a0Community CoalitionNick Fang, Robert S. Gooch Endowed professor in civil engineering and head of the\u00a0Water Engineering Research Center\u00a0(WERC),\u00a0University of Texas at ArlingtonAndrew Franko, principal,\u00a0Freese and NicholsRusty Fuller, president,\u00a0North Fort Worth AllianceTobi Jackson, chief executive officer, Fort Worth SPARCRyan Kuithe, senior vice president of facility operations,\u00a0QTS Data CentersJohn MacFarlane, executive committee member \u2014 conservation,\u00a0Greater Fort Worth Sierra ClubStathis Michaeledes, W.A. \u201cTex\u201d\u00a0Moncrief Jr. founding chair of engineering at TCUAmbika Sharma, community organizerIn addition to the voting members, the press release says, the commission will also receive support from 10 academics hailing from\u00a0North Texas\u00a0universities as well as\u00a0Cornell University.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2026 Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(TNS) \u2014 On\u00a0Nov. 3, as voters head to the polls in the 2026 midterm elections, the\u00a0Fort Worth City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-425349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425349","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=425349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}