Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) said AI data centers have “dug their own grave” by not working in collaboration with local governments.
Abbott said, “What we’ve been focused on is responding to concerns that have been raised about data centers and making sure that we have created a structure that’s going to do more than any state to solve the problem. As governor, I have outlined the greatest detail and most comprehensive plan of any governor in the United States of America to respond to the data center challenge. Let me tell you what I’ve done. I have pressed pause on any new data center being able to join the operations in the state of Texas.”
He continued, “During that pause, I have set guidelines and guardrails that all data centers have to comply with. Number one, they must identify what water usage they’re demanding and make clear they are not taking water from communities that need it. Number two, they must not take power from the Texas power grid that’s needed. Number three, they must actually lower the cost of electricity for consumers. Number four, they need to make sure that they are not disturbing neighborhoods or rural communities. These are standards that are now being universally applied by all the data centers in the state of Texas.”
He added, “They pop up in places that nobody ever heard of before, until they started the construction. And so they had not been working in collaboration with the state, they’d not been in collaboration with local governments, and so they basically dug their own grave for the problem that’s been caused for them, and that’s why they got the backlash they deserve. And that’s why these new standards are in place to make sure they’re not going to be able to operate until they come into compliance with the standards that I have set.”
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