Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is in the middle of an acrimonious U.S. Senate race with Democratic Party nominee James Talarico, is turning his eye towards data center regulations.
Paxton says he will be investigating Texas data center development that have not responded to a fresh round of audits, including a Texas Water Development Board survey intended to catalogue water use. Paxton’s office is now tasked with ensuring all data center developments are providing up to date information about water usage, according to the Houston Business Journal.
Paxton’s fresh investigation is set to touch all data center projects in the state, but initial investigations are set to cover Harris, Montgomery, Bexar, Travis, Dallas, Tarrant, Smith, Tom Green, Potter, Randall, Lubbock, Midland, Ector, Wichita, Victoria, Brazos, Nueces and El Paso counties, according to the outlet.
Paxton’s efforts are building on top of Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to regulate data centers across the state. At one point, Texas was on track to surpass market leader Virginia in data center production. Across the state, however, municipal and county level leaders were looking into ways to regulate data centers that were showing up in their backyards almost overnight. Their cries reached the ears of Abbott, who did something he almost never does: push for regulation on a lucrative asset class.
Abbott has directed key environmental and power regulators to pause greenlighting permits on all data centers as they look over the power and water needs for each new facility. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, who governs the grid that 90 percent of the state uses, has paused connection requests for a number of data center developments across the state.
Paxton’s investigation comes as a November election date looms. The race against Talarico has touched on several real estate-related points, including Paxton’s alleged sweetheart deals with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.
— Hunter Cooke
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