By David Stout
The rapid expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure presents enormous economic opportunities for our state. It also presents questions that Texans across the political spectrum are increasingly asking.
Who pays for the infrastructure these massive developments require? What happens to our water and electric systems? What protections exist for nearby neighborhoods and property owners? And, perhaps most importantly, who gets a say in answering those questions?
These questions are increasingly bridging political divides. Republicans and Democrats from urban to rural counties may disagree on plenty, but working-class communities represented by both are raising many of the same concerns about water, electricity, infrastructure, property rights and the costs that could ultimately fall on taxpayers.
These are communities too often left out of the political process, while big finance, big data and big energy have the resources and access to shape it. The people who will live with the consequences of these decisions deserve just as much of a say in how they are made.
That gives Texas an opportunity to get this right.
Gov. Greg Abbott recently directed the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas and the Public Utility Commission of Texas to audit data centers seeking to connect to the electric grid and called for a pause on new interconnections while that review is underway.
I welcome that decision. But the audit needs to be meaningful.
As elections get closer and public concern about data centers grows, Texans have every right to ask whether this new scrutiny represents a real change in direction or a political response to an issue showing up in polls and at the ballot box.
An audit cannot simply provide political cover through Election Day and disappear once the votes are counted. The real test will come afterward. Will the findings be made public? Will they result in real protections? Will the state remain committed to addressing these concerns when the political spotlight has moved elsewhere?
That is also why I am calling on the governor to bring the Legislature back for a special session on data centers. Communities are dealing with these impacts now, and Texas should not wait until the next regular session to put meaningful statewide protections in place.
That work also cannot happen only in Austin. The state should work directly with local elected leaders, who are often closest to both the problems these developments create and the solutions our communities need.
Counties understand our water constraints, infrastructure, neighborhoods and local economies because we deal with these issues every day. If the state is serious about developing responsible policy, local governments and the people we serve need to be part of shaping it from the beginning.
El Paso is a good example of why that matters.
El Paso County is not part of ERCOT. We are connected to the Western Electric Coordinating Council, which means the governor’s current directive may not apply to us in the same way it applies to much of the rest of Texas.
But El Pasoans have the same concerns about water, electric reliability, utility costs and environmental impacts as Texans anywhere else in the state.
Where we sit on the electric grid should not determine whether our community receives the same consideration and protections as the rest of Texas.
That is why I have placed an item on the El Paso County Commissioners Court agenda for Monday, Aug. 17, asking the court to take action on the governor’s directive. The item includes a resolution outlining principles for responsible large scale industrial development and a letter to Gov. Abbott asking that El Paso County receive the same review and policy considerations as communities within ERCOT.
It also makes clear that any state review must be meaningful and transparent, that Texas must take additional action now to address the impacts of these projects, and that counties need greater authority to respond to local concerns.
Our resolution reflects those principles. It supports economic development while calling for responsible water use, protections for electric reliability and measures to ensure project related infrastructure and service costs are borne by development rather than local taxpayers.
But this conversation is about more than one resolution or one data center project. It raises a larger question about the role local communities should have in shaping their own future.
Counties need more authority to protect the people we serve.
The Legislature can and should establish statewide guardrails for an industry this large and this important. But Texas is a big state, and our communities are not all the same. Water availability in El Paso is different from water availability elsewhere in Texas. Our electric system is different. Our infrastructure is different. The needs of our neighborhoods are different.
Local officials understand those differences because we live with them every day. Yet counties are often expected to deal with the consequences of development without being given enough authority to address those consequences before they happen. The state cannot continue asking counties to shoulder responsibility for infrastructure, public safety and community impacts while limiting the tools available to address them.
Our letter asks the state to pair statewide protections with reasonable local authority to respond to conditions on the ground, including water impacts, energy use, noise, light and vibration.
On Wednesday, I will take this message to Austin when I testify before the Texas House Committee on State Affairs.
My message will be simple. Texas does not have to choose between economic development and protecting our communities. We can do both.
Communities deserve transparency before decisions are made, not after the consequences are already being felt. Counties deserve the authority to protect the people they serve. Taxpayers deserve to know they will not be asked to subsidize private development. And companies looking to invest in Texas deserve clear expectations about what responsible development looks like.
This is not about stopping technology or turning investment away. I want El Paso to compete for good jobs, new technology and new opportunities. I want investment in our community. But growth should benefit the people who already call this place home, not come at their expense.
The fact that Republicans and Democrats are raising many of the same concerns gives us an opportunity to move beyond the usual political divisions and find a solution.
The people, all the people, regardless of party or community, who will live with these decisions deserve a seat at the table. And the counties that serve them deserve the tools and power to protect them.
David Stout is the El Paso County commissioner for Precinct 2.
The post Opinion: El Paso deserves a voice in Texas data center policy appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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