I am writing to respectfully request that you include data center oversight on the call for a special session of the Texas Legislature and direct state agencies to pause new data center approvals in the interim. The scale and pace of data center development in Texas have outrun the state's ability to measure, let alone manage, its consequences. Our constituents are urging us to act before the regular session convenes in 2027.
You may recall that during the first months of the COVID pandemic, I also requested that you call a Special Session, so that the entire legislature could help prepare the state for what was sure to be a very challenging time. I believe most people would now agree that we should have met in Special Session then. Similarly, the public has made it clear that the legislature, as well as the Governor and Lt. Governor, should address the challenges data centers appear to pose.
Texas now hosts approximately 130 operating data centers, with over 250 additional projects in the pipeline. This growth will undoubtedly place further pressure on the ERCOT interconnection queue. Currently, this development is proceeding without statewide water use reporting for data centers, no TEQ impact permit for groundwater extraction, and no study by the Texas Water Development Board regarding cumulative aquifer impacts. For instance, Lake Corpus Christi hit a historic low of under 10 percent capacity earlier this year, and while recent rains have brought some relief, the episode exposed how vulnerable the region's water supply is under strain from new industrial demand. Corpus Christi and San Patricio-area officials have said they believe a nondisclosure agreement tied to a data center project in Sinton is obstructing the construction and approval of an emergency pipeline upon which 500,000 residents depend for drinking water — a claim Sinton's city manager has so far declined to confirm or deny.
Meanwhile, the state forgoes an estimated $1.3 billion per year in sales tax exemptions for data center equipment under HB 5 and SB 2015, even as counties see comparatively little in return. For example, Taylor County will collect roughly $3 million annually from the Stargate campus in Abilene-a facility receiving an 85 percent property tax abatement-and that figure could fall to near zero because the company is simultaneously contesting the underlying appraisal. A June 2026 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll found that 56 percent of Texas voters, including 44 percent of Republicans, oppose data center construction in their own communities.
Accordingly, I ask that the special session call include, and that your office support, the following measures:
A special session focused on these questions would allow the Legislature to act before, rather than after, a Texas community loses its water supply or its residents absorb another round of hidden rate increases. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this request further with you and am glad to provide the underlying research supporting each of the figures cited above.
Thank you for your consideration of this urgent matter.
Editor's Note: The above letter was sent to Gov. Greg Abbott by state Rep. Richard Raymond Peña of Laredo late last month. It appears in the Rio Grande Guardian with the permission of the author.
