Texas data centers
10 questions to ask about any data center project
Going to a public meeting, or just trying to understand a data center project? Ask these ten questions about water, power, cooling, land, noise, taxes and records. They are fair to everyone: use them whether you support a project, oppose it or have not decided.
A data center project can raise a lot of questions at once: water, power, noise, land, taxes, jobs. These ten questions are a plain checklist. Use them whether you are a neighbor, a council member, a city staffer, a chamber member or a reporter, and whether you favor a project or not. Ask the same questions of every project. If an answer is "we can't say yet," write that down. That is an answer too.
Where this list comes from: the City of Lubbock asked residents to rank ten concerns before its July 7, 2026 public meeting. About 1,550 people took the survey. Staff said the top five were water, electricity, the environment, noise and light, and transparency of government. [City of Lubbock Special City Council Meeting transcript, Jul. 7, 2026 — lubbocktx.new.swagit.com/videos/392920/transcript — checked 2026-10-02]. The questions below also cover the other concerns raised that night and in the city's notice (location, construction impacts, incentives, tax revenue, jobs). The technical pointers come from Texas statutes and agency pages, linked in each "Where to look."
What should I ask about a data center project?
Where will the water come from, and what is the backup?
- Why it matters
- A city system, a well field and a lake or river are different supplies with different owners, limits and drought rules.
- Where to look
- The application or site plan; the city water utility if the city will supply it; the local groundwater conservation district if the project will pump wells; the council agenda packet. For scale, Lubbock staff described the city water system's point-in-time capacity as 71.35 million gallons a day from three sources (Jul. 7, 2026 presentation, transcript above).
How many gallons per day will it use, on average and on the peak day?
- Why it matters
- Average use and hot-day peak use can be very different, and the peak is what a water system has to be built to deliver.
- Where to look
- Ask for both numbers in gallons per day, plus the cooling load they are based on. Lubbock staff proposed asking applicants for total water consumption, not only the starting amount (Jul. 7 transcript). See the glossary entries "MGD" and "gallons per day."
What cooling method will it use, and is the water loop closed or open?
- Why it matters
- Cooling design drives both water and power use. Air-cooled, evaporative, closed-loop and liquid designs work differently, and a "closed loop" still has to release its heat somewhere. Ask where.
- Where to look
- The application and engineering summary. Lubbock staff proposed allowing only closed-loop or air-dry cooling in its draft permit standards (Jul. 7 transcript). For plain descriptions of the designs, see U.S. Department of Energy, *Best Practices Guide for Energy-Efficient Data Center Design* (July 2024) — energy.gov/sites/default/files/2024-07/best-practice-guide-data-center-design_0.pdf — checked 2026-10-02.
Has the owner filed the Texas Water Development Board Water Use Survey, and how can I check?
- Why it matters
- Texas Water Code §16.012(m) says recipients of the survey "shall complete and return" it. A person who fails to complete and return it commits an offense punishable as a Class C misdemeanor, and is not eligible for TWDB funding or for certain TCEQ water permits. TWDB says industrial surveys cover data centers that are operating, not planned or under construction, so a project that has not opened would not yet have a survey. [Texas Water Code §16.012 — statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/WA/htm/WA.16.htm — checked 2026-10-02; TWDB FAQ — twdb.texas.gov/waterplanning/waterusesurvey/faq.asp — checked 2026-10-02]
- Where to look
- TWDB Water Use Survey page (twdb.texas.gov/waterplanning/waterusesurvey/index.asp, checked 2026-10-02); TWDB's Historical Water Use Estimates (built from the survey, twdb.texas.gov/waterplanning/waterusesurvey/estimates/index.asp); the Water Use Survey Team (waterusesurvey@twdb.texas.gov, listed on the TWDB page). Ask the owner directly, and make a Texas Public Information Act request to TWDB if you want the filing itself. Note: on the TWDB pages we checked, we did not find a public lookup of individual facility responses. See "Unverified" in the source log.
How many megawatts is the project, and what is its grid connection status?
- Why it matters
- Megawatts are the size of the electricity request. A project that is announced, one that has applied to connect, and one that has been approved to connect are three different stages.
- Where to look
- The serving utility and the grid operator. ERCOT reported in June 2026 that it was tracking more than 438,000 MW of connection requests from large users such as data centers and was moving to approve them in batches (ERCOT, "New Batch Connection Process for Large Electricity Users" — ercot.com/files/docs/2026/06/18/ERCOT-Trending-Topic-New-Batch-Connection-Process-for-Large-Electricity-Users.pdf — checked 2026-10-02). Ask: which grid, which utility, which stage?
Who pays for grid upgrades, and could other customers' rates change?
- Why it matters
- Lubbock residents ranked electricity use and cost near the top of their concerns. Upgrades to lines and substations have to be paid for by someone.
- Where to look
- The serving utility's agreement with the project; the Public Utility Commission of Texas (puc.texas.gov/); council or utility-board agendas. We did not verify a specific statewide cost rule; ask for the agreement itself (see question 10).
Where is the site, and what do the zoning and land rules say?
- Why it matters
- Location, nearby housing, traffic during construction and whether the site is inside the city all change who decides. Lubbock staff told the council that zoning and water authority sit with cities in Texas, not counties (Jul. 7 transcript). A city's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) is the unincorporated area next to its limits.
- Where to look
- City council and planning and zoning agendas (Lubbock: City Council Meeting Agendas at mylubbock.us/); the county appraisal district for ownership and parcel records (Lubbock Central Appraisal District, lubbockcad.org/); the zoning notice. Under Texas Local Government Code §211.006, a zoning change is not effective until after a public hearing, with notice published at least 15 days before. [statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/LG/htm/LG.211.htm — checked 2026-10-02]
How loud and how bright will it be, and what air permits apply?
- Why it matters
- Noise, light and emissions are felt next door. Different governments own different pieces. Lubbock staff said cities can set noise and light limits, while air quality and air permits are handled by the state through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), not by cities or counties (Jul. 7 transcript).
- Where to look
- The city's code of ordinances and any sound study required for the permit; TCEQ's permit search (permit-search.tceq.texas.gov/) and its Status of Permits page (tceq.texas.gov/permitting/permit_data.html); TCEQ air permitting staff at airperm@tceq.texas.gov, as listed on tceq.texas.gov/permitting/air. Pages checked 2026-10-02. Search by county, customer name or permit number.
What jobs and public money are involved, and where is the record?
- Why it matters
- Jobs, new property tax revenue and tax abatements are usually weighed together. A Chapter 312 abatement is a local agreement that exempts part of the increase in a property's value from tax, for up to 10 years. [Texas Comptroller, "What is a tax abatement?" — comptroller.texas.gov/economy/development/prop-tax/ch312/about-abatements.php — checked 2026-10-02]
- Where to look
- Ask for the number of permanent and construction jobs in writing, with dates. For abatements: the city or county agenda and the signed agreement; the taxing unit must post its abatement guidelines on its website, and the Comptroller keeps a state registry of reinvestment zones and abatement agreements (comptroller.texas.gov/economy/development/prop-tax/ch312/abatement-process.php and .../about-abatements.php, checked 2026-10-02). Other kinds of local incentive agreements are not covered by that registry; we did not verify where those are filed.
What will be public, what is confidential, and what happens if the plans change?
- Why it matters
- People can only judge what they can see. Projects also change: owner, size, power, cooling, schedule. Ask what triggers a new public vote or a new filing.
- Where to look
- The Texas Public Information Act (Government Code ch. 552). Public information is information a government body writes, collects or maintains, and a body must produce it "promptly" on request (§§552.002, 552.221). Some business information can be withheld, such as trade secrets (§552.110), and the government may ask the Attorney General for a ruling (§§552.301, 552.305). [statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/GV/htm/GV.552.htm — checked 2026-10-02.] Also ask whether anyone with the city has signed a nondisclosure agreement; in its Jul. 7 opening remarks the Lubbock council said none of its members had (transcript). Ask: what changes require amended permits, a new agreement or a new hearing?
How to use this list
- Bring it to a meeting. Ask the same ten of every project.
- Write the answer, the date and who said it.
- Check what you hear against public records, using the "Where to look" lines.
- "Not known yet" and "confidential" are valid answers. Ask who decides what becomes public, and when.
Compiled by 806 Connect from public sources, checked 2026-10-02. Not legal advice. 806Connect.com Compiled from public sources. Sources checked October 2, 2026. Free to share and print with credit to 806 Connect (CC BY 4.0).