Gov. Abbott orders TCEQ to pause environmental permits for data centers until audit is complete - KERA News

The order builds on a string of moves Abbott has made against data center growth in Texas over concerns about water and power use. In early August, he told the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT, the agency that runs the state's power grid, to freeze approvals for new data center hookups until that audit wrapped up. This latest directive goes further, pulling TCEQ into the freeze and covering more projects than any single action Abbott has taken so far.

Data centers have become one of the fastest growing pieces of Texas's power and water picture, and Lubbock sits inside that same grid and water system that Abbott says needs a closer look. Any company weighing a data center anywhere in the state, including the South Plains, now has to wait on permits until regulators finish reviewing the impact on local water and electricity supplies.

For folks in Lubbock, that means the tech buildout reshaping parts of Texas slows down while the state figures out how much water and power these facilities actually pull. Two state agencies have now paused approvals in the same year, over the same industry, for the same two resources.