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Gov. Greg Abbott is calling for a ban on new artificial intelligence data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods, escalating a state debate over land use, water, power and local control.
Abbott made the comments Tuesday during a campaign stop in Bullard, where he connected the issue to East Texas property owners and rural communities.
His remarks appear to go beyond a regulatory framework he announced earlier in June that called for data centers to provide new power generation, pay infrastructure costs, reuse water and include setbacks from residential communities.
“We must prohibit them from building AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods,” Abbott said at the Bullard event, according to The Texas Tribune.
Abbott also repeated his position that data center developers should not shift costs onto residents.
“Any AI data center even thinking about coming here — they got to bring their own money, bring their own power, reuse their own water and do it in a way that reduces the cost of electricity for residents across our state,” Abbott said.
A spokesperson for Abbott’s campaign, Eduardo Leal, told The Texas Tribune that the governor’s comments were consistent with his June 10 letter outlining recommendations for the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT.
The issue has become politically sensitive as Texas promotes itself as a technology and artificial intelligence hub while rural residents raise concerns about noise, water use, energy demand and neighborhood impacts. Abbott previously praised a $40 billion Google investment in cloud and AI infrastructure in Texas.
The debate could resurface in the Legislature as rural counties seek more authority to regulate or pause data center projects.
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