Outgoing Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says voter anger over data centers could cost Gov. Greg Abbott reelection in November. He called for a one-year moratorium and says the industry needs safeguards for farmland, water and power.
An August Texas Politics Project poll found about 57 percent of respondents opposed or strongly opposed to data centers in their communities, with opposition higher in rural areas; a Gallup survey published earlier this month found 7 in 10 Americans would oppose one locally. Miller says residents cite farmland loss, noise, light pollution and traffic, and says nearby property values can fall by more than half as rents rise.
Miller says Abbott declined his calls for a moratorium and special legislative session and had not returned the $21 million Miller says the governor received from data-center interests. He put Texas tax incentives at about $2 billion, rising to $3 billion next year, and said a comptroller audit reviewed 20 centers, six of which he believed were out of compliance with statutory requirements for incentives. Miller also said Abbott had stopped the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality from issuing new permits, but 400 to 500 permits were already issued.
