Permit Suspensions
Texas has suspended the construction permits of 17 data center projects and disabled a web portal that automated filing for new permits after it was discovered that they were still being issued a month after calls for the process to be paused. Governor Greg Abbott asked for new permits to be halted in September 2026, but watchdog groups FracTracker Alliance and Public Citizen both published reports detailing more than two dozen permits issued to Texas data center projects.
Now, the portal that previously automatically authorized permits is unavailable. TCEQ’s electronic filing application used for automatic authorizations has been temporarily shut down to ensure all applications are reviewed by agency staff to determine if they are related to data centers, a message on the website reads.
Automated Portal Oversight
The portal, called STEERS, is used to rubber-stamp construction approvals. But despite Governor Abbott's call for no new permits to be approved, it seems that nobody thought to take STEERS offline. Sam Law, a researcher at FracTracker, noted that it continued approving new projects, including those for OpenAI and Amazon. All 17 of the suspended permits are for stormwater construction, a process that sees construction companies raise and level the ground, which is a vital part of the approval process for all construction projects in the state.
Grid and Resource Concerns
Governor Abbott put the brakes on 1,800 data center projects while work was done to audit them amid concerns regarding power generation, water consumption, and community impact. Abbott stated that any project failing to comply with requirements set by the PUCT, ERCOT, and state law must be denied connection to the Texas grid to protect residents.
Broader Industry Regulations
The situation in Texas follows New York's year-long ban on data center projects larger than 50 megawatts enacted earlier in the year via Senate Bill S10642. Similar regulatory and community hurdles have emerged across the United States, including local pushback in Northern Virginia where Amazon altered plans for several data centers.
While the continued focus on AI tools drives demand for additional capacity and data centers, communities and local officials are increasingly concerned about environmental impacts. Water shortages, deforestation, and rising energy costs have become key issues affecting regions hosting large-scale infrastructure projects.
