North Texas county among first to attempt moratorium on data centers
The Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. Stargate is a collaboration of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank, with promotional support from President Donald Trump, to build data centers and other infrastructure for arti
HILL COUNTY, Texas - A county near the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is among the first to instate a pause on the construction of data centers.
The decision, made Tuesday at a meeting of the Hill County Commissioners Court, would put a moratorium on such construction for one year, excluding projects currently under construction, and with the ability to be lifted under specific circumstances. The legality of the decision remains in question.
Hill County data center moratorium
What's new:
The motion passed 3-2 by the commissioners of Hill County, located a little over 50 miles south of Fort Worth. The issue arose in part due to concerns voiced by county citizens, who have already experienced the issues that came along with centers that already operate in the county.
In an email to FOX Local, Hill County Pct. 1 Commissioner Jim Holcomb summarized a few of these concerns as public health and safety, environmental impacts, water consumption, fire safety standards, noise and light pollution, and impacts on local road conditions.
What they're saying:
"The data center folks have found a sweet spot in the state that has limited regulations, limited enforcement, limited code, and they’re coming faster than we can keep up with," Holcomb said during the Tuesday meeting.
The commissioner said he believes it's "imperative" that the county takes action to slow down development until more research can be done, regulations instated, and areas like Hill County can be protected.
Texas water supply: Data centers could make up 9% of demand by 2040, paper finds
Up to 9% of Texas' water supply could be used by data centers alone as early as 2040, a newly released paper from the University of Texas at Austin says.
As far as Hill County's status as the first to make such a move, Holcomb could not confirm it as a fact. He said in his statement that he believes there are several counties considering pauses due to the "speed and lack of regulations" surrounding the industry, but he did not provide examples of other possible cases.
During Tuesday's meeting, numerous people spoke in favor of a moratorium, and none in favor of data centers.
What they're saying:
"These centers will be obsolete in 10 years," one person remarked. "And then what happens?"
Legal considerations
The problem:
The largest question on the horizon is whether the county has the authority to enforce a moratorium of this magnitude. Concerns were raised during the meeting regarding the uncertainty of the matter, and it's generally expected that pushback from developers will be forthcoming.
The issue could escalate to the state level as well. Hundreds of data centers are in the works in Texas, with many more expected in coming years, and billions of dollars in tax breaks have been implemented to attract developers to the area. Holcomb hopes lawmakers are able to see the heart of his county's decision.
What they're saying:
"Our prayer is that the State recognizes that we did not place the Temporary Moratorium in defiance of existing laws, but rather as a plea for help from the State to get regulations and standards in place to help mitigate the growing list of issues," Holcomb said in his email.
Can Texas' power grid handle the meteoric rise of AI data centers?
Last week, ERCOT presented a six-year forecast of how much power demand they expect in the near future. When the numbers showed a quadrupled peak demand by 2032, the Public Utility Commission of Texas sent them back to the drawing board.
Data centers in Texas
Big picture view:
To date, there are over 400 data centers either operating, under construction or in the planning stages in Texas. The state is set to overtake Virginia as the U.S. leader in data centers within the decade. In recent months, Google announced a $40 billion data center investment in Texas, and OpenAI and Oracle have launched projects as well. The final demands on the power grid these and similar projects will produce are not yet known.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) recently released a forecast for the load they expect Texas' grid to bear by 2032, in which they projected that data centers would be the largest culprit for quadrupling the current numbers. They said data centers alone could possibly increase from a demand of around 10,000 megawatts this year to around 235,000 within six years. The Public Utility Council of Texas (PUCT) decided those numbers were too high, and ERCOT was sent away to create a more pleasant forecast.
The impacts of data centers in the state don't stop at the grid. Even more recently, researchers at UT Austin released a paper claiming that data centers could go from using less than 1% of the state's water supply this year to as much as 9% in 2040. That would make them a larger drain on Texas water than the entire manufacturing industry, which uses 7%.
Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin are looking at the projected water use by data centers in Texas depending on industry growth and the type of fuel used to power the facilities. Credit: UT Jackson School of Geosciences.
What's next:
While ERCOT's prediction was deemed unacceptable by PUCT, perhaps the most obvious question of how the demands of the meteorically rising industry will be curbed is, "Will more commissioners courts in Texas follow in the footsteps of Hill County?"
The Source: Information in this article comes from a Hill County Commissioners Court meeting, Pct. 1 commissioner Jim Holcomb, and previous FOX Local coverage.