Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is taking his proposed regulations for data center developments a step further. During a campaign stop in Bullard, a town in East Texas that has around 5,500 residents, he called for a ban on the controversial developments in rural areas.
Abbott’s recent statements on data centers are a far cry from where he stood on the developments just last year, according to the Texas Tribune. He told investors at a Texas economic development summit that the state needed to diversify its economy to a greater extent in September. Later in 2025, he said that the state was “the epicenter of AI development” during an announcement that Google made a $40 billion investment in Texan AI infrastructure. Recent projections show that Texas is on track to become the nation’s leader in AI datacenter production.
Two Texas counties have tried banning data center developments at the municipal level, but failed the legal challenges that came after, according to the publication. Even more municipal leaders have been begging state-level politicians to grant them more control over developments in their communities as their residents practically go into open revolt against data centers.
“We must prohibit them from building AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods,” Abbott said, going on to echo his support for more regulations of data center developments.
Specifically, Abbott is calling for all prospective data center developments to add portions of their power generation to Texas’s shaky ERCOT-managed grid, a mandate to have closed-loop water systems and the elimination of certain incentives.
While legal challenges have stymied county-level bans, the eyes of Texas are upon the city of San Marcos, watching how their recent city-level ban on data center developments fares. San Marcos is the first city in Texas to attempt banning data center developments at a city level, and communities that are also interested in similar regulations are closely watching.
— Hunter Cooke