Texas kept reviewing data-center permits after Abbott’s halt, 404 Media finds

Texas regulators continued reviewing data-center permit applications after Governor Greg Abbott ordered a halt, according to an October 19 investigation by 404 Media. Records also showed stormwater approvals through an existing-permit process that a researcher says can clear sites for construction. Abbott’s office denied approving any permits, putting the scope of the pause in dispute.

Abbott’s September 21 directive told the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or TCEQ, to halt data-center permits until the Electric Reliability Council of Texas completed its audit. The announcement went beyond that agency: no state agency was to advance regulatory approvals until electricity and water authorities had the information needed to make informed decisions. The stated purpose was to protect grid reliability and communities’ water resources.

One key distinction concerns construction stormwater coverage. Sam Law, a researcher and communications manager at FracTracker Alliance, told 404 Media that Texas already has a general construction stormwater permit. Developers can file a notice of intent to add a project to that existing permit. The resulting entry can appear as approved in TCEQ’s system without the state issuing a separate, newly created permit.

That distinction has practical consequences. Law said the coverage is required to raise and level ground and is often the last approval needed to prepare a site for construction. In places without zoning restrictions, it can be all a developer needs to start building. He identified Caldwell Technology Park and Stargate among facilities that had received approvals through notices of intent.

Public Citizen and FracTracker Alliance examined TCEQ’s public database with local activists. Public Citizen identified more than 15 data-center-related permits showing activity after the pause; FracTracker identified 35. Those are the groups’ separate findings, not a combined total of approvals. Their examination included document reviews and assignments of engineers, as well as entries described as approved.

The records described by 404 Media show several kinds of activity, with different implications for whether a project had merely entered review or received permission to proceed:

• Twelve of 14 applications for gas plants and generators were filed in October, after the directive. TCEQ used expedited review for eight.
• An Irving data-center developer submitted an application for engines and turbines for expedited review on October 6. A TCEQ engineer completed the initial review two days later.
• TCEQ issued air-emission limit certificates to a Houston data center and approved construction stormwater coverage for projects in Abilene, Barstow and Royse City.

Some applications may have been filed before Abbott’s order. But the Irving dates place both submission and initial review afterward. Separately, 404 Media reported that TCEQ records showed a water-quality permit issued to an Abilene data center on September 23, two days after the directive.

No permits have been approved.

Andrew Mahaleris, Governor Abbott’s press secretary, to 404 Media

Mahaleris also said TCEQ had taken no proactive actions related to approving data-center permits and would not do so. He said other agencies would withhold approvals until the Public Utility Commission, ERCOT and the Water Development Board had the information they needed. Asked about stormwater projects marked approved, Abbott’s office referred 404 Media to TCEQ, which did not respond.

The findings arrived on the date Abbott had set for an accounting from the regulator. His original announcement required TCEQ to update his office on compliance by October 19. It also directed the agency to align permitting decisions with his instructions and use the electricity and water audits as those reviews proceeded.