Overview
- Governor Greg Abbott on Monday directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing any permits sought by data centers until ERCOT completes its audit.
- The move extends an earlier moratorium on grid interconnection approvals and links environmental permitting to parallel reviews by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the Public Utility Commission and the Texas Water Development Board.
- State auditors are asking developers for notarized answers about projected electricity and water use, cooling technology, neighborhood effects, ownership and public incentives, with full responses due by October 12 or risk being reported to regulators.
- Agencies plan to publish aggregate survey findings by December 10 and the TCEQ must update the governor on compliance by October 19.
- Abbott says the review is meant to protect grid reliability and local water supplies, require developers to pay for infrastructure, and could lead him to push the Legislature to eliminate data‑center tax incentives next session.