Q&A: Taylor Goldenstein on the Unique Politics of Data Centers in Texas

In a Daily Yonder Q&A, Texas Tribune reporter Taylor Goldenstein describes months spent tracking data center politics in a state pitching itself as an AI hub thanks to light regulation, fast permitting and abundant land. She notes that national and local polling alike show most people do not want to live near a data center, even as more than half of Texas's proposed facilities are headed for rural counties.

Goldenstein says rural, often Republican, officials are the loudest voices raising alarms about water use, power costs and a near-total lack of local oversight, since counties lack zoning authority and residents learn about projects late. Some of those same conservative officials, she notes, are now asking the state legislature for more regulatory power — a reversal of the small-government instinct usually associated with their politics.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.