Caldwell County Commissioners unanimously voted to approve a resolution that officially stated  the court’s position on data centers and urged the state government to take steps  toward allowing counties to better regulate them. 

The resolution acknowledged citizen concerns about data centers that include impacts on quality of life, public health and the environment and detailed the limitations of county government to regulate development, reminding citizens that counties do not have zoning or land-use regulatory powers like cities do.  

While the resolution did not state total opposition to data centers, it noted the importance of making sure steps are taken to protect people and natural resources and said it opposed any development that does not take those steps: 

“The Caldwell County Commissioners Court supports responsible economic development, including appropriately designed and sited data center facilities. However, the Court formally expresses opposition to the use of open-loop evaporative cooling systems or other high-volume potable water consumption technologies in large-scale, high continuous-load data center facilities within water-constrained regions, absent demonstratedsustainable supply and mitigation safeguards. The Court further opposes any data center development that fails to incorporate adequate safeguards to protect county resources and residents.” 

The court urged the state and all regulatory agencies involved with approving data centers to require full public reporting of anticipated electricity demand, water usage and infrastructure impacts, noting that no project should proceed without independent assessments of: 

The court also requested that Gov. Greg Abbott take legislative action to move toward giving counties more say in what goes on with large-scale data center developments, including: 

Read the full resolution here.