WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa said on Thursday that the state will introduce laws to protect its residents with regards to data centers, citing their impact on rural communities.
With plentiful energy supplies, relatively cheap land and a pro-business policy, Texas has become one of the leading regions in the world for data center developments.
“Data centers have moved into mostly rural communities, and there are no rules and laws to protect Texans,” Democrat Hinojosa, who beat Republican incumbent Greg Abbott in Tuesday’s election, told CNN in an interview.
“We will have laws to protect Texans, and we need to stop what we are doing with data centers until we have those protections,” she said, adding that communities should have “a seat at the table” on if and how data centers operate in their areas.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has strongly backed data center expansion as a national priority, but the public is increasingly opposed to such projects, citing concerns about electricity demand, water consumption, wildlife impacts and public access to federal lands.
Abbott became one of the first Republican governors in the US to halt the connection of new data centers to the state’s electric grid and ordered a comprehensive audit of the projects.
Hinojosa has rattled the state’s data center industry with a campaign pledge to halt new projects.
Billionaire Elon Musk supported Abbott in the election and had spent $158 million to promote Texas Republican US Senate candidate Ken Paxton alone, Musk said on Wednesday.
Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla are headquartered in the Lone Star State, where he is also planning a chipmaking venture.
Texas can also have a strong working relationship with Musk and his companies, but on her administration’s terms, Hinojosa added.
In October, publication Texas Monthly reported that the state had been discussing the sale of Boca Chica State Park to SpaceX, citing sources.
During a news conference on Thursday, Hinojosa said she had spoken to the executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission “to request that no action be taken” while there is an ongoing transition from Abbott to her.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Daphne Psaledakis and Christopher Cushing)
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