In debate over AI data centers in Texas, it's "rural Texas is dying" vs. "preserve this land"

Opposition seems to be growing - particularly against data centers that will be built to support the increasing demand for artificial intelligence.

Gov. Greg Abbott has said he wants to prohibit AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods. State Representative Shelley Luther agrees with the Governor, while Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian disagrees.

Rep. Luther lives near Sherman and says that others who live in the area aren't thrilled with the idea of data centers moving in.

"I think it's huge for the governor to come out and say that we need to protect, really, the Republicans that live in these rural areas [who] are his voters, and we're pretty easy going," said Luther. "We don't ask for much, but when people try to come into our property rights, it's frustrating."

"Honestly, a huge eyesore for those of us that live in this rural area because of the beauty. Green land, rolling, rolling hills. I don't think that we should tear that up for data centers," Luther added. "Steaks don't come from H-E-B. It's like what I like to say. They've got to come from somewhere in rural Texas. You've got to preserve this land and not put a big industrial footprint on it. The Texas Legislature is who needs to step in, make the laws. I think Governor Abbott's letter to the PUC chairman was a big move to say, 'Hey, let's take a pause.' And he knows that they shouldn't just come in and take our water, electricity."

When asked about the political stakes if the governor didn't do this, Luther responded, "Well, I think that Governor Abbott is very good at reading and polling what's going on in Texas, and he wants to do what conservatives want him to do. And so he wouldn't have put that statement out if he wasn't feeling the pressure. I don't think."

Luther told CBS News Texas political reporter Jack Fink about the freedoms of living in rural Texas. For people living in unincorporated counties and unincorporated areas of counties, there is no zoning.

"The reason why we moved out here is to have complete liberty of whatever we wanted to do," said Luther. She mentions her ability to have animals, including kangaroos, on her property as an example of this.

"But I think us having that in Texas and Texas, being known for those private property rights, I think the rest of the developers, some developers, are taking complete advantage of that," she continued. "'Hey, let's go to Texas because they can't tell us what to do.'"

"One of my colleagues said on a video that I watched yesterday, like, if you own your land, we want you to do in the unincorporated areas, it's your land. If you want to put a giant data center on it, that's your business because you have private property rights. But if your data center causes noise, air pollution, contamination, takes up all the water, then you're infringing on everybody else's private property, right? So once they roll over into other people's property rights, then that's a problem," Luther added.

"So, I think the biggest thing that we need to do is put it in the hands of local elected officials that people can vote out if they're not doing what they want. So, probably the commissioners court giving the county the ability, not the reason why we have these private property rights, is because we don't want the counties telling us what to do."

Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian told Jack Fink he disagrees with the Governor's idea of prohibiting AI data centers in rural Texas.

"Rural Texas is dying," said Christian. "In the United States of America, rural America is decaying, going away."

Christian referenced Walmart moving into rural counties, shutting down local businesses. 

"My dad's business closed the service station because he couldn't sell tires and batteries for anywhere close to what this big national corporation could do," said Christian. "And this happened to businesses all over every little town. Now the county seats the center of the county many times benefited where Walmart was located, but it still destroyed the individual businesses."

"The largest amount of dollars that are dedicated and raised in those rural communities right now are scholarship funds for their high school seniors, and it's dollars that are raised that are sent out of the county to schools to train up their children, to never come back for jobs that don't exist in those rural areas," Christian continued. "And I believe we need a state commission to review this rural Texas dilemma and come up with plans. And these billions of dollars from data centers could be one answer to rebuilding that decay of rural Texas."

Fink asked Christian what he would say to not only residents of rural areas, but also conservative Republicans, who are against building data centers due to light pollution, noise pollution, and concerns about water usage.

"If those problems that you've mentioned, I'd be opposed to them too," said Christian. "That's why I say, just like the answer to the power that you've just given. Use Texas natural gas. Texans benefit from the production of the gas, the royalties from the gas, and all of our natural resources God has given us. Unless you use that natural gas and require any data center to provide their own electricity to the point that it's not available on the local grid – and in every situation, every situation where you have additional power added to the grid – the availability goes up and the prices go down to the community."

"When there's more, it's supply and demand," he added. "So you've just answered that problem with what you've suggested. Water. How about this one? Less than three weeks ago, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality finally declared that we could use disposal water. That's been a big problem. This waste water from all and gas that we've been injecting in the ground and in places like Midland have said they've had earthquakes that they many times blamed on this pressurized waste water all over East Texas."

"We can now, as of three weeks ago, use that water for agricultural purposes, for other purposes as cleared by TCU," Christian said. "How about using the water that we have in the ground? That's a problem for the data centers and require these billion dollar corporations to pay the fee to pipe it and use it."

"That's an answer. I'm not saying that's the answer, but I'm saying that's how we Texans need to approach this, not just say, oh no, don't do it here," he concluded.

Records from the Texas Comptroller's Office show that between 2014 and 2026, state taxpayers have granted nearly $2.8 billion in sales tax breaks. Because of the number of proposed projects, data center incentives are forecast to reach $3.2 billion in the next two years alone.

Both Republicans and Democrats have said they want to eliminate these incentives. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller wants Governor Abbott to call a special session on data centers.