"We must prohibit them" says Governor Abbott about building AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods
After calling for more regulations on data centers in Texas last month, Governor Greg Abbott has taken a step further and said AI data centers shouldn't be built in rural Texas neighborhoods.
His comments came during a re-election campaign rally in Bullard, Texas, near Tyler on Tuesday. Data centers and AI data centers have become very unpopular among many Democrats and Republicans, particularly in rural Texas.
Abbott said he's aligned with East Texas values. "Pushing back against these AI data centers that are trying to build in our neighborhoods," he said.
"I made clear already any AI data center even thinking about coming here, they got to bring their own money, bring their own power, use their own water and do it in a way that reduces the cost of electricity for residents across our state," the governor continued. "We must prohibit them from building AI datacenters in rural Texas, neighborhoods, and we must eliminate the tax break they are getting. They must be responsible for funding their own projects in Texas. We will get that done."
Abbott spoke days after the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, State Representative Gina Hinojosa of Austin, blasted him on the issue.
During the Texas Democratic Party convention, she told supporters, "Greg Abbott built the biggest data center giveaway in the whole country. The richest men in the world, his donors, are running up your electric bill, guzzling up your water, while you pay for it. Now that I am running against him, he wants us all to forget that he sold the farm for cheap in a fire sale. Nobody believes the arsonist will put out the fire."
The governor wants lawmakers to pass his proposed regulations into law and revoke the state's sales tax incentives for data center developers during the next legislative session beginning in January.
The Texas Tribune previously reported that those sales tax incentives have amounted to billions of dollars. The outlet said, according to the Texas Comptroller's Office, state taxpayers have granted nearly $2.8 billion in sales tax breaks to data centers between 2014 and this year.
Because of the number of proposed projects, data center incentives are forecast to reach $3.2 billion over the next two years alone.
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