Texas's Democratic Sweep Raises the Prospect of Environmental Reform — With Data Centers First in Line
Advocates say the election that ended three decades of Republican rule in Texas was driven in part by anger over the data-center buildout — and that Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who campaigned on a moratorium, will hold the appointment power over the state's environmental regulators.
AUSTIN — Democrats' historic sweep of Texas raises new possibilities of environmental reform after more than 30 years of Republican rule in the home of the nation's oil and gas industry, Inside Climate News reported in a story published Tuesday by the San Antonio Current — starting with the data centers whose rapid buildout helped fuel the result.
Both the U.S. Senate and governor's races were called before midnight on election night, Democrats also took the Texas House, and advocates say public outrage over data centers — gobbling massive amounts of electricity and failing to disclose their water use, in the report's words — was part of the wave. “We have a generational shift in leadership here,” said Adrian Shelley, Texas director of Public Citizen. “The new state leadership has a clear mandate to rein in the data center industry.” Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned on calling an immediate moratorium on new data centers.
The mechanism is appointments. As governor, Hinojosa will appoint commissioners to lead the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Public Utility Commission and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department — every current commissioner was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott — and Democrat Jon Rosenthal's win adds a new voice at the Railroad Commission, the state's oil and gas regulator. A University of Houston Hobby School survey published a week before the election found nearly 80 percent of Texas voters would support a policy limiting the number of data centers built in the state.
The industry is not conceding the state's future. Analysts at Wood Mackenzie called Hinojosa's election a significant shift in Texas data-center policy while adding that the state will remain a leading market for investment, and the Data Center Coalition's Jess Heck said its members will keep engaging residents and local leaders and that data centers bring investment and tax revenue to local governments and school districts. The new administration takes office in January; what it does with the mandate is the story of the winter.
