Lampasas, TX - Governor Abbott’s decision to halt approvals for AI data centers while every proposed project undergoes a comprehensive audit is another acknowledgement that Texans were right to sound the alarm.

For months, ranchers, homeowners, farmers, and local communities have warned that irresponsible AI data centers threaten our water, our electric grid, our farmland, and our quality of life. Now the Governor is requiring agencies to examine exactly those concerns before projects move forward.

That’s progress, but it’s still not enough.

If these projects are serious enough to stop approvals statewide while they’re investigated, then they’re serious enough to bring the Texas Legislature back into a special session.

The Governor has now acknowledged, through multiple actions, that there are major unanswered questions surrounding these projects. Texans deserve more than temporary administrative actions: they deserve permanent protections passed by their elected representatives.

Every day we delay legislative action is another day communities remain in limbo while hundreds of proposed data center projects wait in the queue. Texans deserve clear rules that put our families, farmers, ranchers, and local communities first, not another temporary measure that can disappear after election day.

I again call on Governor Abbott to convene an immediate special session of the Texas Legislature to establish permanent safeguards for Texas water, farmland, electricity, and local communities before any additional AI data centers move forward.

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