Energy & Environment

Ag Commissioner Sid Miller has proposed a temporary moratorium on data center development.

The state has faced a backlog of large energy consumers who want to connect to the Texas power grid.

Facing limited options, oil industry turns to AI to handle wastewater from oil production. Producers discovered other uses to streamline the process.

Authorities in Sinton won't confirm or deny Corpus Christi's suggestion that the small town is hoarding its precious groundwater for data centers. Across Texas, a booming buildout of server farms is adding strain to water resources that are already stretched to their limit.

The cost of doing business in agriculture was already high before the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which spiked fertilizer and fuel prices. Now, making any money this season may require farmers to cut back on certain resources.

West Texas has become a popular site for data center projects, but residents and city governments alike have questions they want answered before these proposals get approved. According to Lubbock's city manager, the development of one of these facilities in Lubbock will require collaboration and transparency.

Small towns around Corpus Christi worry where they'll fall on the pecking order if the region's water runs out.

City leaders intend to make unprecedented cuts to water use in September, but they aren't sure exactly how.

Officials in Corpus Christi expect a “water emergency” within months and to fully run out of water next year. That would halt jet fuel supplies to Texas airports, trigger a surge in gasoline prices and result in an “economic disaster” without precedent, former officials said.

Texans from Waco to Harlingen are raising concerns over how much energy and water data centers are poised to use. Local officials, some enticed by a tax boon, say they have little power to stop the rush.