Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is framing himself as a centrist voice on data centers as he seeks to further distinguish himself from his Democratic opponent in the Lone Star State’s Senate race.
In a conversation with the U.S. Hispanic Business Council on Monday, Paxton said his stance on data centers was “not an extreme yes/no” but rather a “yes, with conditions.”
“Do these things need to be built in a neighborhood?” he asked. “I think there can be some negotiation there about, like, let’s not put it right next to somebody’s house. There’s plenty of open space in Texas, and other parts of the country, that we can put data centers that do not create a different atmosphere for a neighbor itself.”
Paxton appears to be siding with Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), who implemented a strict moratorium on the development of new data centers this summer over concerns about the state’s strained water supplies and power grid.
After Abbott took action, Paxton unveiled his four-point Texas First Data Center Plan that supports the governor’s state-level initiative to restrict the development of the sites fueled by artificial intelligence.
Paxton’s plan competes with the one laid out by Texas Democrat James Talarico, who proposed that data center developers should gain approval from local communities before starting construction, cover their own energy costs, and recycle their water.
The issue has become a flash point in the Senate race, with Talarico accusing Paxton of accepting donations from the data center industry. The Democratic nominee claimed he doesn’t pocket money from data centers, though Paxton’s campaign attacked a pro-Talarico super PAC for accepting money from data center investors.
While Paxton supports certain restrictions on data centers, he welcomes the economic benefits associated with building the rapidly growing technology infrastructure.
PAXTON OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO TEXAS DATA CENTERS THAT HAVEN’T REPORTED WATER USAGE
Speaking at the USHBC event, Paxton said data centers are a “huge economic boon” that will create a “lot of jobs” and help Texas and the rest of the United States compete with China in the AI race.
Paxton’s latest remarks came days after he opened an investigation into Texas-based data centers that haven’t reported their water usage to the Texas Water Development Board. The state attorney general made the move to ensure the state’s water supplies are not depleted by more than 300 operational data centers.