Megan Navarro
WIMBERLEY — After her involvement in previous legislative sessions and learning what was happening in her own backyard, Wimberley resident Maggie Elizabeth Hill is working to help communities across the state of Texas stand up against the current data centers proposals.
There is a distinction between the data centers that were approved in 2013 and the ones that are currently being green lighted, Hill explained. The newer ones, at an upwards of 800 acres, are known as hyper-scale data centers, which are being used for artificial intelligence (AI) training models and surveillance. When there is conversation about mass layoffs, she continued, those jobs are being replaced by AI data models, in which the data centers are the processing warehouses that have to be large enough to process the quantities of information.
“[The technology companies] said that Texas is very important. It will be the epicenter and it will be the place where they are choosing to grow their business. So, when we're talking about these data centers coming in, it's not like we're servicing the local community,” Hill said. “This will service native processing throughout the U.S. and they have pegged Texas as that point for it to happen, without any concern of what that means for the local communities.”
Various issues, including power and water, surround how the current approximately 400 data centers that are slated to be built across the state of Texas.
Each data center can consume between 100 to more than 500 megawatts of electricity, which is equivalent to powering 75,000 to 375,000 homes, according to Hill. While the state has experienced grid failures during winter storms, this new demand could put that at an even greater risk.
A single facility can also use three to five million gallons of water every day for cooling; many of these facilities are proposed in areas where groundwater resources are already scarce and local water districts lack the authority or information to assess the long-term impact on aquifers, she said.
“The government has made it very easy for them to build in Texas because the land is cheap, but we are experiencing drought, so they're not balancing this plan that they're looking at with the actual reality of the situation or the landscape of the people who live here. So, this is very much being forced on people in their communities,” the resident shared. “It's very unsettling that we're not part of that conversation to make sure that these are being built in the right way, in a way that serves the community and in a responsible way that also fosters the longevity of the community. If there is no water, then they're going to have to completely shut down that facility and figure out ways to put Band-Aids on it to make sure that it's still operational.”
In learning about the impact that these would have, Hill created the grassroots organization, Don’t Drain Texas, along with a website to provide the tools that people need in order to contact their state representatives. She’s also developing a resource that would allow counties to get more “granular” in tracking the data centers and tying them to specific locations.
“I also obviously heard that in San Marcos there was a huge turnout for the protests against building there, so, because San Marcos is very close to Wimberley, that got my attention. I'm like, "Oh, wow! These are coming into my county, into my neighborhood,’” she said. “All we have is the ability to speak up against what’s happening, so, knowing that, I just thought it was very important to give [people] tools to organize because Facebook is not conducive to that. If someone posts really valuable information, it just gets lost in the feed. You can't tie it to anything on a map or a specific location. So, I just thought it was vital that I then start developing these tools and do it for free because none of these tools exist right now for grassroots organizing on an actual granular level to really mobilize people.”
Additionally, Hill shared that she submitted two petitions to the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) — the latter of which has been accepted and is now live for public comment — to make it mandatory for the agencies to assess the water usage information before approving the facility “because there are a lot of areas of drought in Texas.”
There was a hearing for the Texas House Committee on Natural Resources held Tuesday, June 23, that ran for more than 10 hours and the first three hours consisted of the committee speaking to TWDB, PUCT and Electric Reliability Council of Texas, explaining that there is no data to make adequate decisions for water planning with the state’s water plan.
According to Hill, the data centers are not voluntarily reporting how much water they are using — only 17 out of 340 facilities have — and her petitions filed May 29 preceded Gov. Greg Abbott’s call to action for data centers to provide their own power and water and not to drain Texas communities.
Ultimately, Hill would like to see the 90th Legislative Session, which begins in January, to have several bills that support local communities and protect the water resources in Texas by fostering responsible development and limiting what can be done.
To learn more about the organization, data centers and upcoming hearings ahead of the legislative session, visit www.dontdraintexas.com.
