Overview
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an active investigation on Thursday into hundreds of data‑center developments that did not complete water‑use surveys required by the Texas Water Development Board.
- Paxton’s office identified sites in many counties, including Harris, Travis, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Lubbock, Midland, Ector and El Paso, and said the probe will continue until all facilities comply with reporting rules.
- The investigation complements Governor Greg Abbott’s recent statewide pause on new data‑center permits and ordered audits by ERCOT, the PUCT and TWDB that tie interconnection approvals to water‑reporting and permitting reviews.
- Officials say the push for reports responds to low TWDB survey response rates and worries that data centers withdraw large volumes of water for server cooling, which reduces planners’ visibility for long‑term water and grid needs.
- Enforcement could delay projects, shift infrastructure and water costs onto operators, and reshape where developers build data centers while drawing political attention during Paxton’s U.S. Senate campaign and broader state policy changes.