RELEASE: Abbott Scrambles After Data Center Pause Exposed as Lie

Austin, TX – Democratic nominee for Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa released the following statement in response to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) shutting down its automated electronic permitting system. This follows watchdog groups exposing that the agency continued approving permits related to data center construction despite Greg Abbott’s so-called “pause.” TCEQ suspended those specific permits after being exposed.

“Greg Abbott has been caught in his lies and is now scrambling to clean up his mess. Abbott invited these data centers to Texas, took $22 million from their interests, and announced a fake pause to try and save his political career,” said Hinojosa. “Now, instead of taking real action to protect our communities, the state is shutting down its permitting system because Abbott didn’t even enforce his own directive. Texas deserves more than empty promises from a Governor whose job it is to protect them.” 

In September, Abbott directed TCEQ to stop issuing permits related to data center use. Despite that, Public Citizen identified 35 permits given to data centers approved for projects related to data centers. TCEQ then suspended at least 17 specific permits identified and shut down its automated permitting system.

All of this comes after Greg Abbott received $22.5 million in campaign contributions from data center interests and allowed 596 data centers to be planned or built with the largest tax breaks in the country. Despite inviting these corporations into Texas, Abbott’s so-called “pause” is set to end in December, conveniently after the election.

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