{
  "id": 15661185,
  "title": "'It Ain't Right:' Texas Said It Would Halt Data Center Permits. The State is Pushing Ahead Anyway",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/19/it-aint-right-texas-said-it-would-halt-data-center-permits-the-state",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-19T21:40:42.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "404 Media",
    "slug": "404-media",
    "url": "https://www.404media.co/it-aint-right-texas-said-it-would-halt-data-center-permits-the-state-is-pushing-ahead-anyway/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent investigation by Public Citizen and FracTracker Alliance has uncovered evidence that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has continued to issue permits for data centers despite Governor Greg Abbott's call for a halt. The nonprofits found that the TCEQ has reviewed documents and assigned engineers to over a dozen permits related to data center projects in the state, with listings showing more than 15 and 35 permits, respectively. Governor Abbott denies approving any new permits in a statement to 404 Media. The TCEQ has approved permits for air-emission limits, stormwater coverage, and gas power plants for multiple data center projects across the state, including Houston, Abilene, Barstow, and Royse City.\n\nThe investigation comes after 404 Media reported that Abbott received $9 million in donations from data center developers and owners. The TCEQ's own data indicates that business as usual is continuing for data centers, and the nonprofits argue that the agency's actions are ineffective and ineffective attempts to govern. Despite the freeze, Texas remains poised to become the data center capital of the world, with hundreds of existing and planned projects. Critics, including a researcher from FracTracker Alliance, claim that TCEQ is accepting applications but not moving forward with reviewing them, citing a regulatory loophole that allows for the approval of a generic construction stormwater permit, which can lead to the rapid construction of data centers.",
  "summary": "“The Caldwell Technology Park [...] the Stargate facility, and a bunch of other very large hyperscale facilities have gotten regulatory approvals [...] so it's not like a real pause.\"",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}