Come Down Here And Say That

Trump: “One of the biggest Driving Forces in the Future for Jobs, are Data Centers.” pic.twitter.com/KUv0NXFaeY

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) July 15, 2026

Trump’s plan for your town pic.twitter.com/chU6mlb9p7

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) July 16, 2026

Even Greg Abbott knows which way the wind blows:

Gov. Greg Abbott called for blocking new data center development in rural parts of the state during a campaign stop in East Texas on Tuesday.

“We must prohibit them from building AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods,” Abbott said at the Bullard event, which primarily discussed his plan to cut property taxes, adding that this issue “dovetails right into fighting for East Texas values.”

Abbott’s push for a prohibition in rural neighborhoods appears to go further than a sweeping regulatory framework he unveiled earlier this month, which called for data centers to add new power generation to the grid, pay for their own infrastructure costs, reuse their own water and implement measures such as setbacks, among other proposals aimed at limiting their impact on residential communities.

In a statement, Abbott campaign spokesperson Eduardo Leal said, “everything the Governor said today tracks with his June 10th letter.”

“As the Governor said in the letter, he will work with lawmakers to ensure local communities are not adversely impacted,” Leal added.

Abbott reiterated his support on Tuesday for the measures laid out in his earlier announcement.

“I made clear already: Any AI data center even thinking about coming here — they got to bring their own money, bring their own power, reuse their own water and do it in a way that reduces the cost of electricity for residents across our state,” he said. “We must eliminate the tax break they are getting. They must be responsible for funding their own projects here in Texas. We will get that done.”

In outlining his regulatory recommendations this month, Abbott instructed the Public Utility Commission to “guarantee any data center development does not come at the cost of Texans and our local communities” and to consider how to “minimize adverse impacts on local communities.”

The third-term Republican governor had previously been enthusiastic about the influx of companies seeking to build the facilities, calling Texas “the epicenter of AI development” when he announced in November that Google had made a $40 billion investment in cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in the state.

Abbott has received over $2 million from people and companies linked to the tech and AI industries since last year, E&E News by Politico reported in April.

His call for a ban in rural neighborhoods Tuesday comes as many rural counties and activists have attempted to pass moratoriums and called for the Legislature to grant them greater local control to prevent the construction of the centers. Opponents argue that the oftentimes gigantic operations will put their water availability and air quality at risk and threaten to hike their power bills.