Latest
▸Data Center Pause? | Reading and Podcast Picks - October 25, 2026— The Texas Energy and Power Newsletter▸How Data Center Expansion Will Impact Texas Pacific Land Stock— Simply Wall Street▸Carrier’s $600M Fort Worth Plant Brings 1,500 Planned Jobs Into Texas’ Data Center Debate— Dallas Express▸Nonprofit questions TCEQ's data center permit compliance— Spectrum News▸TCEQ Scrutinized For Alleged Noncompliance with Abbott Data Center Directive— Texas Scorecard▸Paxton says a Brazos County data center got a letter demanding water-use reporting— KBTX News 3▸AI is driving a data-center power boom. These are some of the biggest US projects being built.— Business Insider▸Texas Suspends Data Center Permits Following Watchdog Report— GovTech▸Texas TCEQ disables STEERS amid data center permit dispute— Digital Watch Observatory▸The Hidden Environmental Cost of Texas’s Data Center Boom— GreaterGood▸Letters to the Editor – Water, Social Security, Palestine, Epstein— Dallas News▸Data center audit: Companies wait on PUCT ruling to make sure costs don't trickle down to residents— The Business Journals▸Study warns Texas data center growth could threaten decades of air quality gains— cbs19.tv▸1 in 4 data centers sits in a water-stressed area. Few states track how much water they use— R&D World
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BIG DATA DAMAGEThe Texas Data Center Watchdog
A Texas Data Center Investigation

It's your water.It's your air.It's your land.

Billion-dollar data centers are pumping Texas aquifers dry, fouling the air with diesel exhaust, and filling homes with round-the-clock noise that can make property harder to enjoy or sell. We document who's doing it, where — and what landowners can do about it.

The damage

Three ways the data center boom is hurting Texas landowners

When a hyperscale facility moves in next door, the burdens can land on you while the benefits go elsewhere. Here is where the harm tends to show up.

By the numbers

The scale of the Texas data center rush

Texas is the nation's top target for new data centers. Here is how fast they are arriving — and where they are landing.

248
data centers planned across Texas
519
large grid-connection requests in two years
3–9%
of Texas' water they could use by 2040
$50K
per megawatt now required just to apply

Where they're going — 187 planned facilities by region

North Texas86
Central Texas56
West Texas45

Sources: The Texas Tribune & ERCOT (2026)

From around Texas

Latest news & video

Staying informed is the first step to protecting your land. Here is the latest reporting on Texas data centers — water and power impacts, property and quiet-enjoyment fights, and transmission-line and eminent-domain disputes. Links open the original at the source.

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Headlines aggregated via Google News. Big Data Damage is not affiliated with the linked outlets, and links lead to third-party sites we don't control.

Free landowner guide

The Texas Landowner's Data Center Toolkit

A data center is proposed near your land. What do you ask about water, power, generators, and noise? What should you document before the first truck arrives? When is it time to call someone? One sourced guide — read it online or take the PDF to your next county meeting.

Read the toolkit

Research & studies

The evidence, gathered in one place

A curated library of the peer-reviewed studies and agency reports on how data centers affect health — noise, diesel emissions, water, and more. Each one links to the full text at its source.

Browse the research

By location

Is a data center near you?

We track the Texas communities at the front lines of the data center fight. Find yours.

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