Texas governor-elect: State will have laws to shield citizens from data centers

Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa said on Thursday that the state will introduce laws to protect its residents with regards to data centers, citing their impact on rural communities.



With plentiful energy supplies, relatively cheap land and a pro-business policy, Texas has become one of the leading regions in the world for data center developments.



"Data centers have moved into mostly rural communities, and there are no rules and laws to protect Texans," Democrat Hinojosa, who beat Republican incumbent Greg Abbott in Tuesday's election, told CNN in an interview.



"We will have laws to protect Texans, and we need to stop what we are doing with data centers until we have those protections," she said, adding that communities should have "a seat at the table" on if and how data centers operate in their areas.



US President Donald Trump's administration has strongly backed data center expansion as a national priority, but the public is increasingly opposed to such projects, citing concerns about electricity demand, water consumption, wildlife impacts and public access to federal lands.