Industry Warns of Blackouts Related to Data Center Line Pause
The pushback against booming data center construction continues to grow, even as the state’s grid operator warns of rolling blackouts in West Texas if new transmission lines aren’t built, the Texas Standard reported.
Dozens of legislators and state officials have been calling for scrapping the transmission buildout so the Legislature can reassess, while Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement of an audit of all data centers to be connected to the grid has forced the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to pause construction of the lines.
“Whatever the complexities of the policies engaged here — and the degree to which the deployment of these high-capacity power lines and the construction of data centers are distinct issues — in this moment, it’s the politics that matter at least as much as the policy,” said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Public Utility Commission approved a plan to build 765-kilovolt transmission lines across the state to meet transmission needs following Winter Storm Uri in 2021, which underscored the state’s grid vulnerabilities. Oil and gas operators in West Texas worry that the region has far less generation capacity than the eastern half of the state.
“The world’s most important energy basin is currently running on a patchwork of portable generators that just are not equipped for longterm needs or production growth,” said Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association.
The final decision on whether to build the lines rests with the PUC, whose five members are appointed by Abbott. The governor has not taken a position on the issue.
Wildfires Sweeping Through North Texas
The Ross Fire in North Texas scorched 85,000 acres in just three days across Jack and Palo Pinto counties, with it doubling in size in a few hours last week, The Texas Tribune reported. As of Sunday morning, the Texas A&M Forest Service said the fire was 31% contained.
No injuries have been reported, but some rural residents were advised to evacuate. With much of the state experiencing extreme dry heat, the Forest Service reported 10 active fires as of Sunday that have scorched more than 90,000 acres across Texas. Fire severely damaged Worth Ranch, an 800-acre historic Scouting America camp along the Brazos River.
Judge Again Blocks Drag Show Ban
A federal judge once again blocked a Texas law banning certain drag show performances, The Dallas Morning News reported. The judge said the law’s restrictions violate the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner last week ruled that Senate Bill 12 is an unconstitutional ban on free speech and permanently barred Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from enforcing the law.
The 2023 law, heavily backed by Republican lawmakers, prohibited “sexually oriented performances” in front of minors or on public property where children might see them. The law did not prohibit all drag shows. In a 36page ruling, Hittner concluded that the law was both overly broad and unconstitutionally vague.
Paxton said he would appeal the decision “immediately.”