AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – The Amarillo City Council is expected to hold a work session and a regular meeting on Tuesday, where members will discuss a range of topics from potential water supply agreements with Fermi America to agreements to conduct preparation activities in case of an emergency at the Pantex Plant.
The city council will hold its special executive session at 12 p.m. on Tuesday to discuss a potential water supply agreement with Fermi America, the company set to build a 5,800-acre AI data center east of town. The agenda for the executive session also includes discussing “the purchase, exchange, lease, sale, or value of real property” in the northwest quadrant of Amarillo, as well as talks of “commercial or financial information received from a business prospect” for the potential Fermi America water supply deal and “Project #TIRZ1-2502 (Hospitality)”.
Texas Tech University System, Fermi America announce AI intelligence, energy campus near Amarillo
As noted in previous reports, Fermi America and the Texas Tech University System have partnered to build what representatives called “the largest advanced energy, private grid and intelligence development in the world” near Pantex, with the goal of generating and utilizing up to 11 gigawatts of energy by the time the project is complete. The campus is planned to use natural gas, solar, wind and nuclear energy to generate its energy capacity over the next several years.
However, there has been criticism of the project and other AI data centers over concerns of environmental impacts, particularly regarding water usage. Another recent project, APR Energy’s development of an 800-acre data center near Pampa, is expected to start with using 2 gigawatts of natural gas and 1.5 million gallons per day of water; Fermi America’s project is set to be more than five times that size, which has drawn concerns that it could potentially be a threat to already-depleting groundwater sources on which the High Plains depend…