AUSTIN, Tx., September 22, 2026: Yesterday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) “to halt all permits sought by data centers.” The latest pause on datacenters comes at the heels of another order by Abbott in June when he directed the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to ensure the state’s electric utility consumers are not paying for providing electricity to the datacenters.
Because El Paso Electric is not part of ERCOT, the city council asked the city manager and the city attorney to ensure that the city’s electric company is part of the governor’s order to ERCOT. No word yet about whether they were successful.
Under the governor’s direction, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and ERCOT are now auditing all Texas datacenters “to ensure their development does not compromise the reliability of the Texas electric grid and protects Texans’ natural resources.”…