Texas Paused Data Center Permits. Records Showed Some Kept Moving, and TCEQ Has Now Suspended Its Stormwater Approvals.

Governor Greg Abbott told the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on September 21 to “halt all permits sought by data centers.” TCEQ’s own records showed some data-center work kept moving after that date. Since a watchdog report said so on October 19, TCEQ has suspended the stormwater approvals and shut down its online filing system. The air permit reviews in the same report look unchanged.

A construction stormwater authorization for an Abilene data center site was received and approved on September 23, two days after the letter. On November 1 the same record listed the authorization as suspended. A generator registration for a site in Irving, filed and expedited on October 6, cleared an initial engineering review on October 9 and was still pending on November 1.

What the governor ordered

Abbott’s letter to TCEQ directs the agency “to pause the issuance of all permits related to data center projects until ERCOT completes its review.” It rests on audits Abbott had already ordered: the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT reviewing data centers in ERCOT’s interconnection process, and the Texas Water Development Board compelling data centers to report water use. “No other state agency shall move forward with regulatory approvals related to data centers until this information is acquired,” the letter says. It asked TCEQ for an update on its compliance by Monday, October 19.

The letter gives no calendar end for the pause. Public Citizen says the audit is scheduled to conclude in December. The group has also questioned the pause itself: Kathryn Guerra, director of its TCEQ Watchdog Campaign, said in a September 21 statement that “it’s doubtful that TCEQ can legally pause permitting without legislative action.”

Data centers need TCEQ permits for air pollution from backup diesel generators and natural gas power plants, and for wastewater and fuel storage, according to Public Citizen.

What the records showed

FracTracker Alliance’s report, published October 19 with Public Citizen, covers TCEQ permit and public-notice records from September 21 through October 16. It lists four kinds of action on projects it links to data centers:

• 11 construction stormwater coverages approved
• 7 air emission certifications issued
• 14 gas plant or generator applications fast-tracked or assigned to an engineer
• 3 major-source air permit notices mailed

Those counts total 35, the figure 404 Media reported. FracTracker acknowledges that moving applications through review “is not the same as issuing permits,” and argues that it “certainly appears to violate the Governor’s order.” We opened three of the TCEQ records it cites.

Abilene. Construction stormwater authorization TXR1536ZN names the site “Abilene Data Center Buildings 9 & 10” in Taylor County, with 450 acres disturbed. It was received, given final action and covered on September 23, 2026. On November 1 the application still read approved and the authorization read suspended. The record does not say when the suspension took effect. FracTracker identifies the site as Crusoe’s Abilene campus. Abilene is also home to the Stargate AI campus we have covered before; the TCEQ record does not name Stargate, and we have not confirmed whether this site is part of it.

Irving. An air permit-by-rule registration filed by Edged Dallas LLC, covering engines and turbines, was received October 6, the same date the record gives for expedited permitting. An engineer received it October 7 and completed an initial review October 9. On November 1 its status was still pending, with no later action recorded. 404 Media describes the filing as engines and turbines that would power a data center in Irving.

A major-source air permit. The action history for a permit FracTracker identifies as VoltaGrid’s ABI-1 plant shows the application received in December 2025, long before the pause, and a notice of preliminary decision mailed September 22 and published September 23. That notice opened a 30-day comment period, which TCEQ officials told Public Citizen was still going ahead as scheduled, the San Antonio Current reported. The record shows the comment period ended October 23. No final decision appears as of November 1.

What TCEQ told the governor

TCEQ’s October 19 letter to Abbott, signed by Interim Executive Director Steven Schar, says the agency “has paused the issuance of all permits related to the construction or development of infrastructure directly supporting data centers.”

It describes two kinds of work. Staff are screening pending applications, and any subject to the directive has been paused. TCEQ is also “screening claimed authorizations that do not require the agency to affirmatively issue a permit and, where possible, is suspending such authorizations for data center activities.” Construction stormwater coverage is that kind of authorization. TCEQ calls the notices behind it “an automated process.”

The letter does not count anything that was approved after September 21, and it does not mention the stormwater approvals.

What changed after the report

TCEQ told Spectrum News that the records Public Citizen flagged “are not operational permits, but are instead stormwater general construction Notices of Intent,” which it called “an automated process,” and that it “has suspended those notices.” Public Citizen said in an October 22 release that TCEQ “has suspended at least 17 permits issued to data center developers,” Texas Public Radio reported. That count is Public Citizen’s; TCEQ has not published one.

TCEQ also took down the system that let those authorizations go through without a person looking at them. A notice on its construction stormwater page, last modified October 28, says its electronic filing portal, the State of Texas Environmental Electronic Reporting System (STEERS), “has been temporarily shut down to ensure all applications related to data centers are reviewed by TCEQ staff.” TCEQ “is working to modify STEERS functionality to allow staff to review applications before an authorization is issued” and “anticipates that this work will be completed in mid-November.” Because of the outage, it extended a Multi-Sector General Permit renewal deadline to December 28 and issued an episodic waiver that lets some facilities email permit documents.

The rest of the watchdog list looks the same. Texas Public Radio reported that the seven air emission certifications “appear unchanged,” still listed as complete and issued, and that some gas plant and generator applications marked expedited had not been updated since the stormwater suspension. The Irving and ABI-1 records we checked show no suspension.

What it means for data center projects in Texas

TCEQ’s position is that applications can be filed but will not advance until ERCOT finishes. For construction stormwater, that is now enforced by the filing system as well as by policy: until STEERS returns with a staff review step, a data-center coverage cannot be claimed automatically. For air permits the picture is less settled. The Irving registration reached an initial engineering review three days after it arrived, and the ABI-1 permit’s public comment period ran to its end. Neither has a final decision.

The letter also says where the governor wants the rules to go. Abbott wrote that data center projects “must cover all electrical infrastructure costs,” must report electricity and water usage, must not use water needed by local communities and must abide by setback requirements. “I will work with the Legislature to eliminate any financial incentives for data centers,” the letter says. It describes TCEQ’s role “once these laws are enacted,” so these are goals for legislation, not current law.

The water-reporting piece has already reached the Attorney General. In September the Attorney General’s office announced an investigation into data center developments that had not answered the Water Development Board’s water-use survey, which our September Enforcement Watch covered.

What we are watching

STEERS. TCEQ expects the reworked filing system in mid-November. When it returns, we will check whether data-center applications show a staff review step before coverage.

The air permits. The ABI-1 comment period has closed. A final decision on it, or on the Irving registration, while the pause is in force would be the clearest test of what TCEQ’s letter means by paused.

ERCOT’s review. The pause ends, by the letter’s terms, when ERCOT completes its review. We will re-check the records above when that happens, or by November 20, whichever comes first.