1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

We the people uniting across party lines on anything these days is a unicorn. But we finally hit some magic words to do so…data centers. Finally such a blatant and misguided effort by leadership in the name of capitalism that no one is happy. Take Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott says data center companies “dug their own grave” by failing to rally public support. But he forgets. The governor and his allies set the industry and Texans up for failure with a decade of policies that put profits ahead of people. Abbott publicly invited data center companies to build in Texas. He promised the state would become the national leader in AI and cryptocurrency mining. He promised low taxes and regulations along with cheap electricity and water. “Texas is Open for Business” has for decades been the motto for GOP politics in the state. Republican lawmakers passed multiple laws, which Abbott signed, to provide property tax cuts for data centers. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, pushed through legislation stripping city and county governments of authority to regulate them. Counties formally asked Texas AG Ken Paxton what power they might still retain over proposed data centers. Six months later, he still hasn't answered. Corporations do what for-profit businesses are going to do: whatever the law allows. Abbott and his GOP allies told them, encouraged them even, to leverage all of Texas’s weak laws around zoning, water use and subsidized electricity prices. So Abbott cannot be shocked, SHOCKED, to learn that the world’s biggest companies now want to walk through the door he opened. “They had not been working in collaboration with the state; they'd not been in collaboration with local governments, and so they basically dug their own grave for the problem that's been caused for them, and that's why they got the backlash they deserve,” Abbott told ABC News’ This Week. Pinocchio would be proud. Data center executives did not collaborate with the state because Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Republican-controlled Legislature told them to go for it. They didn’t collaborate with local governments because state law says they don’t have to. But now, an election is coming. And Texas leaders are putting it in reverse. Abbott told ABC News that his “new standards” would solve the data center dilemma. LMAO. Abbott’s “new standards” do not require data centers to collaborate with state or local governments. He did not ask the Legislature to pass laws giving counties permission to enforce existing zoning laws or set new building standards. Now all these political chickens are coming home to roost for failing to regulate business wisely and predictably. Abbott may try to shift the blame to others, but his policies created these messes. And proposing policies he previously rejected to fix them is hypocritical at the very least. He needs to be reminded we are paying attention. He should have listened to Dolly…“Find out who you are and do it on purpose. And do it with purpose. Don’t ever sacrifice who you are, your principles and your morals and your values to just try to get ahead in business. It ain’t worth it.” Amen sister.