Block Gas Plant Permits for Private Data Center Power

Vote against any permits, subsidies, or policy support for gas-fired power plants built to serve private data centers. Texas is on track to nearly double statewide power demand within five years, and developers are responding by building massive private gas plants that bypass the public grid entirely — locking in fossil fuel dependency for a generation while dumping the pollution on rural neighbors who never asked for it. The numbers are staggering. The Stargate data center in Abilene alone is permitted to emit 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases and 14 tons of hazardous air pollutants per year. A proposed 1,200 megawatt plant in the tiny town of Blue would emit 254 tons of nitrogen oxides, 153 tons of soot, and nearly 18 tons of cancer-linked chemicals annually — placed deliberately at the edge of a 33,000-acre development, far from the developer's own property but right next to people's homes. Meanwhile, Texas has already doubled the public gas subsidy fund to $10 billion while excluding wind and solar. A report by Aurora Energy Research found that restricting renewables would drive electricity prices up 14% by 2035. This buildout benefits gas companies and data center investors. Everyone else pays — in higher bills, dirtier air, and a climate we're making worse by the day.