From Forney to Corpus Christi, inside the Texas cities cracking down on data centers

Just as Texas claims the title of the country’s top data center market, local municipalities are trying to stem the tide of development. The Lone Star State recently superseded Virginia, with more than 335 operating data centers and 247 proposals, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. However, residents’ mounting concerns about water usage, noise pollution and tax incentives have pushed Texas cities and municipalities to workshop individual regulatory frameworks, including zoning restrictions and outright bans on data center construction. The flurry of local regulatory activity coincides with new policy proposals at the state level, starting with Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent [...] This article originally appeared on The Real Deal.