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The Heat Is On, And So Are Texas's New Power Plants
Right now, a heat dome is scorching the eastern half of the country from Texas to D.C. with temps near or above 100 degrees through the July 4th weekend. Millions of Americans are being told to stay inside, run their AC, and check on vulnerable neighbors.
Now hold that image next to this new report from the Environmental Integrity Project, which found that of 74 new gas-fired power plants being proposed nationwide to feed data centers, 32 are slated for Texas. That’s almost half.
Many are being built as dedicated, on-site plants so developers can sidestep the strained public grid altogether, but the pollution doesn't stay on-site. Together, they could emit more than 287 million tons of greenhouse gases a year, worsening the very heat domes that are making this week so dangerous.
Almost 90% of the plants proposed In Texas are slated for counties where life expectancy is already below the national average, meaning the Texas communities least equipped to handle extreme heat are also the ones being asked to breathe the extra particulate matter and nitrogen oxides these plants would emit.
And the demand keeps growing. ERCOT, which runs the Texas grid, says developers have submitted requests for 439 gigawatts of future electricity demand, or five times the state's current peak with 89% of that coming from data centers.
Add a single mega-project like Project Matador near Amarillo, Texas, which alone could need more power than Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio's households combined, and you start to see how one state's grid is being reshaped to serve a national, even global, industry.
Some communities are already pushing back: San Marcos, Texas, just banned data centers outright, and even Texas Governor Greg Abbott is now calling for restrictions on where they can be built.
Wherever you're sweating through this heat wave, remember that the infrastructure keeping you cool and the infrastructure warming our planet are increasingly the same fight.
