Make money doing the work you believe in
“You want to build a big, huge data center in Abilene, Texas?”
In the way people may associate Hinkley, California, or Flint, Michigan, with water contamination, they will soon associate Abilene, Texas, with the AI infrastructure boom.
Meet Stargate in West Texas, a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and Softbank.
The campus features eight buildings on 1,100+ acres, according to a 2025 Fact Sheet hosted on Texas House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington’s website, which also says that the campus and nearby expansion were expected to create more than 25,000 onsite jobs.
Open AI’s own press release had these sparkling words to say about Stargate:
Building this infrastructure in the United States strengthens domestic industry, creates good jobs, and helps ensure American communities participate in the economic opportunity created by AI.
We are already seeing that potential take shape in Abilene, Texas, where our first campus is operating at scale, training frontier models, and supporting thousands of jobs.
Watch OpenAI's promotional video for the Abilene campus.
The shiny video and press release statements are a stark contrast to what the people living there have to say.
Of the more than 12,000 nationwide submissions to the brockovichdatacenter.com, 40 relate to the AI data-center build-out in and around Abilene, anchored by the Stargate campus plus nearby Vantage / Frontier sites.
Unlike proposal-stage sites, this cluster is partly operating while still expanding, so residents describe effects they say they are already living with.
One theme dominates the reports: a housing and rent crisis.
Housing & Rent Crisis
The most-reported harm is an influx of construction workers driving rents up two-to-four fold, with long-time residents evicted or priced out.
“Landlords are evicting tenants so they can raise the rent up to 400%… entire families are living in homeless camps.”
“Habitat for Humanity… said we are seeing entire families… coming to homeless shelters. A four-bedroom house will go for $5,000.”
“My landlord decided to increase my rent from $2,445 to $3,650… I was forced to move.”
“Dyess AFB has recently made a temporary increase in BAH because there is nothing available.”
Water & Drought
West Texas is in chronic drought and residents say they distrust “closed-loop” assurances and cite heavy water use.
“We were told it would not use much water but there is a 36-inch water pipe going into the facility.”
“Data-center trucks have been seen loading water at fire hydrants in low-income areas near the data center.”
“Our water tables are dangerously low already… we cannot afford the excessive amount of water it takes to fill a ‘closed system.’”
Utilities & Power Grid
Residents report rising electric and water bills, and large new electrical infrastructure beside homes.
“Utility bills going up. Housing prices tripled and whole families are now homeless.”
“Our water bills and electric bills have already seen a difference because they have both gone up.”
Noise, Light, Air Pollution & Wildlife
A partly-running campus brings noise, lost night sky, dust, and on-site gas-plant emissions.
“No more night sky. Excessive noise, crime increasing…”
“Complete ecosystem loss in the central flyway zone for migratory birds… Methane exposure once the on-site gas plant is functional.”
“No birds near the area…”
“Air pollution from on-site gas plants and water contamination… into our aquifers.”
Tax Abatement & Transparency
An 85% tax break for a project residents say yields few permanent local jobs, approved with limited disclosure. Local reporting confirms the 85% abatement and that the agreement requires 357 full-time jobs, which just a little more than one new Walmart Supercenter would provide and very different than the tens of thousands of jobs promised. Plus: there’s no requirement that those jobs be filled by locals.
“They were given an 85% tax abatement over 10 years… There will only be 300 or so jobs… What information our city gave us was very edited so it would be approved.”
“The meeting was announced the night before and held at 8:00 am, when Abilene ISD starts at 8:15, guaranteeing parents… could not attend.”
“Since the city allowed a tax abatement, locals will foot the bill. The city government has not been transparent.”
“When they buy up new land they annex it into the city… we don’t get to vote.”
This is why we report what the PEOPLE are saying.
Live in Texas? What are you seeing? Share this post with anyone you think needs these facts.
Sources:
