One day after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a statewide data center permit pause at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, a $430 million data center was registered with the state for a site in the Denton County part of Fort Worth. That filing, and the Oct. 19 deadline Abbott set for TCEQ to report back, show where the state’s tightening rules now meet North Texas projects.
Never Late News has followed the local side of this fight, from Fort Worth’s Nov. 10 moratorium hearing to Denton’s proposed data center rules. Here is what changed at the state level and what it does, and does not, stop.
What the data center permit pause says
In a Sept. 21 letter to TCEQ Executive Director Kelly Keel, Abbott wrote that he was “directing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to halt all permits sought by data centers.” Later in the letter he directed the agency “to pause the issuance of all permits related to data center projects until ERCOT completes its review.”
The letter ties the pause to audits already underway at the Public Utility Commission, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and the Texas Water Development Board. Abbott wrote that because those agencies need the information, “no other state agency shall move forward with regulatory approvals related to data centers until this information is acquired.”
The letter also lays out conditions Abbott wants data centers to meet. They must cover all electrical infrastructure costs, result in lower residential electric bills, finish the ERCOT and TWDB audits, avoid using water needed by local communities, report electricity and water use and follow setback requirements. Abbott said he would work with the Legislature to eliminate financial incentives for data centers. TCEQ must update his office on its compliance by Monday, Oct. 19.
“Simply put, Texans must come first,” Abbott said in the governor’s office news release.
TCEQ described the scope in narrower terms. A spokesperson told Houston Public Media, in a report carried by Texas Public Radio, that the agency “has paused the issuance of all air and water permits and authorizations related to the construction or development of infrastructure directly supporting data centers while ERCOT completes its comprehensive grid and community impact audit.”
How the state got here
The TCEQ order is the latest step in a summer of directives, according to the governor’s office and The Texas Tribune:
- June: Abbott directed ERCOT and the PUC to require data centers to fully fund the electric infrastructure needed to serve them.
- July 17: PUC Chair Thomas Gleeson replied with a letter describing steps already taken and asking the Legislature for more authority.
- Aug. 3: Abbott ordered ERCOT to collect information on each project’s tax breaks, power use and generation, water use and cooling, community impacts and ownership, effectively pausing new grid connections until the audit is done.
- Sept. 14: Abbott directed the water board to compel data centers to report water use and to penalize those that do not. The Tribune reported that as few as 28% had responded to a required water survey.
- Sept. 21: the TCEQ permit order.
The Tribune noted why the TCEQ step matters. Some developers plan to build “behind the meter,” generating their own power and avoiding grid approval, and parts of Texas sit outside the ERCOT region. Environmental permits apply statewide.
The $430M Colovore filing in Fort Worth
On Sept. 22, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation registered project TABS2027001701, named Colovore Alliance. The state record lists:
- Location: 14700 Heritage Parkway, Fort Worth 76177, in Denton County
- Estimated cost: $430,000,000
- Scope: a one-story, 156,500-square-foot data center building with an administrative area and four data halls, plus a 42,000-square-foot screened equipment yard
- Schedule: start Dec. 1, 2026, completion Dec. 1, 2028
- Owner: AIL Investment LP, at 9800 Hillwood Parkway
- Funding: private funds, on private land, for private use
A TDLR registration is an accessibility review under the Texas Architectural Barriers Act. It is not an environmental permit, and it does not mean the project has state approval to build. Community Impact, which reported the filing, noted that construction disturbing at least an acre needs a TCEQ permit and that industrial projects also need air permits. Those are the kinds of approvals the pause now holds.
Community Impact also reported that Colovore’s website lists Fort Worth and Mesquite data centers as under construction and a Johnson County site as planned, and that a Hillwood spokesperson said there was no information to share.
What the pause does not do
The data center permit pause does not cancel projects, and it does not change city zoning. Local rules still decide where data centers can go. Fort Worth’s council started a 90-day moratorium process on Aug. 11, and Community Impact reported that a public notice could be issued by Oct. 9 for a Nov. 10 hearing, with Feb. 16, 2027 the earliest possible vote. Denton’s council holds its own hearing on Oct. 13. Dallas council members have asked for a hearing on hyperscale data center land use, and the state attorney general is probing data center water reporting in Dallas and Tarrant counties.
The letter also does not say when the ERCOT audit will end. Until it does, any North Texas data center that needs a new TCEQ air or water authorization is waiting on the same clock.
What to watch next
- Oct. 13: Denton council hearing on data center code changes.
- Oct. 19: TCEQ’s compliance update to the governor’s office is due. Whether the agency makes it public is not stated in the letter.
- Nov. 10: Fort Worth’s possible first moratorium hearing, if notice goes out on schedule.
- The ERCOT audit itself, which has no published end date. How long the data center permit pause lasts depends on it.
How Never Late News reported this
This follow-up is based on Gov. Abbott’s Sept. 21, 2026 letter to TCEQ, the governor’s office news release and the TDLR project record for TABS2027001701, registered Sept. 22, 2026. The TCEQ spokesperson statement comes from Houston Public Media’s report on Texas Public Radio. The timeline, the 28% survey figure and the behind-the-meter context come from The Texas Tribune. The permit context, Colovore’s other sites, the Hillwood response and Fort Worth’s moratorium schedule come from Community Impact. No interviews were conducted for this report. To report an error, email editor@neverlatenews.com.