Hood County residents mobilize to rein in data centers
Hood County residents aren’t backing down in their fight against proposed data centers that they say are encroaching on their rural way of life.
During a town hall Tuesday at a community center in Tolar, people sang the national anthem and prayed for clarity as they discussed the need for a moratorium. They also talked about urging Gov. Abbott to call a special session before the Legislature convenes in 2027 to discuss regulating data centers.
Precinct 2 County Commissioner Nannette Samuelson told the audience that five of the six data centers proposed for Hood County are in the Mitchell Bend area, where residents lost an election in November to incorporate in hopes of regulating noise and pollution from several gas power plants and a bitcoin operation, Mara Holdings.
“I hear you. I’ve been working on this ever since I took office,” Samuelson said.
On Feb. 10, Hood County commissioners turned down on a 3-2 vote a proposal for a six-month moratorium on industrial development. That would have allowed officials to have time to study how data centers would impact the predominantly rural county, which also has protections in place because of the Paluxy River watershed.
Shortly before the vote, commissioners received a letter from state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, which was also addressed to Attorney General Ken Paxton stating that counties don’t have the authority to regulate and that the moratorium would violate state law.
However, Precinct 4 Commissioner Dave Eagle put “reconsideration” of the moratorium back on the Feb. 24 agenda after Van Zandt County commissioners voted on Feb. 11 in favor of a temporary moratorium on “green energy” projects such as battery storage facilities over concerns that components used in hardware and software could come from China, Venezuela and North Korea, and could damage critical infrastructure such as the power grid.
Van Zandt County was the impetus for my putting the moratorium back on the agenda, he said.
Eagle also said he wants another moratorium similar to Van Zandt County to include data centers, which would have to prove that components did not come from China.
During the town hall, members from the group Protect the Paluxy Valley and officials from Hood and Somervell counties told the audience that data centers are taking advantage of abundant land, a business-friendly climate and few regulations when making decisions to build data centers in Texas.
Greg Harrell, the Hood County Republican Party chair said, “Why are these guys coming to Texas, because Texas is absolutely the energy giant …
“We love liberty and a lack of regulations. They are taking advantage of it,” he said.
Harrell said it is crucial for people to contact Gov. Abbott’s office concerning a special session because the companies know the Legislature won’t meet until next year.
He also described organizing a trip to Abilene so that county commissioners could see the massive Stargate project, a 4-million square foot complex on approximately 1,000 acres.
Stargate is part of a nationwide $500 billion build out of AI infrastructure backed by Oracle and Open AI.
Stargate, Abilene and Taylor County agreed to a generous tax abatement package, abating 85% of property taxes for the next 10 years.
Harrell said, “what I saw was devastating.” He described a conversation with the Taylor County sheriff who told Harrell that he could no longer see the stars at night.
Samuelson said she went to Abilene and was also concerned by the increased traffic and influx of workers.
The hotels are full, and people are renting their homes on Airbnb, she said.
There are concerns that if projects such as the 2,100-acre Comanche Circle are approved in Hood County, the mostly rural area could see similar issues.
“These types of issues will change rural Texas forever unless we get some way to put the brakes on this,” she said.
Samuelson also talked about Granbury as a tourism destination, and what would happen if the hotels were full of workers instead of tourists.
This story was originally published February 20, 2026 at 12:05 PM.