Gina Hinojosa has beaten Greg Abbott in the Texas governor’s race after promising an immediate halt to new data centres until lawmakers give communities protections and Texans get “a seat at the table”. She now enters the transition with that promise awaiting action.
People from Granbury, Lubbock and El Paso told her July news conference how little influence they had over data centres and cryptocurrency mining facilities coming into their communities. They complained about secrecy around the projects, according to The Texas Tribune.
Hinojosa proposes giving local officials the power to negotiate with developers or reject projects. She would also require union labour and prevent confidentiality agreements from hiding how much water and electricity the facilities use. Those protections still require legislation. Her platform calls for a temporary pause while lawmakers put the rules in place. In an interview published by KXII on November 1, she continued to support withholding new approvals until protective laws were passed.
Abbott had also called for tighter controls. His June 10 directive said data centres should cover their electricity infrastructure costs, disclose their resource use and face the repeal of sales tax exemptions. The rivals agreed on ending those incentives.
Greater scrutiny could slow data centre approvals, Reuters reports, though the effect on particular projects remains unconfirmed. Elon Musk, whose Tesla and SpaceX businesses operate in Texas, is among the business figures with interests in the state.
Hinojosa’s victory puts her demand for enforceable rules and more community influence over what gets built around Texans into the hands of an incoming administration. Her platform commits her to calling a special legislative session to end data centre tax incentives.
Sources
- 1.Data Centers | Gina Hinojosa for Texas Governor · Gina Hinojosa for Texas Governor
- 2.Elon Musk’s business empire braces for Democratic wave as Texas flips blue · Automotive News
- 3.Elon Musk's business empire braces for Democratic wave as Texas flips blue · NBC News
- 4.Elon Musk's business empire braces for Democratic wave as Texas flips blue · NST Online
- 5.Elon Musk · The Economic Times
- 6.Elon Musk · The Economic Times
- 7.Elon Musk's business empire braces for Democratic wave as Texas flips blue · Reuters
- 8.Elon Musk's business empire braces for Democratic wave as Texas flips blue · Yahoo Finance Singapore
Reported by the WattsUpNext desk from the sources linked below. Spot an error? Tell us at corrections@wattsupnext.com.
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