Texas Utility Regulators File Lawsuit to Hide Data Center Locations From Texans

A Texas government agency doesn't want you to know where data centers are located in the state of Texas or the amount of water and electricity they consume.

Texas Utility Regulators Sue Attorney General to Keep Data Center Locations Secret

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) has filed a lawsuit in Travis County District Court in an effort to block the public release of geographic location data for data centers and cryptocurrency mining operations in Texas. According to the Texas Tribune, the court action directly challenges open records rulings from Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office. State utility regulators claim that making exact facility locations public could provide potential terrorists or hostile foreign actors with targeted intelligence capable of crippling the state's power grid and municipal water supplies.

The Timing of the Lawsuit is Questionable

The filing of the lawsuit comes at a time of heated discussion among Texans and their local governments over the influx of data centers into their communities. Rural Texans have had absolutely no say in the construction of data centers due to the lack of zoning laws in rural areas of the state. Rural residents are demanding transparency about water and electricity usage by data centers...two factors directly affecting rural Texans.

Basic Map Coordinates at the Heart of the Dispute

The legal fight centers on two fundamental pieces of data collected in a state survey: the specific county where a computing facility operates and its corresponding regional water planning area. Utility commissioners argue that those location fields become highly dangerous when linked to the rest of the survey's operational metrics. The state's research covers detailed facility specifics, including total power demand, peak electricity consumption, cooling technologies, water sources, volume usage, and connections to the regional electric grid. EVERYTHING Texans have demanded to know about the data centers in their communities.

Public Utility Commission Claims

The PUC maintains that linking operational data directly to specific geographic locations reveals site-specific vulnerabilities that could be exploited in a physical attack or cyber strike.The commission is asking a Travis County judge to declare those geographic identifiers exempt from disclosure under the Texas Homeland Security Act, a state law intended to protect critical infrastructure from major criminal or terrorist threats.

Conflict Over Open Records and Texas Infrastructure Laws

The dispute reached the courts after a McLennan County resident and four journalists submitted formal open records requests for the survey responses. The PUC initially refused to release the records, which led to a review by the Attorney General’s Open Records Division. The Attorney General’s office ruled twice against the utility commission, determining that regulators failed to prove the geographic information identified the specific technical vulnerabilities protected under the Homeland Security Act. In response, the PUC launched its legal challenge to overturn the state's rulings.

Resource Strain Caused By Data Centers

The lawsuit highlights mounting friction in Austin over how to manage the state's booming data center and cryptocurrency footprint. These huge computing campuses demand immense quantities of electricity to keep servers running and require millions of gallons of water for cooling systems.

State Lawmakers Attempts to Obtain Information From the PUC

In response to public anxiety over resource consumption, state lawmakers ordered the PUC to conduct the survey alongside the Texas Water Development Board. The response was laughable. After state lawmakers criticized an early response rate of just 28 companies representing 92 facilities as inadequate, regulators reopened the survey window. As of late summer, only 77 data centers and 13 virtual currency mining facilities had supplied responses.

Governor Abbott's Efforts To Obtain Information

Governor Abbott has instructed state agencies to enforce stricter oversight on computing facilities applying for power grid hookups, directing water regulators to penalize facilities that fail to comply with mandatory water usage reporting. While the Travis County lawsuit moves forward, state water planners emphasize that knowing where major industrial water users operate remains essential for forecasting the region's future infrastructure needs.