⭐ Morning Briefing — October 19, 2026

(Covering Saturday, October 17 – Monday, October 19, 2026)

Top Story: A Texas Tribune analysis found that Gov. Greg Abbott has raised about $9 million from data center-related donors since July 2025. $2.8 million of that came in the month after he paused new grid connections for the industry, his biggest monthly total from those donors.

📰 Today's News

1. 💰 Abbott Raised About $9 Million From Data Center-Related Donors, Tribune Analysis Finds

The Texas Tribune reported Monday that data center-related donors have given Abbott about $9 million since July 2025, about 13% of what he raised in that time. Industry donors gave him $1.5 million in June, the month he first asked lawmakers to end the sales-tax break. After he announced the grid-connection pause on Aug. 3, they gave $2.8 million, his largest monthly total from them this cycle.
The Tribune split the money into two groups. $4.9 million came from people and companies that build, own or run data centers. Rhett Bennett, CEO of Fort Worth-based Black Mountain, and his company gave a combined $1 million, and former Fermi America CEO Toby Neugebauer gave $100,000. The other $4.1 million came from donors with indirect ties: investors, AI companies and firms that supply the industry.
The list also includes Harlan Crow ($250,000), whose family company announced a central Dallas data center campus with CleanArc in January. On Oct. 13, Gina Hinojosa stood near the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and pointed to the planned data center at the historic Dallas Market Hall site as an example, Texas Monthly reported Monday. Hinojosa has one data center-related donation in the Tribune's count: $25,000.
Down the ballot, the Tribune counted more than $1.6 million to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, about $1 million to Comptroller Don Huffines, mostly from tax consultant Brint Ryan and his PAC, and at least $377,500 to House Speaker Dustin Burrows, including $250,000 from Elon Musk. Patrick's and Huffines' campaigns disputed calling those donors data center-related.
Abbott spokesman Eduardo Leal called the story a "disingenuous attempt to manufacture controversy" out of old information and repeated Abbott's conditions: data centers pay their own way, protect the grid and water, and get no TCEQ permits until ERCOT's review is done. In an interview posted Monday by NBC 5's Lone Star Politics, Abbott committed to tough new data center laws next session.
Texas Monthly reported that Hinojosa says she would put a moratorium on all data center permits until the Legislature writes rules into law. Early voting begins Monday ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Today's Signal: The donations mostly kept coming as Abbott got tougher on the industry. Jim Henson of the Texas Politics Project told the Tribune that donors expect a "negotiated settlement" in 2027 and want to be part of the negotiations. The number to watch is whether the 2027 bills turn the pause into permanent rules or end up looser than it.

2. 💧 Well Permit Near Princeton Comes Ahead of Any Data Center Application

The Dallas Morning News reported Saturday that the North Texas Groundwater Conservation District approved a well permit in June for BT Aycock Data Center LLC on a nearly 50-acre Aycock Enterprises property outside Princeton's city limits in unincorporated Collin County.
The application asks for 5.56 million gallons through 2028 for construction and 1.65 million gallons a year after that, from the Woodbine Aquifer, at up to 150 gallons per minute. Records filed with the district by Dubai-based Solstice Data describe a possible "AI compute campus" with cooling that "does not consume water in normal operation."
City officials linked the prospective project to energy developer Belltown Power, which didn't respond to requests for comment. The News reported that BT Aycock is connected to a company that announced six North Texas data center sites last year.
Princeton said it has received no development application, plat or permit request and has no zoning power over the site. Collin County engineering director Clarence Daugherty said the county had received no permit requests as of last week and can only review it like any commercial building.

Today's Signal: The groundwater district approved the water before the city or county saw a single filing, and neither has zoning power over the land. Abbott's TCEQ pause covers air permits, not groundwater permits, so a well like this can be approved during the pause.

3. 🏭 Pacifico's 1.3 GW Bastrop Gas Plant Is Using a Permit That Requires No Public Notice

A Straight Arrow investigation published this weekend looked at Pacifico Energy's TCEQ application, filed in August, to build 48 gas turbines producing about 1.3 GW for BlackChamber's data center campus near Cedar Creek in Bastrop County. Straight Arrow cited the Austin Business Journal as reporting that Anthropic will be the main user.
The plant qualifies as a smaller "minor source" because Pacifico says the turbines won't run all year. Pacifico's application lists six turbine models rated for 2,648 to 7,028 hours a year, or roughly 30% to 80% of the year. TCEQ's standard permit for minor sources requires no public notice or comment period, and neighbors had to file a public information request to see the application. Pacifico did not respond to Straight Arrow.
Straight Arrow counted TCEQ standard permit applications for new power-generating units. TCEQ got 30 to 90 a year from 2016 to 2023, then 122 in 2024 and 158 in 2025. It has received 96 so far in 2026, as of mid-October.
Bastrop County commissioners voted unanimously last Tuesday to ask TCEQ to hold a public meeting on the project, KVUE and KXAN reported. Straight Arrow also noted last month's lawsuit by Public Citizen and the Sierra Club against Vantage Data Centers and VoltaGrid in San Antonio, which argues that two minor-source permits there should count as one major source.

Today's Signal: For on-site power, the permit category matters as much as the pause. A plant the size of a large nuclear reactor got through without a public comment period because its limits are written in hours per year. The Vantage lawsuit will test whether a court accepts that reasoning.

4. ⏳ TCEQ's Compliance Report to Abbott Is Due Today

TCEQ's report to the governor's office on how it's carrying out the Sept. 21 permit freeze is due Monday, Oct. 19, REJournals and Tom's Hardware both reported. ERCOT's audit is expected in mid-December, and the Legislature convenes in January.
Tom's Hardware reported Sunday on a SemiAnalysis review of more than 300 local moratoriums. It found that only three projects, about 2.3 GW, are likely to be delayed, out of 38 GW of U.S. capacity expected online in 2027. The review didn't count the TCEQ pause. It said a city moratorium in Brownsville doesn't reach SpaceX's planned data center because the land was removed from city limits. Law firm Bracewell expects the TCEQ pause to last until ERCOT finishes its review.
REJournals quoted Jess Heck of the Data Center Coalition saying much of ERCOT's queue of more than 470 GW is filings "with no tenant, no financing, and no serious developer behind them." JLL's Curt Holcomb said projects already under construction probably have their permits. REJournals noted the TCEQ order also covers amendments and renewals, so it can reach buildings already under construction.

Today's Signal: By SemiAnalysis's count, local moratoriums have delayed only three projects, and it left the TCEQ pause out of that number. TCEQ's report could show whether the state pause is holding up anything local bans haven't.

5. 🏗️ Compass Uses a Red Oak Tour to Make the Industry's Jobs Case

Fox News Digital published a tour Monday of Compass Datacenters' Red Oak campus in Ellis County, about 20 miles south of Dallas. It's planned for 10 buildings and about 2.6 million square feet. CEO Chris Crosby said the campus uses closed-loop cooling and has used no water for cooling "since inception."
Crosby said about 600 Compass employees and about 300 Schneider Electric workers are on site. He pointed to a $12.6 million training center run with Texas State Technical College and Compass's $15 million donation toward a new Ellis County animal shelter.
In Longview, Longview Economic Development Corp. CEO Wayne Mansfield told the News-Journal (in a story published Monday) that data centers are part of the city's recruiting strategy but that Longview lacks land for a large one. Consultant Arif Gasilov said his firm's preliminary study finds the host community "almost always loses" without community benefit agreements.

Today's Signal: With early voting starting, data center companies are arguing their case on jobs, local donations and closed-loop cooling. Red Oak is a well-known campus in a county where voters are already arguing about data centers.

6. 🔬 UT Austin Study Models Permian Wastewater for Data Center Cooling

OilPrice.com reported Saturday on a University of Texas at Austin paper in Water Research that compares ways to clean up oilfield wastewater for data center cooling. Reverse osmosis was the most energy-efficient, but it has trouble with water saltier than seawater, where an evaporation method would be needed instead.
Researcher Vaibhav Bahadur estimates the Permian Basin produces about 790 million gallons of wastewater a day, more than 150 times what a large data center can use. He also said the basin could run out of room to inject it underground as early as 2030.

Today's Signal: Treated oilfield wastewater could help West Texas projects answer the state's water questions, but no developer has committed to it yet.

We found no new ERCOT news releases (the latest is still from Sept. 21), no PUC large-load docket actions, no new zoning votes in the eight DFW-area counties we track, and no court filing yet from Sailfish against Hood County.

📍 Today's Watch List

Whether the 2027 data center bills Abbott promised are tougher or looser than the current pause, and whether the Tribune's donor numbers come up during early voting (Oct. 19 through Election Day, Nov. 3).
Whether BT Aycock files any construction or sewage permit with Collin County, and which six North Texas sites the related company plans.
TCEQ's response to Bastrop County's request for a public meeting on Pacifico's 48-turbine plant, and the court schedule in the Public Citizen/Sierra Club case against Vantage and VoltaGrid.
What TCEQ's Oct. 19 compliance report to the governor shows, and whether it's made public.
How many of the 156 developments answer Paxton's water-use letters, and the Water Development Board's overdue update to Abbott.
Denton's Oct. 27 moratorium hearing and San Antonio's choice among its three regulatory options.
Whether Sailfish Investors sues Hood County.
ERCOT's Dec. 10 audit reports and the PUC's Dec. 17 open meeting. Nothing material is expected there before December.