⭐ Morning Briefing — October 21, 2026

(Wednesday, October 21, 2026)

Top Story: TCEQ's Oct. 19 letter to Gov. Abbott says the agency has "paused the issuance" of data center permits and is screening new applications. Stormwater coverage for EdgeConneX's Bastrop County campus still shows as active, and Abbott's challenger calls the pause an election-year stunt.

📰 Today's News

1. 📬 TCEQ Tells Abbott Data Center Permits Are "Paused," but Bastrop Stormwater Coverage Still Shows Active

The compliance report Abbott asked for is out. In an Oct. 19 letter that TCEQ gave to Community Impact, interim executive director Steven Schar wrote that the agency had "paused the issuance" of all permits for "infrastructure directly supporting data centers." He said staff are screening incoming applications and setting aside the ones "subject to the directive."
Community Impact found that stormwater construction permits for projects in the FracTracker/Public Citizen report, including EdgeConneX's second campus in Bastrop County, were still listed as "active" at press time. That is despite a notice on TCEQ's stormwater pages saying data center construction applications are halted until further notice.
Two DFW-area and Central Texas filings made after the pause have stalled: Colvore's one-story Fort Worth data center (filed with TDLR on Sept. 22) and Pacifico Energy and BlackChamber's $366 million Cedar Creek data center (filed Oct. 7). Community Impact reported that neither had been approved or advanced as of Oct. 20. TCEQ spokesperson Victoria Cann said the commission "has not issued any permits related to data centers."
State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, Abbott's Democratic opponent on Nov. 3, said in an Oct. 20 statement that data centers have been "circumventing [Abbott's] audits since day 1." The Houston Chronicle put the count of advanced applications at 16 or more.
Abbott has not given a restart date. His Sept. 21 order ties the pause to ERCOT finishing its review. Community Impact reports the audit wraps up in late November with reports due in early December.

Today's Signal: The letter answers the question we flagged yesterday, at least on paper: TCEQ says it is holding back final permits, not refusing to look at applications. It doesn't explain why stormwater coverage granted after Sept. 21 still reads "active." In unincorporated counties, that coverage can be enough to start moving dirt.

2. 🌫️ HARC: Gas-Powered Data Centers Could Push Texas Smog Back to Early-2000s Levels by 2031

The Houston Advanced Research Center released an air-emissions report Tuesday that models four ways Texas data centers could get their power, the Texas Tribune reported. Even in the cleanest case, where data centers use the grid plus on-site wind and solar, statewide nitrogen oxide emissions rise about 35% by 2031.
In the scenario where data centers lean on natural gas, NOx rises 136% by 2031 and gets close to 2004 levels. Volatile organic compounds would end up 32% above where they were in 2002, and fine particulate matter would reach levels last seen in 2006.
HARC's Carlos Gamarra said on-site gas engines produce about four times the NOx of grid power for the same facility. He said developers facing three-to-five-year grid waits often choose the fastest on-site power, not the cleanest. "We need to treat data centers as the industrial facilities they are," he said.
The Tribune counts at least 288 planned data center projects in Texas. The Environmental Integrity Project counts at least 32 planned gas-fired plants, more than any other state. Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin already often miss federal ozone standards.

Today's Signal: This report goes straight at the policy Abbott has been pushing. His bring-your-own-power approach moves load off ERCOT but sends it to on-site turbines, and HARC's numbers show where those emissions end up. For DFW, already out of compliance on ozone, the gas scenario is a regional air-quality problem, not just a permit dispute.

3. 🏭 Bastrop Residents Still Waiting on TCEQ for a Public Meeting on Pacifico's 48-Turbine Plant

About a week after Bastrop County commissioners unanimously asked TCEQ to hold a public meeting on Pacifico Energy's gas plant permit, the county had heard nothing back as of Tuesday, a spokesperson told KVUE. When KVUE asked whether TCEQ received the request, the agency pointed to Abbott's directive and repeated that it hasn't issued data center permits.
At a Cedar Creek town hall Tuesday, the group Lost Pines Watch said the self-powered project on Earl Callahan Road could include 48 gas turbines. Organizer Cameron Allen asked how "a city-size power plant" could qualify for a small standard permit instead of a major-source air permit.
Residents looked at a map of about 2,200 acres they said Pacifico is trying to buy. Pacifico gave KVUE its own map showing the current plan, two data centers and a power plant, on about 600 acres. No ground has been broken.

Today's Signal: TCEQ's response to the county, which amounts to "we've paused data center permits," doesn't answer the question residents are asking. They want to know how a plant this large fits a permit with no public notice. The 2,200-acre map versus the 600-acre plan is worth watching in case the project grows later.

4. 🏛️ Washington Makes Its Pitch: Wright Talks Lower Bills in Houston, Trump Floats a Community "Dividend"

Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited a CenterPoint service center in north Houston on Tuesday to announce more than $50 million in federal grid-hardening money for Texas, the Houston Chronicle reported. The Houston Business Journal says that money is part of $967 million in grid resilience funding nationwide. Wright called new data centers "hugely positive for Americans," said he had no criticism of Abbott's pause, and argued data centers will lower other customers' bills by paying their own transmission costs.
Wright also acknowledged that the administration's March "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" from tech companies can't be enforced. "If the communities don't want them, they don't have to have them," he said, with Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton beside him. CenterPoint expects close to 14 GW of new large-load connections by 2030, up nearly 60%, mostly from data centers.
Early Wednesday, President Trump posted on Truth Social that data center operators should pay the community, "and/or individuals within the community, a 'dividend'" to win support. He also wrote that large new data centers are "mandated by me to make their own electricity," CNBC reported. Nebius' chief revenue officer told CNBC the idea is "not crazy."

Today's Signal: Both officials are trying to answer the same opposition with money, Wright through bill relief and Trump through direct payments. Neither proposal is binding. Trump's "make their own electricity" line also runs into Story 2: in Texas, self-generation mostly means gas turbines.

5. 📊 Market Signals: Enverus Maps ERCOT's Batch Zero, JLL Sees DFW Warehouses Fill, Raymond James Trims Vistra

Enverus Intelligence Research said Tuesday that 81% of identified hyperscaler capacity in ERCOT's Batch Zero process is classified as base-load, which has a clearer transmission path, compared with 31% for newer developers. ERCOT conditionally classified 204 projects totaling 66.4 GW as base-load and 158 projects totaling 125.4 GW as studied load. Enverus found 46% of the base-load capacity is already energized and none of the studied-load capacity is.
JLL's third-quarter industrial report named Dallas-Fort Worth as one of two markets where data center construction is driving demand for warehouses, as equipment and materials suppliers cluster near hyperscale campuses, according to Reuters. U.S. industrial asking rents averaged $10.55 a square foot, up 3.2% from a year earlier.
Raymond James cut its Vistra price target to $176 from $182 and kept a Strong Buy rating, Investing.com reported. Vistra shares are down about 23% over the past 12 months, which Investing.com attributes to weaker ERCOT forward prices, regulatory uncertainty and slower data center commercialization.

Today's Signal: ERCOT's queue is splitting by experience. Companies with energized sites get the easier transmission path, while newer developers with bigger projects face more study. Those studied-load campuses average 576 MW, compared with 393 MW for base-load ones. Meanwhile, Texas' biggest power seller is losing value on the same slowdown.

6. 🎓 ThisWay Global Lays Out a 73 MW Plan for the RELLIS Site in Bryan

Weeks after closing on the dormant RELLIS data center site, ThisWay Global unveiled the Reveille AI Compute Center at Texas A&M on Tuesday, KBTX reported. Phase one, a 20 MW building, is about 65% complete and targets operation in June 2027. A substation and a 53 MW second phase would bring the 25-acre site to 73 MW, with closed-loop liquid cooling.
Founder Angela Hood said 250 to 300 people will work on site through June 2027, with about 120 permanent jobs after that. She also said an eight-week training program could start by the end of the year. CEO Stephan Fabel said A&M startups would get access to GPUs.
Asked about Paxton's water-use letters, which went to developments in Brazos County among others, Fabel said, "We didn't receive one and it doesn't apply to us." KBTX said it was waiting for the AG's office to confirm who received the Brazos County letters.

Today's Signal: At 73 MW, this is small for Texas. It's mostly sales pitch for now: closed-loop cooling, local jobs, campus GPU access. It's one of the few projects that came with a construction percentage instead of only a megawatt target.

7. 📐 New Braunfels Drafts Data Center Zoning With a 55-Decibel Noise Cap

The New Braunfels City Council was briefed Oct. 19 on a draft ordinance that would require council approval for data centers and limit them to heavy-industrial zones, with Edwards Aquifer protections, the Herald-Zeitung and San Antonio Business Journal reported.
According to the Business Journal, the draft also requires closed-loop cooling and caps noise at 55 decibels at residential property lines.

Today's Signal: A specific decibel limit at the property line is the kind of rule DFW cities have mostly avoided writing. If New Braunfels adopts it, Hood and Denton County residents will have a concrete number to point to.

8. 🗳️ On the Trail: Abilene's House Race and a Panhandle Town Hall Turn to Data Centers

In Texas House District 71, which takes in Abilene, home of the Stargate campus, Republican Jay Hardaway told the Abilene Reporter-News that data centers are "here" and must be handled through accountable state partnerships. Democrat Diana Luna said companies should "pay their fair share of taxes" and stop fighting cities that reject 85% abatements.
In Nazareth on Tuesday, residents at a town hall held by state Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, objected to data centers, water use and solar farms in Castro County, KVII reported. King said new generation and transmission need oversight but called them necessary.

Today's Signal: Neither HD 71 candidate is offering a moratorium. Both accept that the campuses are staying and are arguing about how to tax and regulate them, which is a different debate from the one in the statewide races.

We found no new PUC large-load docket actions and no new noise or nuisance lawsuits in today's searches. We also found no zoning votes in the eight DFW-area counties we track. ERCOT's news page couldn't be checked this run.

📍 Today's Watch List

Whether TCEQ publishes Schar's full Oct. 19 letter, explains why post-pause stormwater coverage still shows "active," and whether Abbott sets a restart date.
TCEQ's reply, if it sends one, to Bastrop County's request for a public meeting on the Pacifico permit, and whether Pacifico's land purchases go beyond the 600-acre plan.
Whether any Texas developer responds to Trump's "dividend" idea with a specific offer, and whether Wright's rate argument shows up in the PUC's large-load cost rules.
Any lawmaker or TCEQ response to HARC's emissions scenarios, especially from DFW officials dealing with ozone nonattainment.
New Braunfels' next council action on the draft data center ordinance.
Denton's Oct. 27 moratorium hearing.
Early voting through Oct. 30. Election Day is Nov. 3: HD 71, the governor's race and the agriculture commissioner race.
RELLIS: whether ThisWay's training program starts by year-end, and which Brazos County projects got Paxton's water letters.
ERCOT's audit wrap in late November, its Dec. 10 reports and the PUC's Dec. 17 open meeting. Nothing material is expected before December.