Texas must pump the breaks on data center enthusiasm
By Letters to the EditorMay 28, 2026
Christina Speasmaker of Waco chants Feb. 23 as protesters gather outside the Texas Capitol to oppose data centers. Local and state governments have an obligation to study all aspects of data center buildings and get public input before giving any approvals, a reader says.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Draining our resources
Re: May 21 article, “City weighs data center crackdown”
The enormous increase in energy and water demand to run data centers could seriously strain resources.
These large warehouse-type structures remove farmland or other rural areas and cover them with concrete and asphalt, removing green spaces. This impervious cover affects water absorption in ground, retains heat and can significantly impact air and water quality, wildlife, and natural habitat.
It is no surprise communities across our state are opposing data centers in their neighborhoods.
Local and state governments have an obligation to study all aspects of data center buildings and get public input before giving any approvals.
Rural counties are facing this issue and have asked state legislators to pause this development, have honest conversations, make thoughtful decisions and preserve their land and way of life.
Kalpana Sutaria, Austin Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby
Not really a boom
Re: May 22 article, “Texas leads in AI data center readiness”
The primary source for the article, Labrynth, is an artificial intelligence consulting firm that sells services to help companies “navigate” regulatory permitting, the very process their “readiness index” rewards states for streamlining.
Publishing that ranking as news, without seeking independent verification of those findings, is not technology journalism, it’s marketing.
The piece also buried its most important material: ERCOT projects a 70% increase in Texas energy demand on a grid that already failed millions of residents during 2021 Winter Storm Uri.
Water supply impacts in Central Texas received one sentence. A statewide moratorium call from the Texas agriculture commissioner was the article’s final clause, an afterthought in a story where it should have more prominence.
Readers deserve to know who funds the studies shaping these narratives, what those studies actually measure and whose interests are served when light regulation gets rebranded as readiness. This article did none of that.
Janna Garza, Austin
People embrace each other May 18 after a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego. A reader says our answer to hatred must be justice, goodness and a renewed commitment to safeguarding life, and our leaders must confront bigotry before it becomes violence.
Nelvin C. Cepeda/TNS
Confront bigotry
Re: May 20 article, “FBI: Mosque shooters left hateful writings”
America was founded on the principles of freedom of religion and protection under the Constitution, yet it has too often failed to live up to that promise.
As an Imam serving the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Round Rock, I condemn this act of hatred and violence at Islamic Center of San Diego. My prayers are with the victims, their families and the grieving community.
Three Americans were killed. They were not “others” or nor mere symbols in a political debate. They were our neighbors, fellow citizens and fellow Americans.
Although investigations suggest the shooters met and were radicalized online, hatred does not grow in a vacuum. Our political environment has increasingly dehumanized minorities, speaking of them not as fellow citizens, but as threats.
Islam does not teach revenge or division.
The Holy Quran states: “Verily, Allah enjoins justice, and the doing of good to others…” (Holy Quran, 16:91).
Our answer to hatred must be justice, goodness and a renewed commitment to safeguarding life.
Our leaders must confront bigotry before it becomes violence.
Sajid Iqbal, Round Rock
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