The governor of Texas, a leading state for data centers, wants them to pay their own way

Gov. Greg Abbott proposed new regulations on data centers in Texas.

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Texas is shifting from courting data centers toward regulating them.Gov. Greg Abbott has proposed new rules for data centers as concerns about their energy and water consumption and their impact on utility prices spur complaints in communities across the US."The rapid scale of data center development requires oversight to ensure everyday Texans are not burdened with the costs of infrastructure driven by data center expansion," Abbott, a Republican, wrote in a letter to state regulators on Wednesday.Abbott said he would work with the state legislature to pass a number of measures, including requiring data centers to pay for their own electric infrastructure, requiring new data centers to use water-efficient technology, and repealing sales tax exemptions for data centers.The letter also directs state regulators to start working to ensure data centers pay for their own electric infrastructure, ensure data center interconnections result in lower residential electricity bills, and use their power to protect Texas residents.The proposed regulations are notable in a pro-business state that hosts data centers owned by Big Tech companies from Tesla to Meta to Amazon. Texas has the second-most data centers of any state, behind only Virginia.BYOE — Bring Your Own ElectricityBacklash to data center development has grown across the US, with protests in local communities and proposed statewide bans in at least 12 states.