Hays County says AI data center is likely to go forward despite community outcry
HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) – Concerned residents packed the Hays County Commissioners Court Tuesday to decry plans to build an Artificial Intelligence data center in a rural part of Hays and Guadalupe County.
After hearing public comments from around two dozen residents and a presentation from CloudBurst Data Centers – the company behind the project – Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra told the crowd the project would likely go forward as the court has limited power when it comes to development on private property.
Hays County is currently reviewing CloudBurst’s flood hazard permit application.
“If it meets our requirements, we have an administrative authority to approve the permit,” said Marcus Pacheco, the director of Development Services at Hays County.
CloudBurst Data Centers announced plans to build the AI data center in February. Families in a rural part of Hays County quickly learned it would be built in their neighborhood and have been fighting it ever since.
“We’re just absolutely destroyed by the prospect of having a data center literally across the road,” said Abigail Lindsey, whose family has owned property near the site for years.
“We’re in stage three drought instructions… Also, the noise, the light pollution, and the disturbance of wildlife,” she continued. “There are oak trees, pecan trees – there’s cattle grazing out there right now, and they’re just gonna pave over it and it’s gonna be concrete and servers.”
Lindsey was among those decrying the project on Tuesday. Many others echoed her sentiment, with water being a top concern, both in terms of water use and pollution into San Marcos’ waterways.
Water is used to cool down equipment within data centers. A large data center can use over 500,000 gallons of water a day, the equivalent of over 4,000 people’s daily water use, according to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
CloudBurst said it will recycle its water and attempted to dispel concerns about tainted water leaking into streams. CloudBust said it has not yet determined how much water the center will use.
“I have not seen any studies that show us that there are massive leaks. And even if there is a leak, it leaks into the data center, it doesn’t leak out into the field,” said Cynthia Thompson, an executive chairperson with CloudBurst.
Thompson attempted to address public concerns in her presentation to the commissioners court.
According to the CloudBurst presentation backup documents, the company would attempt to use solar panels, low-level lighting and minimal water. The company said it would not build in a floodplain and would keep noise to a minimum. Thompson said the company is committed to preserving wildlife.
“We have 20 to 30 acres around the creek that’ll be in a natural state. We’ll add improvements to help wildlife exist there, and then hopefully have a park if the county is willing,” Thompson said.
A key part of Thompson’s presentation was education on the need for more data centers.
“When you Google someone, when you take a picture, all that goes in the cloud, and so you need more data center space to hold that,” Thompson said. “We’re fulfilling a need in a community.”
“I don’t think there’s ever a perfect place when you’re building a data center,” she continued. “Never will you have 100% of the people happy.”
