I know everyone just loves choosing sides on things these days. But, can someone tell me how anyone can be for 5+ data centers going up all at once, and then there is zero disclosure of impact studies? I would settle for biased and conservative estimates at this point. We just get nothing.

I was somewhat unimpressed by the Mayor's letter on this that we got emailed.

https://issuu.com/playbyplay/docs/data_center_development_letter_from_the_mayor_2026


it was more or less, these are happening and we can either have them happy in our city limits where we have control, or it can happen out where we don't have control.


https://www.templetx.gov/community/faq__data_center_development_.php

The letter was a whole plate of just trust me, bro. Which has been par for the course.

No discussion on backup power and testing, which I'm assuming is going to be diesel generators emitting monthly as they are tested.

I am also not sure why the water math cannot be shared clearly. Closed-loop or not, that water evaporates when it gets into hotter months. So either there will be more water used or more air ventilation. The wording switch to domestic use is super questionable. Feels like he's sharing what the facilities will use in break rooms, etc. Not hotter month usage tied to hardware cooling. But again, wouldn't have to guess if they would be comprehensive. What makes me nervous is that the Meta facility out in El Paso (which isn't closed-loop) was being billed as a certain amount of water usage. Then, the utility explained the utility services agreement more, and there is a lever at mid-80s temperature to use way more water. Seems odd to me that we can be in a water conservation mode just 2 years ago, but now we can properly handle the expected 30% growth over the next 10 years and 5+ data centers. Seems very convenient to compare to water rights versus recent stressed water conditions.

Honestly, I think the pending AI crash in the next few years, is going to make the Y2K / dot.com era look like kindergarten.

If I were an entrepreneur with lots of investment capital, I'd start looking into alternative uses for buildings that will have a lot of power, cooling and good Internet connectivity.

I'm pretty bullish on AI in general, but you should have seen the plumbing and joint fitters union speak about AI being the future at the last city council meeting. I say this with all disrespect, they don't know AI from a 2015 chatbot. You could have switched every "data center" with "theme park," and their statements would have been applicable. They see a big project. That's it.

Both sides quoting the Bible, Teddy Roosevelt, etc. I don't know why this has to be so emotional, if the numbers make sense, go for it. But there is zero-way any independent review of so many data centers would result in no potential impacts to disclose. Aka, there was no review. One of the dissenters mentioned the mayor's letter came out just after Killeen killed their data center proposal, which noticeably made the mayor recoil some.

Another thing that stinks is that a writer for the paper did a formal information request for the utility agreement for Rowan Phase 1, and the city ignored it. I could literally never find out if anyone knows if the data center has the temperature lever I mentioned above.

The utility service agreements for Rowan Phase 2 and 3 are coming up for approval in the next few sessions, I hope more people get interested enough to force the city to actually share.

Lacy Lakeview is trying help push one through on land that is about 4 miles from their city limits. They are doing it about as stupidly as possible and teeing everyone off in the process.

https://wacobridge.org/2026/05/13/data-center-lacy-lakeview-waco-obstacle-infrastructure/

Linking off of that article, I found this event coming up on May 28th.

I'd like to attend just to hear the questions people ask and see how the speakers respond. I might have to spend a few extra days in Waco.

https://www.tixtree.com/e/data-center-impacts-a-waco-bridge-forum-0ad20b66f71d

Quote:

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About

No issue is more hotly debated in Texas than the sudden influx of hyperscale data centers, including one planned in rural McLennan County. What will be their impact on Texas' water and electricity resources, and what are their economic benefits? Can data centers be sustainable? Join The Waco Bridge on May 28 at MCC's Cameron Hall for a conversation with McLennan County Judge Scott Felton; data center expert Dr. Margaret Cook of Houston Advanced Research Center; and Environment Texas' Luke Metzger, a leading expert on state environmental policy. The Waco Bridge thanks its partners: McLennan Community College and Heart of Texas Goodwill.

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Thanks for the details.

I looked up Rowan Temple and found this description of a 700 acre development boasting 300 MW of power.
https://rowan.digital/portfolio/temple/

I'm interested in where all that power is going to come from. That's about 150 wind turbines worth. And when I drove through Mart on Friday, all of their wind turbines were shutdown. And while they had a lot, I don't think it was nearly 150.

HollywoodBQ said:

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Thanks for the details.

I looked up Rowan Temple and found this description of a 700 acre development boasting 300 MW of power.
https://rowan.digital/portfolio/temple/

I'm interested in where all that power is going to come from. That's about 150 wind turbines worth. And when I drove through Mart on Friday, all of their wind turbines were shutdown. And while they had a lot, I don't think it was nearly 150.

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They are in the process of replacing them all FWIW.

BohunkAg said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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Thanks for the details.

I looked up Rowan Temple and found this description of a 700 acre development boasting 300 MW of power.
https://rowan.digital/portfolio/temple/

I'm interested in where all that power is going to come from. That's about 150 wind turbines worth. And when I drove through Mart on Friday, all of their wind turbines were shutdown. And while they had a lot, I don't think it was nearly 150.

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They are in the process of replacing them all FWIW.

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Thanks. I just looked it up and it appears they're in the process of replacing 100 x 3 MW wind turbines with 63 wind turbines that will provide the same output, totaling 300 MW.

https://www.engie-na.com/project/prairie-hill/

Seems crazy that they're replacing those turbines after only 5 years of operation.

Anyway, back to the Temple Data Center, curiously, that is the exact same amount of power required to run that DC. So now, I can easily visualize how many windmills it will take to run a data center of that size.

Most of the communication from the city council is that Rowan is in a partnership with Oncor. The city council has been very forward in their communication that they have zero control over electricity and they keep saying that local impact from a data center in Temple is no different than a data center elsewhere in the state. That simply cannot be true from a reliability standpoint. However, I know Texas passed SB6, so Rowan likely needs to cover infrastructure build out (which the new infrastructure would offset reliability concerns in their minds). I honestly don't know enough to speak about the power element or how local rates would go up. IMO, it would be such an immediate cluster if the city got that wrong, I tend to think the city council would cover their bases.