Brownsville will stop accepting new data center applications starting Thursday after the City Commission approved a 90-day moratorium Wednesday evening, pausing a process that has stirred months of debate over water use, pollution and power demands in the border city. The freeze blocks the processing, acceptance and approval of any data center applications within city limits, and city leaders already expect to extend it for another 90 days once the initial term runs out.
The pause takes effect Thursday and runs through February 3, 2027, according to ValleyCentral, which reported that commissioners voted to pause the processing, acceptance and approval of data center applications within Brownsville. If the commission follows through on a second 90-day extension, the total moratorium would stretch to 180 days, though that second approval has not yet happened. City of Brownsville, TX - Municipal Government confirmed the timeline in a Facebook post, stating the moratorium would begin the day after the vote.
A Withdrawn Permit Sparked the Review
The moratorium traces back to a permit request filed July 1 for a data center project, which the unidentified applicant withdrew later that month, per the station's report. City Manager Alan Guard confirmed the withdrawal came on July 29, and Mayor John Cowen Jr. later identified the company behind the request as Randr Ventures LLC, according to MyRGV.com. The withdrawal did not end the city's scrutiny — officials pressed ahead with moratorium discussions anyway.
Mayor Cowen said the pause would give Brownsville time to evaluate and update its zoning and development standards for high-intensity data centers and similar land uses, MyRGV.com reported. The notice for the proposed moratorium also stated it could be extended for up to another 90 days following a public hearing and the adoption of additional written findings. City Attorney Will Trevino put a hard ceiling on that process, telling the City of Brownsville, “the total that we can do a moratorium is 180 days.”
Zoning Gaps and Public Pushback
Part of the urgency stems from a regulatory blind spot: Brownsville's existing code does not specifically regulate data centers, according to Government Technology. The outlet reported that the city is studying the facilities' potential effects on power, water, noise, land use and infrastructure before deciding how to proceed. A special-called meeting agenda posted by the Brownsville City Commission described the proposed measure as prohibiting acceptance, processing and approval of applications for high-intensity data processing facilities specifically.
Public hearings in Brownsville generated concerns about pollution and the amount of water a data center would require, ValleyCentral reported. Those worries echo a broader pattern playing out statewide as data center construction accelerates across Texas.
Texas Data Centers Are Multiplying Fast
A University of Texas at Austin white paper estimates data centers could account for 3% to 9% of Texas water use by 2040, once cooling and electricity-generation water use are included, according to UT News. That's a steep climb from today — the same report notes that data centers currently account for less than 1% of the state's water use, compared with roughly 7% used by manufacturing statewide. Researchers cited by UT News say more than 400 data centers are already operating or under construction across Texas.
The strain isn't limited to water. ERCOT received 519 requests to connect large electricity users over the past two years, compared with just 24 in the year before that, per The Texas Tribune. The estimated electricity needs tied to those large projects added up to 438,595 megawatts, the Tribune reported, with at least 248 data centers planned statewide — 86 in North Texas, 56 in Central Texas and 45 in West Texas. UT's white paper recommends greater transparency around the industry's water use and better coordination among stakeholders as the buildout continues.
For now, Brownsville's moratorium gives city staff a window to catch up on rules the current code never anticipated. Whether commissioners ultimately vote to extend the freeze to the full 180 days allowed under state law remains to be seen, but the expectation among city leaders, per ValleyCentral, is that they will.
