The data center fight in El Paso, Texas
As of October 1, 2026, El Paso, Texas has a data center moratorium in force (action taken July 20, 2026).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
Council unanimously approved data center policy: 300-ft buffer from residential/ecological sites, special use permit, no more tax breaks. Developers must submit resource use, emissions, noise, and water treatment plans.
SourceNews
read 2026-09-11
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
The project on the table
Meta-BlackRock El Paso Data Center — Proposed
Operator: Meta · Owner: BlackRock · Tenant: Meta
$10B+ Meta-BlackRock strategic venture; 4,000 peak construction jobs, capacity beginning 2028.
Next: Early stage. File a public-records request for the application and site plan.
Latest in the record
- 2026-07-01 — Meta announced $10B+ strategic venture with BlackRock to develop data center in El Paso; 4,000 peak construction jobs, capacity beginning 2028. · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-08-19.
Recent news
23 stories tracked since 2026-07-29 across 12 outlets. 21× A community is pushing back on a nearby data center. 1× Residents question property-value hits and local benefit. Most recent: “Texas Lt. Governor addresses data centers during El Paso campaign stop” (KTSM 9 News, 2026-09-29).
- Texas Lt. Governor addresses data centers during El Paso campaign stop
- El Paso City Council voices frustration about data centers, sends letter to Gov. Abbott
- Meta to hold eight El Paso meetings this fall as data center agreement talks advance
- Hinojosa Talks Data Centers in El Paso
- RECAP: Gina Hinojosa Talks Data Centers, the Economy, and Schools Campaigning in El Paso
- Hinojosa calls for emergency Texas data-center session: El Paso Matters
- Data center boom enters Texas governor’s race as Meta builds $14B El Paso campus
- Data center boom enters Texas governor’s race as Meta builds $14B El Paso campus
- Data center boom enters Texas governor’s race as Meta builds $14B El Paso campus
- Gina Hinojosa speaks on data centers, affordability in El Paso campaign visit
- Gina Hinojosa slams Texas data center policies in El Paso visit
- Gina Hinojosa slams Texas data center policies in El Paso visit
+11 more on the story tracker.
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 23 headlines archived.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Texas.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Texas briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Texas
- Lubbock (297 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
- Tom Green County (356 mi) — Rejectedterm not documented
- San Antonio (502 mi) — Rejectedterm not documented
- Hood County (509 mi) — Rejectedterm not documented
- Hays County (515 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-12-31
- San Marcos (524 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Texas (Abbott directive) (528 mi) — Enactedno fixed end — runs until a condition is met
- Austin (528 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
All 23 tracked actions in Texas are on the state page.
As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.