The data center fight in Fort Worth, Texas
As of October 1, 2026, Fort Worth, Texas has a data center moratorium under consideration (action taken Aug 11, 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 voted unanimously to begin 90-day moratorium process; public hearings required before it takes effect (~Feb 2027). Also created a Data Center & Infrastructure Committee
SourceNews
read 2026-08-13
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
Black Mountain Energy Fort Worth — Approved
Operator: Black Mountain Energy · Size: 980 MW · Acres: 187
187-acre campus with 980-MW substation off Lon Stephenson Road; approved by Fort Worth Zoning Commission in April 2026 despite neighbor opposition; city later passed a 90-day citywide data center moratorium that exempts already-approved projects.
Next: Approved — pivot from stopping it to a binding CBA: enforceable caps on noise, water and cost, plus a community benefit.
Latest in the record
- 2026-08-25 — Fort Worth City Council is scheduled to vote on the Black Mountain 187-acre site plan, its third scheduled date after two prior postponements. · source
- 2026-08-12 — Coverage noted the moratorium would not take effect until required public hearings and commission findings were completed, with a possible final vote around February 2027 and the 90-day pause running into May 2027, extendable to August 2027. · source
- 2026-08-11 — Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously to begin the process for a 90-day citywide data center moratorium, created an 11-member Data Center and Infrastructure Commission, and required new applicants to show PUCT/ERCOT grid interconnection approval; the moratorium exempts projects with zoning applications already filed, including Black Mountain. · source
- 2026-06-23 — Fort Worth City Council again postponed its vote on the Black Mountain site plan, rescheduling to August 25, amid continued resident opposition over environmental, water and power impacts. · source
- 2026-06-02 — Fort Worth City Council received a staff briefing on data center infrastructure and regulation ahead of further votes on the Black Mountain project and citywide policy. · source
- 2026-05-20 — Fort Worth Star-Telegram profiled the Black Mountain project's projected tax revenue, ERCOT grid implications, and political headwinds; CEO Rhett Bennett leads the Fort Worth-based energy consortium (Houston-based BCEI developing, Kimley-Horn engineering). · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Recent news
38 stories tracked since 2026-07-01 across 21 outlets. 18× A community is pushing back on a nearby data center. 14× Local officials are moving to pause or block the project. Most recent: “‘Decade-long battle’ and data centers: What got Fort Worth talking Sept. 21-27” (star-telegram.com, 2026-09-29).
- ‘Decade-long battle’ and data centers: What got Fort Worth talking Sept. 21-27
- Colovore files to develop data center in Fort Worth, Texas
- $430M data center planned in Fort Worth despite fresh state regulations
- $430M data center project planned for Fort Worth, state filing shows
- $430M data center project planned for Fort Worth, state filing shows
- $430M data center project planned for Fort Worth, state filing shows
- Fort Worth weighs data center growth as residents raise concerns
- Fort Worth forms new commission to guide local data center growth
- Fort Worth, Texas, Data Center Advisory Group Takes Shape
- Here’s who will advise Fort Worth on data center strategy
- Despite moratorium calls, Fort Worth OKs massive data center plan
- Despite moratorium calls, Fort Worth OKs massive data center plan
+26 more on the story tracker.
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 38 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
- Lewisville (28 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Denton (34 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
- Hood County (37 mi) — Rejectedterm not documented
- Mesquite (42 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
- Forney (50 mi) — Proposedno end date — permanent
- Hill County (52 mi) — Rescindedterm not documented
- Lavon (56 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-11-05
- Princeton (57 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
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.