A California-based developer, BaRupOn LLC, bought land in Liberty, Texas, in 2023 for a 700-acre industrial campus. The company planned data centers, rare-earth manufacturing and its own power plants. Balaji Tammabattula, the company's chief operating officer, said Gov. Greg Abbott's office first worked closely with the company, recommending sites, county contacts and incentives. He said the office later became hard to reach. "Texas used to be the best place," Tammabattula said.
Analysts and developers said new data center projects in Texas are largely on hold until after the November elections. They said Abbott has taken a different approach from his usual business-first stance, and that some companies have rethought major investments in the state. Protests over the land, energy and water use of data centers have spread across the country and have become an issue for candidates in both parties, including in Texas.
Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott's press secretary, said Abbott has taken decisive action to set clear guardrails to protect Texans from intrusive data center development. He said in August that Abbott ordered the Public Utility Commission to take action. Abbott faces a close reelection race against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin.