The 7 questions every commissioner should ask before voting yes
Residents across Texas have asked the same handful of questions at hearing after hearing. Industry trade groups have, in their own materials, conceded that these questions are reasonable. Most project applications answer two or three. Here are all seven, with one-sentence rationale each. Print the list. Bring it to the hearing. Hand a copy to the clerk so it enters the record, and read one of the questions during your 60 seconds at the microphone.
Why seven questions, not ten
The seven below cover every significant cost a hyperscale data center can impose on a county: water, power, tax, closure risk, and quality of life. They are written so that a competent operator can answer each in a single paragraph. If an applicant cannot answer one of them, or says "that information is commercially confidential," that itself is useful information for the commissioners' court. No credible industrial project keeps its peak water draw, its load, or its decommissioning plan secret from the jurisdiction where it wants to build.
The checklist
What is the cooling method, and what is the projected peak-day water consumption in million gallons per day?
Options are evaporative, closed-loop (water-free at the chiller), or air-cooled. Evaporative systems consume water continuously; closed-loop recirculates the same water and typically draws far less; air-cooled uses almost none but trades water for slightly higher electricity use.
Why it matters: an answer under 0.1 MGD almost always implies closed-loop or air; above 1 MGD almost always implies evaporative. The number changes which aquifer or surface-water permit the project needs.
What is the water source, and which authority permits it?
The answer routes the project to a specific permitting body. Groundwater means a named aquifer, a named well field, and a Groundwater Conservation District under Texas Water Code Chapter 36. Surface water means a named reservoir or river authority (LCRA, BRA, GBRA, TRA, etc.). Municipal utility service means a signed wholesale-supply contract with a named city water system that has documented capacity.
Why it matters: commissioners should know who else has to sign off before construction, and whether that approval has actually been obtained.
What is the total electrical load at build-out, and what is the ERCOT interconnection date?
Megawatts at the substation. Phased over years or energized at once. When ERCOT expects to have the transmission to serve the final phase. Post-SB 6, any load above 75 MW goes through a new disclosure process that flags whether the applicant has firm commitments or is still shopping jurisdictions.
Why it matters: "200 MW at completion in 2030" and "200 MW energized in 2026" have very different implications for local transmission capacity and grid-cost allocation.
Who pays for the transmission upgrades — the operator, or shared across ratepayers?
This is the SB 6 cost-allocation question, now pending at PUCT Docket 57579. Industry's standard reply is "we pay demand charges." The useful follow-up is: do those charges cover the full cost of the substation and the transmission line to serve this load, or is any portion socialized across residential and small-business ratepayers in the region?
Why it matters: the answer determines whether every other household in the service territory helps subsidize this project's grid hookup.
What are the full abatement terms — statute, percentage, duration, job targets, and clawback?
Chapter 312 (local), Chapter 313 (school, now replaced by the JETI program for new applications), or a directly negotiated agreement. The five numbers commissioners should extract before voting: percent of property value exempted, number of years, minimum jobs required, minimum capital investment, and whether the agreement includes a recapture (clawback) provision if targets are missed.
Why it matters: abatements work fiscally when targets are met and clawbacks are real. They become net losses when targets are missed and no recapture is written in.
What is the decommissioning and closure bond?
Hyperscale campuses have 15 to 25 year useful lives before major refresh cycles, and servers become obsolete long before the concrete does. If the operator defaults, sells to a lower-tier operator, or the facility becomes uneconomic for any reason, who pays to demolish the buildings, cap the wells, and restore the site? Most Texas data-center applications the authors have reviewed do not include a decommissioning bond. This is a reasonable condition to request at the SUP stage.
Why it matters: without a bond, the county inherits the demolition bill if the project fails. Bonds are common in oil and gas permitting and entirely standard in large industrial land use elsewhere.
What is the noise and light profile at the property line, and is eminent domain on the table?
Cooling fans, backup diesel generators, and security lighting produce continuous 24-hour emissions into neighboring properties. The applicant should model decibel levels at the nearest residence and commit to specific lighting shielding. Separately — and importantly — residents should ask whether the utility serving the project has or plans to file for eminent domain on any adjacent property for transmission easements. That trigger often arrives months after the rezoning vote and catches neighbors by surprise.
Why it matters: with 200 MW of on-site generators, a facility can exceed 60 dB at 500 feet without mitigation. Eminent-domain filings for transmission can take land the county never intended to release.
How to use the checklist
You do not have to ask all seven aloud. Pick one — the one that matters most in your county — and read it during your public comment. Hand a printed copy of all seven to the clerk before you sit down. The clerk enters it into the record. The record is what commissioners have to address in their final order, and it is what future residents, journalists, and courts reference later.
If several neighbors are speaking at the same hearing, coordinate. One speaker takes water (Questions 1 and 2). Another takes power (3 and 4). A third takes fiscal (5). A fourth takes closure and quality of life (6 and 7). That coverage communicates organization to the commissioners and lets each speaker stay within time without rushing.
If the applicant can answer all seven
A project that answers all seven well is easier to support. If the applicant discloses closed-loop cooling, municipal water with documented capacity, a decommissioning bond, and a real clawback, the project deserves a fair hearing. The checklist works whether you support the project or oppose it — it just raises the floor for what "yes" actually means.
If the applicant will not answer
Silence is a legitimate question to ask the commissioners about. "The applicant declined to disclose the cooling method" on the record changes how a reasonable commissioner votes. A rezoning or SUP that passes without answers to the seven is, by definition, a vote taken with incomplete information — and the minutes will reflect that forever.
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Sources
- Texas Water Code, Chapter 36 (Groundwater Conservation Districts). statutes.capitol.texas.gov
- Texas Tax Code, Chapter 312 (Property Redevelopment and Tax Abatement Act). statutes.capitol.texas.gov
- Texas Senate Bill 6 (2025), large-load interconnection framework. capitol.texas.gov
- Texas Comptroller, Chapter 312 Local Development Incentives Registry. comptroller.texas.gov
- ASHRAE TC 9.9, Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments, 5th ed. (2021).