Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has directed the Texas Water Development Board to penalize data centers that fail to report their water usage, after state records showed most facilities have ignored the mandatory survey for years.
\n\nThe Texas Tribune reports that the directive follows a rough stretch of compliance numbers: less than 30 percent of data centers responded to the state’s water usage survey last year, and response rates dipped as low as 28 percent over the past three years. Abbott wants an update from the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) on compliance and enforcement by the middle of October.
\n\n“Data centers must share the duty to protect Texas water,” Abbott said. “The Texas Water Code requires a complete and accurate water use survey. I direct the Texas Water Development Board to use its enforcement authority to penalize past failures and to impose legal consequences for any future failure to comply.”
\n\nSince 2020, the TWDB has surveyed data centers and other industrial facilities every year, asking for monthly water use figures. State law requires facilities to respond or face a Class C misdemeanor, but the agency says it can’t actually prosecute anyone. It’s a non-regulatory body. That job falls to local…
Original source: https://www.breitbart.com/economy/
