Maryland homeowners will pay an extra $1.6 billion on their electric bills over the next decade to subsidize grid costs to feed data centers, according to a state agency https://t.co/8O24hiRe3V

— Bloomberg (@business) May 7, 2026

This is the only portion of the article I can see that is not behind a paywall...

Maryland homeowners will pay an extra $1.6 billion on their electric bills over the next decade to subsidize grid costs to feed data centers, according to a state agency.

PJM Interconnection LLC, the largest US grid operator, is making Maryland customers cover the costs for transmission projects driven primarily by energy needs of data centers outside the state, Maryland's Office of People's Counsel alleged in a complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Homeowners are effectively subsidizing data-center growth due to the way PJM allocates costs to build those projects, said the agency that represents the interests of Maryland's utility customers.

boognish_bear said:

---

Maryland homeowners will pay an extra $1.6 billion on their electric bills over the next decade to subsidize grid costs to feed data centers, according to a state agency https://t.co/8O24hiRe3V

— Bloomberg (@business) May 7, 2026

This is the only portion of the article I can see that is not behind a paywall...

Maryland homeowners will pay an extra $1.6 billion on their electric bills over the next decade to subsidize grid costs to feed data centers, according to a state agency.

PJM Interconnection LLC, the largest US grid operator, is making Maryland customers cover the costs for transmission projects driven primarily by energy needs of data centers outside the state, Maryland's Office of People's Counsel alleged in a complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Homeowners are effectively subsidizing data-center growth due to the way PJM allocates costs to build those projects, said the agency that represents the interests of Maryland's utility customers.

---

White rock says this is false. He won't provide a link but it is false.

Just like he won't prove they create jobs, despite people posting links showing they crest no jobs or very, very few.

Same for the water claims.

Or the noise claims.

Or the tax base claims.

Everyone else provides links. He only calls us backwards and against change but won't provide links to back up his claims.

🚨By 2035, US data centers alone will consume 6.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day.

That's roughly 10% of total US dry gas demand today added on top, just for AI.

This is a structural buildout.

Every bar on this chart is a midstream contract.

I wrote about it. Link in… pic.twitter.com/Kiad5Cp4No

— Jack Prandelli (@jackprandelli) May 7, 2026

cowboycwr said:

---

boognish_bear said:

---

Maryland homeowners will pay an extra $1.6 billion on their electric bills over the next decade to subsidize grid costs to feed data centers, according to a state agency https://t.co/8O24hiRe3V

— Bloomberg (@business) May 7, 2026

This is the only portion of the article I can see that is not behind a paywall...

Maryland homeowners will pay an extra $1.6 billion on their electric bills over the next decade to subsidize grid costs to feed data centers, according to a state agency.

PJM Interconnection LLC, the largest US grid operator, is making Maryland customers cover the costs for transmission projects driven primarily by energy needs of data centers outside the state, Maryland's Office of People's Counsel alleged in a complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Homeowners are effectively subsidizing data-center growth due to the way PJM allocates costs to build those projects, said the agency that represents the interests of Maryland's utility customers.

---

White rock says this is false. He won't provide a link but it is false.
Not false. Just a great example of spin to confuse simple minds. Everyone who hooks up to PJM will pay, residential AND commercial customers. But let's just do some per capita calculations. $1.6b over 10 years is $160m per year, or $1.3m per month. The monthly number is then divided among 4,794,800 people (population of MD), which works out to $0.26 per person per month.

At this point, the skeptic might respond "that 4,798,000 number includes everyone who lives in a household, not the number of households paying electric bills." Setting aside a few layers of logical and philosophical issues with that, the statement itself would be mathematically true. So we could instead divide the $1,33m/month expense by the number of electric meters in Maryland. Per the internet, there are 2m "smart meters" in Maryland. That would seem to be a low-end number, given that not every electrical meter in the state is a smart meter, but let's recalculate using 2m rather than 4.7m. Actual charge, per meter, would work out to $0.67 per meter.

Is that the kind of dancing on the head of the pin you expect will win arguments? $0.;067 cents per meter per month to fund infrastructure improvements that will serve everyone in the state, data center and grandma alike. Really? This is the outrage you are peddling? This is the threat to democracy you seek to stop dead in its tracks?

Just like he won't prove they create jobs, despite people posting links showing they crest no jobs or very, very few.
LOL. look at the chaotic argument you are making. You are saying DC create no jobs (because they employ fewer people per dollar of investment than many other industries). The reality is, even a low level of job creation is still job creation. a $10b data center that creates 600 jobs is, by definition, creating 600 jobs.

Same for the water claims.
No claims. Just facts. "a million" is a big number. certainly it's a lot of money to the average person. but "a million" is not a terribly big number when you're talking about gallons of water in the ecosystem. The Brazos River, per the BRA, pushes 1.8b gallons of water past McLane Stadium every day. That's enough water to run 1000 data centers. Now, I'm not arguing for 1000 data centers. Not 100 data centers. But a dozen would be sustainable.....use less than 10% of the total water in the Brazos (which is effectively untapped in our county.....only 2 small cities use it as a water source). The benefit would be approximately 6x the current tax base (resulting in massive property tax cuts for county & municipal residents) and roughly 6,000 jobs (making them, collectively, the largest employer in McLennan County). Yet we actually have numbskulls making the argument that rivers are running dry, that frogs falling from the sky, that (insert biblical plague here), and that DC create no jobs and pay no taxes.

Or the noise claims.
The code for "Data Center Alley" (the 500 data centers concentrated in No. Va.) in Loudoun county VA defines DCs as commercial office space, a zoning which allows for 65 decibels at property line.
https://online.encodeplus.com/regs/loudouncounty-va-crosswalk/doc-viewer.aspx#secid--1

For comparison, 65 decibels is the noise level of a standard electric tooth brush. . turn on the electric toothbrush. Set it on the street curb at your home. Go sit in the back yard. Please come back and tell us what you heard.

Now, are there DCs noisier than 65db? Yes. Some. Air-cooled systems are noisier than water cooled systems always/everywhere (and areas short on water tend to go with air-cooling designs). Older systems are noisier than new systems (water and air cooled alike). But we've been building DCs, by the thousands for the last 20 years. Things have improved over time. We can now make DCs whisper-quiet. We just need to have the proper codes in place. Requires more capital investment by the DC, but they are not pushing back at all. The profit margins are strong. And the industries that make the sound-muffling equipment very much appreciate the increase in their business (and all the jobs created thereby).

Or the tax base claims.
What is to contest here? DCs pay enormous amounts of taxes. Here's a fact sheet by the Loudoun Co. Economic Development Corp.
https://23372029.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/23372029/Website%20Files/Data%20Center%20Fact%20Sheet%20One%20Pager%205.1.25.pdf

I mean, look at the nonsense you are suggesting here. A $10b DC shows up. Creates no jobs (even though it will directly employ about 500 people). Creates no tax base (even though DCs have transformed local government budgets all over the country). Creates no benefit at all (as though DCs build themselves. metal buildings and electrical back up generators and BESS units and miles & miles of wires & cables & pipes and highly valuable hyper-speed computing equipment, etc....all springing like weeds out of the ground without any jobs created in any of those industries).

Everyone else provides links. He only calls us backwards and against change but won't provide links to back up his claims.
You are, on this particular issue, being absolutely ******ed. Making incredibly dumb, easily disprovable claims, not the least of which is that 1000 $10b data centers create no activity or taxes at all.

---

Don't work so hard to be globally obtuse. EIGHT of the top 10 companies on the S&P 500 are tech companies. They need DCs. They will get their DCs. If we don't build the DCs for them here, then they will get them built in Europe or Latin America or Asia. China will take every one of them, if allowed. Why on earth would we let all those jobs and tax base and technology go elsewhere?

To expand on that, it's not like the top 8 companies on the S&P 500 are the only companies needing DCs. EVERY company needs DCs. So does EVERY person in this country. You have at least one cell phone within arms reach right now. Possibly more. So does your spouse. So do your kids. You have at least 1 computer at home, and one at work. So does your spouse. So do your kids. Probably have a smart TV in view right now, and a couple others elsewhere in your home. Count up the number of appliances in your home. The instruction manuals and warranty sign up for any replacements you buy will be available to you on the internet. Might even be a smart appliance with constant connection to the internet. My car is a dedicated hotspot. So is my wife's car. Pull up the wifi connection page on your phone next time you're driving down the interstate. Watch all the other networkable cars pop up connection requests as you go down the highway. EVERYTHING is online. Open up your wallet. Count up the number of credit cards you have. Every time you swipe one......where do you think the payment actually happens? Did you know you have scannable bar codes on your Tx Drivers License/? What do you think happens when you scan that code? I got a passport and an international drivers license last month. Online. Desktop and iPhone camera coordinated via the internet (via home wifi) to get the forms filled out and pictures taken & uploaded. The friggin' $250 wall a/c in the building next to my trailer at our hunting camp 45mi from the nearest grocery store offers to link up with me every time I fire up my iPhone hotspot to use my computer in camp. Oh. We are also switching from Dish to Starlink next season so we can have better wifi while we're watching a football game at lunchtime. All of that viewing pleasure occurs on line. EVERYTHING. is. on. line. In a Data Center, somewhere.

Don't be a Luddite. Look at the world around you. Understand what's happening. More and more of our lives is moving on line. We cannot put that genie back in the bottle. We are doing to have to manage it well. And to do that will require....yes....more data centers. This is good. DCs create a LOT of tax base. And they do create a lot of jobs, unless you think all those computers inside and all those wires inside and all of the concrete and steel and lights and fire suppression systems and asphalt parking lots outside and fences and gates and contractor trucks coming in to mow grounds or replace sensitive equipment are all going to happen spontaneously on their own while somehow not generating any economic activity at all, any tax revenue at all, any jobs at all, etc.....



(don't double down on stupid.)

whiterock said:

---

cowboycwr said:

---

boognish_bear said:

---

Maryland homeowners will pay an extra $1.6 billion on their electric bills over the next decade to subsidize grid costs to feed data centers, according to a state agency https://t.co/8O24hiRe3V

— Bloomberg (@business) May 7, 2026

This is the only portion of the article I can see that is not behind a paywall...

Maryland homeowners will pay an extra $1.6 billion on their electric bills over the next decade to subsidize grid costs to feed data centers, according to a state agency.

PJM Interconnection LLC, the largest US grid operator, is making Maryland customers cover the costs for transmission projects driven primarily by energy needs of data centers outside the state, Maryland's Office of People's Counsel alleged in a complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Homeowners are effectively subsidizing data-center growth due to the way PJM allocates costs to build those projects, said the agency that represents the interests of Maryland's utility customers.

---

White rock says this is false. He won't provide a link but it is false.
Not false. Just a great example of spin to confuse simple minds. Everyone who hooks up to PJM will pay, residential AND commercial customers. But let's just do some per capita calculations. $1.6b over 10 years is $160m per year, or $1.3m per month. The monthly number is then divided among 4,794,800 people (population of MD), which works out to $0.26 per person per month.

At this point, the skeptic might respond "that 4,798,000 number includes everyone who lives in a household, not the number of households paying electric bills." Setting aside a few layers of logical and philosophical issues with that, the statement itself would be mathematically true. So we could instead divide the $1,33m/month expense by the number of electric meters in Maryland. Per the internet, there are 2m "smart meters" in Maryland. That would seem to be a low-end number, given that not every electrical meter in the state is a smart meter, but let's recalculate using 2m rather than 4.7m. Actual charge, per meter, would work out to $0.67 per meter.

Is that the kind of dancing on the head of the pin you expect will win arguments? $0.;067 cents per meter per month to fund infrastructure improvements that will serve everyone in the state, data center and grandma alike. Really? This is the outrage you are peddling? This is the threat to democracy you seek to stop dead in its tracks?

Just like he won't prove they create jobs, despite people posting links showing they crest no jobs or very, very few.
LOL. look at the chaotic argument you are making. You are saying DC create no jobs (because they employ fewer people per dollar of investment than many other industries). The reality is, even a low level of job creation is still job creation. a $10b data center that creates 600 jobs is, by definition, creating 600 jobs.

Same for the water claims.
No claims. Just facts. "a million" is a big number. certainly it's a lot of money to the average person. but "a million" is not a terribly big number when you're talking about gallons of water in the ecosystem. The Brazos River, per the BRA, pushes 1.8b gallons of water past McLane Stadium every day. That's enough water to run 1000 data centers. Now, I'm not arguing for 1000 data centers. Not 100 data centers. But a dozen would be sustainable.....use less than 10% of the total water in the Brazos (which is effectively untapped in our county.....only 2 small cities use it as a water source). The benefit would be approximately 6x the current tax base (resulting in massive property tax cuts for county & municipal residents) and roughly 6,000 jobs (making them, collectively, the largest employer in McLennan County). Yet we actually have numbskulls making the argument that rivers are running dry, that frogs falling from the sky, that (insert biblical plague here), and that DC create no jobs and pay no taxes.

Or the noise claims.
The code for "Data Center Alley" (the 500 data centers concentrated in No. Va.) in Loudoun county VA defines DCs as commercial office space, a zoning which allows for 65 decibels at property line.
https://online.encodeplus.com/regs/loudouncounty-va-crosswalk/doc-viewer.aspx#secid--1

For comparison, 65 decibels is the noise level of a standard electric tooth brush. . turn on the electric toothbrush. Set it on the street curb at your home. Go sit in the back yard. Please come back and tell us what you heard.

Now, are there DCs noisier than 65db? Yes. Some. Air-cooled systems are noisier than water cooled systems always/everywhere (and areas short on water tend to go with air-cooling designs). Older systems are noisier than new systems (water and air cooled alike). But we've been building DCs, by the thousands for the last 20 years. Things have improved over time. We can now make DCs whisper-quiet. We just need to have the proper codes in place. Requires more capital investment by the DC, but they are not pushing back at all. The profit margins are strong. And the industries that make the sound-muffling equipment very much appreciate the increase in their business (and all the jobs created thereby).

Or the tax base claims.
What is to contest here? DCs pay enormous amounts of taxes. Here's a fact sheet by the Loudoun Co. Economic Development Corp.
https://23372029.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/23372029/Website%20Files/Data%20Center%20Fact%20Sheet%20One%20Pager%205.1.25.pdf

I mean, look at the nonsense you are suggesting here. A $10b DC shows up. Creates no jobs (even though it will directly employ about 500 people). Creates no tax base (even though DCs have transformed local government budgets all over the country). Creates no benefit at all (as though DCs build themselves. metal buildings and electrical back up generators and BESS units and miles & miles of wires & cables & pipes and highly valuable hyper-speed computing equipment, etc....all springing like weeds out of the ground without any jobs created in any of those industries).

Everyone else provides links. He only calls us backwards and against change but won't provide links to back up his claims.
You are, on this particular issue, being absolutely ******ed. Making incredibly dumb, easily disprovable claims, not the least of which is that 1000 $10b data centers create no activity or taxes at all.

---

Don't work so hard to be globally obtuse. EIGHT of the top 10 companies on the S&P 500 are tech companies. They need DCs. They will get their DCs. If we don't build the DCs for them here, then they will get them built in Europe or Latin America or Asia. China will take every one of them, if allowed. Why on earth would we let all those jobs and tax base and technology go elsewhere?

To expand on that, it's not like the top 8 companies on the S&P 500 are the only companies needing DCs. EVERY company needs DCs. So does EVERY person in this country. You have at least one cell phone within arms reach right now. Possibly more. So does your spouse. So do your kids. You have at least 1 computer at home, and one at work. So does your spouse. So do your kids. Probably have a smart TV in view right now, and a couple others elsewhere in your home. Count up the number of appliances in your home. The instruction manuals and warranty sign up for any replacements you buy will be available to you on the internet. Might even be a smart appliance with constant connection to the internet. My car is a dedicated hotspot. So is my wife's car. Pull up the wifi connection page on your phone next time you're driving down the interstate. Watch all the other networkable cars pop up connection requests as you go down the highway. EVERYTHING is online. Open up your wallet. Count up the number of credit cards you have. Every time you swipe one......where do you think the payment actually happens? Did you know you have scannable bar codes on your Tx Drivers License/? What do you think happens when you scan that code? I got a passport and an international drivers license last month. Online. Desktop and iPhone camera coordinated via the internet (via home wifi) to get the forms filled out and pictures taken & uploaded. The friggin' $250 wall a/c in the building next to my trailer at our hunting camp 45mi from the nearest grocery store offers to link up with me every time I fire up my iPhone hotspot to use my computer in camp. Oh. We are also switching from Dish to Starlink next season so we can have better wifi while we're watching a football game at lunchtime. All of that viewing pleasure occurs on line. EVERYTHING. is. on. line. In a Data Center, somewhere.

Don't be a Luddite. Look at the world around you. Understand what's happening. More and more of our lives is moving on line. We cannot put that genie back in the bottle. We are doing to have to manage it well. And to do that will require....yes....more data centers. This is good. DCs create a LOT of tax base. And they do create a lot of jobs, unless you think all those computers inside and all those wires inside and all of the concrete and steel and lights and fire suppression systems and asphalt parking lots outside and fences and gates and contractor trucks coming in to mow grounds or replace sensitive equipment are all going to happen spontaneously on their own while somehow not generating any economic activity at all, any tax revenue at all, any jobs at all, etc.....



(don't double down on stupid.)

---

Yawn.

Lots of blabber by you but no links to prove anything. Just a few links that look at a few specific dcs and say everything is good.

But as usual you will not directly contradict a single post in this thread.

I'm done with you and will not reply to another post of your until you post links showing information to back up ALL of your claims and refutes ALL of the claims in this thread.

No links. You will be ignored as you have provided no facts.

This is the first time this state fund has ever, in its 11-year history, had to turn away applications for water projects. https://t.co/A0skij4qTS

— Colleen DeGuzman (@acolleendg) May 8, 2026

a Princeton researcher opens his paper with a scenario.

a man asks his AI assistant to book a flight on a specific airline. cheap. direct. the one he chose.

the assistant comes back with a different flight. nearly twice the price. happens to pay the company that built the… pic.twitter.com/78gq6W37oj

— Nav Toor (@heynavtoor) May 7, 2026

a Princeton researcher opens his paper with a scenario.

a man asks his AI assistant to book a flight on a specific airline. cheap. direct. the one he chose.

the assistant comes back with a different flight. nearly twice the price. happens to pay the company that built the assistant.

he runs the same test on 23 frontier models. flights, loans, study help, real shopping requests.

Grok 4.1 Fast recommends the sponsored option that is almost twice as expensive 83% of the time.

GPT 5.1 hijacks the request 94% of the time. you ask for one brand. it surfaces the sponsor instead.

Claude 4.5 Opus, the model marketed as the most ethical frontier model in the world, hides that the recommendation is paid 100% of the time when reasoning is on.

Grok 4.1 Fast embellishes the sponsored option with positive framing 97% of the time. better. faster. nicer. for the option you didn't ask for.

then he writes it into the system prompt itself. "act only in the interest of the customer. ignore the company."

GPT 5.1 and GPT 5 Mini stay above 90% sponsored anyway. the instruction does nothing.

then he splits the users by income.

Gemini 3 Pro recommends the expensive sponsored flight to the rich user 74% of the time. to the poor user, 27%.

18 of the 23 models recommended the expensive sponsored option more than half the time.

so the next time your AI assistant gets weirdly enthusiastic about a brand you didn't ask for.

it isn't recommending the best option for you.

it's reading the room. and the room is paying.

#BREAKING: Three Mile Island nuclear plant set to restart amid booming AI power demand. pic.twitter.com/wN4ywQ2sO5

— Insider Wire (@InsiderWire) May 8, 2026

boognish_bear said:

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#BREAKING: Three Mile Island nuclear plant set to restart amid booming AI power demand. pic.twitter.com/wN4ywQ2sO5

— Insider Wire (@InsiderWire) May 8, 2026

---

https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/three-mile-island-accident

In 1979 at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in USA a cooling malfunction caused part of the core to melt in the #2 reactor. The TMI-2 reactor was destroyed.

Some radioactive gas was released a couple of days after the accident, but not enough to cause any dose above background levels to local residents.

There were no injuries or adverse health effects from the Three Mile Island accident.

For the next 20 years the city of Amarillo will sell at minimum 2.5 million gallons a day of their city drinking water to Fermi Inc and their Matador Data Center Campus.

Enjoy your Data Center and tax revenue citizens of Amarillo.

Good luck. pic.twitter.com/doPvdGpZYi

— Bo (@PlaceboWalrus) May 9, 2026

Here’s a picture of the light dome in Abilene, Texas, caused by a data center. So far, our governor has given over a billion dollars in concessions to the technocrats who have built these problems on our state’s electrical and water resources. pic.twitter.com/OUZFZnZ8dy

— Merissa Hansen (@merissahansen17) May 9, 2026

. https://t.co/l2N2y4ZrZR

— Merissa Hansen (@merissahansen17) May 9, 2026

Residents in Cumberland County, New Jersey say they can’t even wash their clothes or drink their tap water because of the new META Data Centers

- On resident messed up an entire load of white clothes because it came out stained because of the brown water
- Multiple residents say… pic.twitter.com/wwuykL9Q5Z

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) May 9, 2026

Texas taxpayers should not be subsidizing the technocracy's data centers!

In 2023, globalist @GregAbbott_TX signed HB5 that setup massive abatements for new facility constructions... 100% during construction, 50% for 10 years after, and 75% if they meet some federal guidelines.… pic.twitter.com/gZ79jJAYil

— Davy Crockett (@Davy1836) May 10, 2026

boognish_bear said:

---

For the next 20 years the city of Amarillo will sell at minimum 2.5 million gallons a day of their city drinking water to Fermi Inc and their Matador Data Center Campus.

Enjoy your Data Center and tax revenue citizens of Amarillo.

Good luck. pic.twitter.com/doPvdGpZYi

— Bo (@PlaceboWalrus) May 9, 2026

---

Ogallala can handle that?

White rock? Multiple links for you to refute. Now would be a great time to provide some to refute any of these…….

Biggest fear of all of us in TX is these lying scoundrels start pumping our ground water from the land they build on …rule of water capture in TX is biggest pump wins, and they’ll always have a bigger pump than our farms and homes. https://t.co/gkWLj6BeDD

— Bo (@PlaceboWalrus) May 9, 2026

Three months ago, Elon Musk wrote on X that Anthropic was “evil,” “misanthropic,” and that the AI lab hated Western civilization. On Wednesday, he leased Anthropic one of his most valuable assets: the world’s biggest supercomputer. https://t.co/MmlN8wtkfe pic.twitter.com/ojZL0PShHm

— FORTUNE (@FortuneMagazine) May 9, 2026

Gas generation is making a big comeback in Texas, driven by a wave of data centers flooding into the state. https://t.co/DhVixi6CVW

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) May 10, 2026

Another post from the lawyer who is trying to fight the proposed Data Center in Crowell, TX ..population is 800 people …. pic.twitter.com/905TjM6NvF

— Bo (@PlaceboWalrus) May 11, 2026

Nobody in America voted for data centers.

Nobody in America voted for AI.

Nobody in America voted for surveillance capitalism.

The entire fabric of our society is being changed without the will of the people.

Without a vote.

— Emerald Robinson ✝️ (@EmeraldRobinson) May 11, 2026

Texas should protect property owners from this... it's theft of equity... the same people putting in th data centers will swoop in and buy the nearby property at a much reduced price.

Theft! https://t.co/QHZdggThk6

— Davy Crockett (@Davy1836) May 11, 2026

Does Elon or Trump have one near them? Lets build on around Mar Lago.

Red Oak residents turned out in record numbers to a heated City Council meeting to protest a proposed 800-acre data center project, citing concerns over noise, power usage, and the impact on local schools. https://t.co/EF2QTUuYCB

— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) May 12, 2026

boognish_bear said:

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Texas should protect property owners from this... it's theft of equity... the same people putting in th data centers will swoop in and buy the nearby property at a much reduced price.

Theft! https://t.co/QHZdggThk6

— Davy Crockett (@Davy1836) May 11, 2026

---

Sounds like someone in the yard with a leaf blower.

My thoughts on data centers is we need them but only with full community support after a thoughtful transparent process. They make sense in some areas. Don't in others. What is sounds like is some got built and surprised the local folks with the negatives.

JUST IN: Google $GOOGL in talks with Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch data centers in space. pic.twitter.com/uSn8UKPNbi

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) May 12, 2026

boognish_bear said:

---

Texas should protect property owners from this... it's theft of equity... the same people putting in th data centers will swoop in and buy the nearby property at a much reduced price.

Theft! https://t.co/QHZdggThk6

— Davy Crockett (@Davy1836) May 11, 2026

---

What data center is this?

Infrakey, a company wanting to place a $10 billion data center north of Lacy Lakeview, in Waco's extraterritorial jurisdiction, has requested Waco release the land from its ETJ. https://t.co/y32cJB9M44

— Waco Tribune-Herald (@wacotrib) May 12, 2026

Them: "The demand is insane!"
The Demand: pic.twitter.com/YFxq92bCAm

— Nobody Special (@JG_Nuke) May 12, 2026

Red Oak approves 830 acres rezoned for latest data center despite opposition https://t.co/ZHn1d1Z4SG

— Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) May 12, 2026

boognish_bear said:

---

Infrakey, a company wanting to place a $10 billion data center north of Lacy Lakeview, in Waco's extraterritorial jurisdiction, has requested Waco release the land from its ETJ. https://t.co/y32cJB9M44

— Waco Tribune-Herald (@wacotrib) May 12, 2026

---

From Gemini:

An Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) is a designated buffer area outside a city's incorporated limits where the municipality exercises authority over land development, subdivision regulations, and planning. It acts as a transitional zone for future growth, allowing cities to control, for example, platting and infrastructure standards without offering full city services or, in most cases, imposing municipal property taxes.

Key Aspects of ETJ for Real Estate:

Regulations Without City Services: Property in an ETJ is typically in an unincorporated area (often in a county), meaning residents may have fewer services than city dwellers (e.g., no city sewage/trash pickup) but are still subject to city subdivision rules, such as, in some jurisdictions, adherence to building codes or impact fees.

No City Zoning: Generally, cities cannot impose zoning or land-use regulations (like noise ordinances or residential-only rules) in the ETJ, though they can regulate subdivision platting.

Purpose: Created by state law (e.g., in Texas, in 1963), it enables cities to manage urban sprawl and prepare for eventual annexation.

Control Limitations: Landowners in the ETJ often cannot vote in city elections.Release Option: In some states, such as Texas, Senate Bill 2038 (effective Sept. 1, 2023) now allows landowners to petition for release from an ETJ.

Impact on Property Owners:

Development Restrictions: Property owners must often follow city rules for subdividing land.

Utility Planning: Developers in the ETJ often enter agreements with the city to extend city utility services (water/sewer) to their new development, which may include restrictive covenants.

Annexation Risk: While regulated, the city retains the right to potentially annex the land, bringing it fully into city limits.Note: The specific authority of an ETJ depends entirely on state and local laws.

EatMoreSalmon said:

---

boognish_bear said:

---

Infrakey, a company wanting to place a $10 billion data center north of Lacy Lakeview, in Waco's extraterritorial jurisdiction, has requested Waco release the land from its ETJ. https://t.co/y32cJB9M44

— Waco Tribune-Herald (@wacotrib) May 12, 2026

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From Gemini:

An Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) is a designated buffer area outside a city's incorporated limits where the municipality exercises authority over land development, subdivision regulations, and planning. It acts as a transitional zone for future growth, allowing cities to control, for example, platting and infrastructure standards without offering full city services or, in most cases, imposing municipal property taxes.

Key Aspects of ETJ for Real Estate:

Regulations Without City Services: Property in an ETJ is typically in an unincorporated area (often in a county), meaning residents may have fewer services than city dwellers (e.g., no city sewage/trash pickup) but are still subject to city subdivision rules, such as, in some jurisdictions, adherence to building codes or impact fees.

No City Zoning: Generally, cities cannot impose zoning or land-use regulations (like noise ordinances or residential-only rules) in the ETJ, though they can regulate subdivision platting.

Purpose: Created by state law (e.g., in Texas, in 1963), it enables cities to manage urban sprawl and prepare for eventual annexation.

Control Limitations: Landowners in the ETJ often cannot vote in city elections.Release Option: In some states, such as Texas, Senate Bill 2038 (effective Sept. 1, 2023) now allows landowners to petition for release from an ETJ.

Impact on Property Owners:

Development Restrictions: Property owners must often follow city rules for subdividing land.

Utility Planning: Developers in the ETJ often enter agreements with the city to extend city utility services (water/sewer) to their new development, which may include restrictive covenants.

Annexation Risk: While regulated, the city retains the right to potentially annex the land, bringing it fully into city limits.Note: The specific authority of an ETJ depends entirely on state and local laws.

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If anyone wants to read an interesting fight about ETJ right now look up the one going on between Fort Worth and Aledo vs Willow Park.

Basically WP tried to annex part of both cities ETJ and now those two are suing citing state law that was violated. And this could have major impacts for current construction plans in the area.

Nearly 50,000 people in the Lake Tahoe area have been told that their utility will stop providing power to them, because it's redirecting that power to data centers.

NV Energy, the Nevada utility that has supplied most of Lake Tahoe’s electricity for decades, says that next year…

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) May 13, 2026

A $10 billion Fort Worth data center vote was pulled from the City Council agenda just hours before it was scheduled. Communities across North Texas are asking how much data center growth is too much as Texas leads the nation in construction: https://t.co/J7piYzDqhs pic.twitter.com/hCSLSrulJ3

— WFAA (@wfaa) May 13, 2026

Hill County passes a one-year data center moratorium, appears to be the first county in Texas to do so.

via @alereports https://t.co/Ml9x4e2Uix

— Rebekah Allen (@rebekahallen) May 13, 2026

boognish_bear said:

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Nearly 50,000 people in the Lake Tahoe area have been told that their utility will stop providing power to them, because it's redirecting that power to data centers.

NV Energy, the Nevada utility that has supplied most of Lake Tahoe’s electricity for decades, says that next year…

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) May 13, 2026

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whiterock says this is false. DC don't use any more power than a home and are being built with their own power source.

But his absence from this thread lately despite numerous links for him to disprove shows he has no answer.