Texas has halted 17 data center permits and shut its permit portal.

Texas built a web portal to approve routine construction paperwork without a person in the loop. When the governor ordered a halt to data center permits, the portal kept issuing them, according to watchdog groups. The state's environmental regulator has now suspended 17 data center permits and taken the automated system offline.

**Key Takeaways**

- The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) suspended 17 stormwater construction permits tied to data centers and disabled its STEERS automatic-authorization portal.

- Watchdogs say the system kept approving data center projects for about a month after Gov. Greg Abbott's September 21 pause, including projects linked to OpenAI and Amazon.

- TCEQ and the governor's office deny approving any data center permits, describing the filings as automated stormwater notices.

**How Approvals Slipped Through**

Any construction project that disturbs at least one acre in Texas needs stormwater coverage from TCEQ. The permits govern runoff from cleared and graded land, which can carry pollutants. Developers file a notice of intent through STEERS, the agency's online system, and the authorization comes back automatically.

On September 21, Abbott ordered TCEQ to stop issuing permits sought by data centers until the grid operator ERCOT finished reviewing proposed projects. "Data centers must pay their own way, protect our grid and water, and complete the ERCOT and TWDB audits. Until they do, TCEQ will issue no permits sought by data center projects," he said. TWDB is the Texas Water Development Board.

STEERS kept working anyway. On October 19, FracTracker Alliance and Public Citizen published reports covering more than two dozen permits issued to data center projects. TCEQ's own records listed them as "approved" and "active," with start dates after the governor's order. A separate review of agency records found that by October 16, TCEQ had moved at least 35 data center applications forward, including stormwater coverage for 11, emissions-limit certifications for seven and public notices for three.

"STEERS is a portal that TCEQ uses to rubber stamp construction approvals," said Sam Law, a researcher at FracTracker Alliance. "It seems like they forgot about it and the portal has been quietly issuing approvals since the governor's order for a pause, including for OpenAI and Amazon this Monday and Tuesday."

**Suspensions and a Shutdown**

Once the findings spread, 17 data center permits in TCEQ's central registry moved from "active" to "suspended." The agency then posted a notice saying the electronic filing application used for automatic authorizations was temporarily disabled. Staff must now review each application to decide whether it involves a data center, and filings must be submitted physically.

Stormwater actions recorded after the pause covered projects such as EdgeConneX's Cedar Creek campus in Bastrop County, Crusoe's Abilene campus and the Caldwell Valley Technology Park.

State officials reject the idea that anything was approved. TCEQ says the documents are automated stormwater general construction notices of intent, not permits to operate a data center. "In line with the Governor's directive, TCEQ has not taken and will not take any proactive actions related to the approval of data center permits," said Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott's press secretary.

Watchdogs saw it differently. "It wasn't completely surprising that they issued these data center authorizations, despite the governor's directive not to do so," said Kathryn Guerra, who leads Public Citizen's TCEQ watchdog campaign. Law went further: "If our own environmental regulator can't figure out which permits belong to data centers or have to take down their entire system because of them, it's a real sign that we need a real moratorium backed by legislation."

**A Pause With Holes**

The dispute hits one of the fastest-growing AI data center markets in the US. Abbott's September letter ordered the environmental regulator to pause permits on top of an earlier move that froze new data center grid connections, and it came weeks before the November 3 election in which he seeks another term. Stormwater coverage may sound minor, but it can put a project on track to start construction, which is exactly what the pause was meant to prevent.

Other states face the same tension between AI investment and local resources. Florida's data center debate has produced calls for a statewide strategy, while AI-driven water consumption keeps climbing. In Texas, agency records reviewed by watchdog groups showed how a pause on paper can leak when approvals run on autopilot. Until ERCOT completes its review, every new filing waits for a human.