By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
County residents attending a recent town hall meeting hosted by a county commissioner expressed outrage and asked numerous questions about the possible development of one or more data centers in Val Verde County.
The discussion bloomed near the end of a town hall meeting hosted by Val Verde County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez on Wednesday, Sept. 9, in the Precinct 2 community room at the Judge Antonio “Tony” Faz III County Annex, 315 E. Chapoy St.
Vazquez gave updates and answered questions on a number of ongoing infrastructure projects in Precinct 2. Following the updates, Vazquez asked if there were any questions, and county resident Fermin Calderon said he understood a company had purchased a tract of land in the county for the purpose of building a data center.
“If you could enlighten us a little bit about what is going on with that,” Calderon said.
Vazquez said the issue has been discussed in recent commissioners court meetings, but added he could not go into details because those discussions were held with the county attorney in executive session.
He said, “I know for a fact that they have approached a gentleman in close to proximity to that location down on Lausen Lane, and one gentleman I talked to owns almost 800 acres (there), and I heard it from the actual property owner, that he’s been in communications with a company that builds data centers.
“As far as the 200-something acres (land sale) that people have seen on Facebook, I know there is some truth to that, but other than that, there’s not much to say. It’s in the early stages. All I know is that I would be against it, and we’ll be looking into, that area that they’re targeting, is out of the (joint land use study area around Laughlin Air Force Base), so there’s no way we could use (that) zoning, which is to protect the base.
“They’re out of the Amistad Land Use and Zoning Area also, and they’re away from the city. So basically, hopefully, the only way we could – and this is just me talking – maybe we’ll talk about it in court, about how they’re going to get their water and so on, because our water line that goes down Paesano Lane, which is in the proximity, was only intended through our grant that we had received only for residential use, if that makes sense.
“We’re already starting to tackle that, as to what we can do. I’m not sure there’s actually something we can do to stop it 1,000 percent, but we are working on that,” Vazquez said.
Resident Jake Carsten asked if Val Verde County Commissioners Court “would be the ones to vote to approve that or reject that?”
“Definitely we’d be against it. This is me talking, but from talking to the commissioners, we are against giving tax abatements. I don’t think they’d need a tax abatement, because there’s so much money there, but I don’t see any of the commissioners voting differently than what I do. I will vote against a tax abatement or anything to help them build a data center here. I’d be against anything supporting that,” Vazquez said.
County resident Arturo Talamantez commented, “It’s coming in waves, big time. We have to be prepared, not wait until they’re outside our door. It’s something we need to start right now, trying to evade getting those things here, and right now, I think it’s a lot of politics, a blame game, with Democrats blaming the Republicans for letting thousands of data centers be built in Texas, and the Republicans are going the same way. They’re pointing fingers at each other, but, you know, to me, it’s something we need to stop right now.
“Just tell these people, we’re not going to accept you. Period. Go somewhere else,” Talamantez added.
When another county resident pointed out the county has little to no zoning authority outside limited areas around Laughlin AFB or the Amistad Land Use area, Vazquez agreed, adding, “When I say the only thing we have is water lines, and they would need water.”
Vazquez added, “Two weeks ago, I had dinner with Sen. (Pete) Flores in Austin. He’s got eight of ’em, and that’s one of the reasons I had dinner with him, he’s got eight of ’em in Medina County, and . . . the only people that are happy about data centers, some folks got 10 times the value of their land, so the only people that are happy is the people selling them their land, and, of course, people are saying, ‘I wish it was me,’ so that’s the only people.
“(Flores) was telling me that a lot of the people that sold their land, they went far away where there’s no data centers,” Vazquez added.
Carsten asked, “Who has the authority to stop them if they get the land? If they get the land, they can build?”
“Yes, sir,” Vazquez replied. “As of right now, we don’t have zoning authority to stop them, but, of course, we can make it hard. Water? We’re fighting against that. So if there’s something we can do, discuss, dealing with the county attorney and so on, to stop that, if there’s an avenue there, we’ll pursue it.”
Talamantez added, “Get our state representatives and congressmen involved.”
Vazquez said County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. told the court he has spoken with Texas Rep. Eddie Morales (D-Eagle Pass), one of the county’s elected representatives to Austin, concerning the issue.
Calderon asked whether the construction of a data center would require public notice and a public hearing at which the community members could make their concerns known.
“I can almost guarantee you that they will,” Vazquez responded. “So once everything starts developing, and then we discuss it in court and so on, I know that we’ll let the public know. I know the entire commissioners court has been all about transparency, and I know Judge Owens, definitely, is all about keeping everybody informed on that, to keep the public informed and ahead of the game and see what’s going on. And, of course, (the property in question) sits in Precinct 2, so I will keep you all posted.”
Another county resident commented he and his wife attended the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance meeting held in Brackettville last month.
He said, “The lady came down from San Antonio, and the main thing they were talking about was San Felipe Springs and Las Moras Springs (in Kinney County). She was talking about those, and one of the things that came up was about data centers, and they are coming. They are going to build them, whether we fight it or not, because San Antonio is trying to fight them, and they’ve got mega-lawyers and lots of money, but they’re sucking the water out of the aquifer like crazy.
“Those data centers can use another system, where they use something to cool those things and they don’t have to pull out of the aquifer, but it costs ’em like five times as much, so what do you think they’re going to do? They’re just going to suck the water out of the aquifer, and she was telling us that, due to these recent floods, the aquifer went way up, that’s why we’ve seen San Felipe Springs and a lot of the other springs rising, but now it’s dropping real fast again, and it’s going to continue to drop, and those data centers are really sucking that water all the way from San Antonio down here, so they’re going to suck us dry,” the resident said.
Vazquez said, “From doing a little bit of research, from what I hear, the water, whether they truck it in, they’ll find a way. There’s so much money there. From talking to Senator Flores, Microsoft, right before you get to Castroville, it’s a $600 million project, to build that one data center there.
“There’s lots of money there. It’s huge,” the commissioner added.
He added some of the land in Castroville is selling for $85,000 an acre.
One woman asked, “So you’re saying that they can build their data center, but you’re saying because of our zoning, they cannot get our water?”
Vazquez said, “No, that’s an avenue that we would hopefully be looking at, because it is city water, but we did the piping, and hopefully, of course, it’s an avenue we might be looking at, well, wait a minute, they have to have water, and maybe there’s a way, because the water line going down Paesano, we got the grant, and that was me talking to Judge Owens, the grant was strictly for residential use only, not for commercial.”
“The other data centers that were built, like San Antonio, where they fought them but still lost, is that coming to us? Are they going to be taking our water as well, even if we protest?” the woman asked.
Another meeting attendee pointed out Val Verde County does not have a groundwater conservation district.
“What’s going to stop them?” the woman asked again.
Vazquez replied, “Right now, we’re hoping there’s an avenue, but . . . The fight’s just beginning.”
Carsten asked if the property being looked at was under city zoning, and Vazquez said it was not because it was out in the county.
Carsten asked why the county has no zoning authority, and Vazquez said the county had it in certain areas, like around the base and near the Amistad National Recreation Area.
Talamantez commented, “What are we going to leave our grandkids? That’s what’s scary.”
As the discussion wound down, Vazquez pledged to keep county residents informed about any developments.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
