Commissioners of Hill County have voted 3-2 to issue a one-year moratorium on data center projects on rural land, with one member saying that the local government will take this time to study the effects of data centers on the community around it before developers can move forward. Although it is not the first local government to join the growing list of jurisdictions that have passed a data center moratorium, The Texas Tribune says that it would be the first one to enforce a temporary ban in Texas, which is known for being a data center-friendly state. The move comes after data center builders have begun to target rural areas to avoid the harsher regulations and oversight within cities.
AI hyperscalers are increasingly looking to unincorporated county land to reduce regulatory friction, allowing them to get their projects online much quicker. While they still have to go through county commissions and other authorities that work at the county level, they get to skip city-level rules and debates, which can get testy at times.
