The usual worry about Texas’ data center boom is that the state is flying partly blind. It does not yet know how much electricity these projects will actually need, how much water they will take, or whether the tax breaks offered in the name of growth will return enough to justify their cost.
That sounds, at first, like a paperwork problem: collect better numbers, build a better spreadsheet, close the gap, and the problem is solved. But the longer you sit with the missing information, the less accidental it looks. The uncertainty does not fall evenly. Again and again, it gives developers room to maneuver while leaving the public to plan around promises it cannot fully test.
