Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing permits for data center projects until the state grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), finishes an audit expected in December. Abbott said data centers must bear their own costs, protect the power grid and water resources, and complete the required review. He also plans to propose ending incentives for data centers in the next legislative session. The move puts Texas alongside New York and Pennsylvania as another state tightening scrutiny of data center approvals. The directive also stands in contrast to Donald Trump’s support for expanding AI infrastructure. Trump had previously criticized efforts to restrict data center development and warned that such limits could benefit China. Texas’ grid is currently facing more than 474 gigawatts of interconnection requests, with about 90% tied to data centers.