"They are moving very fast, they are being built all over the place, with that, I think we have to be more sensitive to where they are located and the public they impact, so when I heard about a data center possibly coming to my area, I came out against it because I don't view our area as a good fit for that," said Alvin City Councilmember, Scott Salter.
Alvin City Council member Scott Salter said the council is now voting on a resolution to oppose the internet storage facilities until more information can be evaluated.
He said there is no zoning in Alvin, so it's easier for the facilities to buy land and set up shop.
He has concerns about the impact a data center could have on the infrastructure in their small rural town.
"Daily power consumption is just under 200 megawatts; the initial electrical load of this proposed site was 200 megawatts, so I immediately was a little worried that it would double the power consumption in our area," said Salter.
Salter is not alone; Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta said he's also opposed to data centers in the county, but says their hands are tied.
"We can't stop them. The leaders we sent to Austin do not give us that authority," said Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta.
Experts say under Texas law, there are very few tools counties have to stop the sites.
"An overwhelming majority of the county itself is unincorporated, meaning that those are the locations where data centers are most likely to locate themselves because they want to go into the areas where they have the fewest constraints, the fewest regulations, and the fewest permitting hurdles," said Rice University Political Science Professor Mark P. Jones.
Judge Sebesta is now adding a resolution for commissioners to discuss data centers at their next meeting to take a stance, even though it would be mostly symbolic.
"We have one of these centers already in the county. It's a very small one, very small footprint. The neighbors complained because of the sound. And so there's, and there's issues out there with water, power load, that type of thing," said Judge Sebesta.
Their meeting is set for Tuesday, but regardless of what the county passes, it won't affect a data center's ability to operate in Brazoria County.