Two data centers proposed for Matagorda County, residents pushing back

MATAGORDA COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Some people living in Matagorda County are pushing back against proposed data centers in the area.

Data centers are large facilities filled with servers that store information people use every day on the internet, fueling AI and the digital data boom.

ABC13 has now learned from county leaders that two of those facilities are planned for Matagorda County, from Barrio Energy.

But some living in the community are now pushing back against the proposal and said their main concern is how the facility will impact their rural lifestyle here.

Residents are sounding the alarm and have started a petition and a Facebook group called Matagorda County Against Data Centers.

"I'm not completely against data centers, but I believe data centers belong in a better place, not small rural communities," Donna Howard with Matagorda County Against Data Centers said.

"We should have a say so. We should have an opinion; our opinion should matter. What we want in our county should matter," Angelica Hernandez, another member of Matagorda County Against Data Centers, said.

Those in the community said energy usage is one of their main concerns. The company and county leaders told ABC13 it's a smaller-scale facility.

Director of the Matagorda County Economic Development Corporation, Michael Ferdinand, said ERCOT helps approve the facilities based on the energy grid.

"So this isn't a large data center. I mean, you're talking about 10 megawatts sitting on 4 acres. That's not going to take up the whole 4 acres. It is a large data center. ERCOT classifies those as starting at 75 megawatts," Ferdinand said.

"10 megawatts is still large, I feel like they're downplaying," Howard said. "The information that I've looked at states that electricity usage is going to be a lot larger."

Residents are also concerned about water, in a town where farmers are essential.

"How is this going to affect our water table? How is this going to affect our farmers? We already have the city of Corpus Christi taking from the Colorado River, we have farmers who can't get water to their crops, and now we're going to have these monstrosities come in," Cheryl Wilkins with Matagorda County Against Data Centers said.

"What's been relayed to us is that they will not be requiring water from the city. They have not approached, and they don't need to approach LCRA, that's the Lower Colorado River Authority, who a lot of our large industries draw water from," Ferdinand said.

Barrio Energy also told ABC13 that they do not plan to drill wells.

"We're also open for businesses that benefit our community. Direct investment helps reduce taxes and the tax burden, which this will do," Ferdinand said.

Regardless, while local leaders say they think the data centers will help and bring short-term jobs, others Eyewitness News spoke with want to preserve what the county has to offer.

"But at least we can voice as constituents what it is we want, they're bringing in every type of industrial complex that you can imagine into this area and that is not what this is not what this city promotes itself on," Howard said.