A rural Texas county has rescinded its temporary moratorium on data center construction after being sued by a developer who said the local officials exceeded their legal authority.
Hill County’s Commissioners Court rescinded the one-year ban last week, while also voting to require data center developers to provide a checklist of information about their projects.
But County Judge Shane Brassell, the county’s top elected official, said the moratorium passed in May was still helpful. For one thing, he said, county commissioners hadn’t been aware how many projects were under development in their jurisdiction before they pursued the ban.
“We did accomplish some things, doing the moratorium,” Brassell, a Republican, said in an interview. “We had a couple projects leave the county that were maybe not the most honest people. We fleshed out a couple projects that … we did not know they were here, and we’re still being contacted by projects right now.”
