Topic
State and local permit processes, sequencing and approval conditions governing data center construction.
Chevron says Gov. Greg Abbott's moratorium on new data center permits could delay the investment decision on its nearly 3-gigawatt Kilby project until 2027. For one of the largest new US data center projects, the date now depends mainly on a state permit.
Reality
Executive Order 2026-05 tells the state environmental regulator to withhold data center permits until developers sign binding cost commitments and win local approval.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishersReality
Trump is telling communities that refusing data centers will leave them poor, while Abbott and Pillen have paused approvals in their own states. That gap is where the schedule risk on a project now sits.
Perspective Coverage
4 publishersReality
The September 21 directive tells Texas environmental regulators to stop all data center permits until two state audits finish. A dedicated gas plant behind the meter still needs an air permit from the same agency.
Reality
The extraordinary-relief route two environmental groups chose bought them about a month of paused proceedings at New Mexico's air and water agencies, and it ends with the air permit still undecided before a hearing officer the state has yet to name.
Reality
The agency says it is only handing minor-source permitting back to the states, and for a siting team the practical effect is that opposition arrives later, in court and at the ballot box, instead of in a hearing room.
Reality