Data Centers: Daily Notes | June 11, 2026
Texas' governor calls for sweeping statewide data center regulation, Spokane moves toward a one-year freeze, and a 900-acre campus application lands in Goochland County, Virginia.
At A Glance 🔽
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott releases sweeping data center regulatory recommendations, including repealing the state's sales tax exemption.
- Spokane, WA council members introduce a one-year emergency moratorium; the vote is set for June 15.
- Goochland County, VA receives an application for "Tuckahoe Tech Park," a 900-acre, 12-building campus.
- South Strabane Township, PA adopts data center and noise ordinances with a 1,500-foot residential setback.
- Murray, KY planning commission votes to send draft data center regulations back for revisions.
- Milwaukee, WI developer insists the Midtown Walmart project is "computational research", not a data center.
- Lincoln Township, MI trustees approve a ten-month moratorium.
- Homewood, AL mayor pushes for a moratorium proactively.
- Bonner, MT residents pack a taproom meeting against Krambu's proposed data center.
- Raton, NM postpones a six-month moratorium pending legal review of its MOU with Atterix.
Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott released sweeping regulatory recommendations on data centers for the Legislature to pass in the 2027 session, including repealing the industry's sales tax exemption, which is projected to cost the state $3.2 billion in revenue over the next two years.
The PUC shall initiate action to reduce residential ratepayer transmission costs by July 31, 2026.
In addition, I pledge to work with the legislature next session to:
• Codify the PUC’s actions to require data centers to pay for their own electric infrastructure costs, resulting in lower residential ratepayer costs; and
• Ensure data centers add to Texas’ electric capacity, not just its electric demand; and
• Require that all new data centers be built with water-efficient technologies such as closedloop cooling systems; and • Require large data centers to annually report electricity and water usage data to the PUC; and
• Repeal sales tax exemptions and other outdated or unnecessary incentives for data centers; and
• Require data centers to reduce impacts on local communities by implementing best practices such as setbacks, noise-reduction technology, and other measures that take into account the concerns of neighbors.
Greg Abbott, Governor Abbott’s full letter to Chairman Gleeson and CEO Vegas
In a letter to state regulators, Abbott called for requiring new facilities to add power generation to the grid, pay their own interconnection and infrastructure costs, use closed-loop water systems, report electricity and water use annually, and meet best-practice standards on issues like noise. He also directed the Public Utility Commission to require data centers to pay for all of their electric infrastructure costs and to initiate action reducing residential transmission costs by July 31. The PUC and ERCOT owe him a joint memo by July 17.
Spokane, Washington
Three Spokane City Council members introduced an emergency ordinance that would stop the city from accepting or approving building permit applications for data centers for one year. A public hearing and council vote is set for Monday, June 15.
The push follows the revelation that Avista is negotiating with an unnamed developer over a data center that would draw 125 megawatts starting in 2029 and ramp to 500 megawatts by 2032, roughly half of all the power Spokane County consumes.
Avista disclosed the project to shareholders on a May 5 earnings call and signed a nonbinding MOU with the developer on May 31, but the public didn't learn the large load was a data center until June 9.
Goochland County, Virginia
Denver-based Tract submitted an initial application for Tuckahoe Technology Park, a multi-phase data center campus on nearly 900 acres, the first project proposed under the county's technology overlay district adopted in November.
Conceptual plans show 12 data center buildings across seven development areas just west of West Creek Business Park. Most buildings would stand 60 feet tall, with one area allowed up to 80 feet behind minimum 500-foot setbacks from residential and agricultural land. Tract projects $400 million in real property tax revenue and more than $600 million in personal property tax revenue over the first 20 years, $3 billion in construction, and 350 permanent jobs.
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The site sits in the "TOD West" zone, so the project needs a conditional-use permit and public hearing. The application comes weeks after Hanover County supervisors rejected Tract's Mountain Road Technology Park in a 4-3 vote.
South Strabane Township, Pennsylvania
The South Strabane Township Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a pair of ordinances governing data center development plus noise and dust, ending more than six months of public outcry.
More than 70 people attended the standing-room-only hearing, where 28 attendees spoke for just under two hours. The centerpiece is a 1,500-foot setback from any occupied residence, which the township solicitor described as among the largest in any Pennsylvania municipal ordinance. The setback leaves just 651 of the roughly 1,400 acres at the Zediker Station Road property available for data center use.
An attorney for landowner CNX Resources asked the board to cut the setback to 1,000 feet; supervisors kept it at 1,500, matching the township's existing setback for oil and gas pads. A third ordinance governing fossil fuel power generation is being drafted.
Murray, Kentucky
The Murray Planning Commission voted to send its draft data center regulations back for revisions after a standing-room-only public hearing where more than 20 speakers said the rules don't go far enough.
The draft would limit data centers to industrial zones, require them to sit at least 1,500 feet from homes and schools, and cap allowable noise. Several speakers urged a moratorium instead, but the commission lacks that authority, and Mayor Bob Rogers said the city council is unlikely to attempt one because it would probably be thrown out. The commission meets again June 23 to review revisions, and another public hearing could follow.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The co-owner of the Midtown Center Walmart redevelopment is pushing back on the idea that its computing component is anything like the data centers drawing opposition elsewhere in Wisconsin, as a crowd of about 100 attended a contentious open house at the vacant store.
The plan combines a relocated library branch, city offices, 89,000 square feet of self-storage, 200 affordable apartments, and a 19,000-square-foot "computational research" facility in the rear of the 158,000-square-foot building. Co-owner Trent Overhue says the facility would run a roughly 7-megawatt IT load (nine to ten megawatts total) with closed-loop cooling, and its first tenant would be in medical research. An initial zoning review set for May was canceled over concerns about the computing component.
Lincoln Township, Michigan
The Lincoln Township Board of Trustees approved a ten-month moratorium on data centers while the planning commission works toward an ordinance to govern them.
The planning commission recommended the pause at its first meeting on the issue, giving it time to finish researching noise, water consumption, electrical demand, and impacts on the community's natural character. Trustees pointed to complaints from Dowagiac residents about a hyperscale data center there as opposition to large-scale facilities mounts across Michigan.
Homewood, Alabama
June 10, 2026
On Youtube: Homewood Pre-Council Meeting - June 8, 2026, 0:39:12
No developer has approached the city, but Andress wants zoning protections settled first, pointing to noise, utility consumption, cooling, and chemicals in the water as issues Homewood needs to understand. At just eight square miles, she said, any development would affect nearly everyone in the city. The council first addressed possible regulations Monday, and Andress expects a moratorium to come up at the next council meeting on June 22.
Bonner, Montana
A packed meeting at the KettleHouse Taproom in Bonner showed local opposition to a data center proposed by Idaho-based Krambu.
Missoula Neighbors United organized the event and presented its case against the project, pointing to concerns about pollution, strain on the electric grid, and what it described as inconsistencies in Krambu's application. Organizer Paul Barmore said he hopes Missoula County adopts moratoriums on any new data center development.
Final approval is set to go before the Missoula County Consolidated Land Use Board, which has not yet scheduled its next hearing on the proposal.
Raton, New Mexico
Item 6H on Agenda: Resolution 2026-29: Declaring a Temporary Moratorium...
Raton commissioners postponed a proposed six-month moratorium on issuing business licenses or zoning approvals for data centers.
On Youtube: Raton City Commission Regular Meeting for June 9, 2026, 13:35
The resolution was meant to give commissioners time to develop an ordinance regulating the facilities. Though they initially seemed supportive, commissioners held off pending more information from attorneys because of the city's current MOU with Atterix.
City Manager Segotta said the city will keep working on data center ordinances despite the postponement, and commissioners plan a workshop before their next meeting on June 23.
📱 Social Buzz
A Texas pro-data center organization has popped up but their website has Virginia branding on it. pic.twitter.com/KzOVoZPgAD
— Tony Ortiz (Current Revolt) (@CurrentRevolt) June 10, 2026
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