Texas governor-elect says state will have laws to shield citizens from data centers

WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa said in a CNN interview on Thursday that the state needs to stop what it is doing with data centers until it has measures in place to protect Texans.

“We will have laws to protect Texans, and we need to stop what we are doing with data centers until we have those protections,” Hinojosa said. 

Hinojosa has rattled the state’s data center industry with a campaign pledge to halt new projects, injecting new uncertainty into one of the country’s fastest-growing markets for server warehouses worth billions of dollars.

“It is not that I hate data centers. I hate the way they are taking advantage of Texas, and that stops when I’m governor,” she said.

Texas can also have a strong working relationship with billionaire Elon Musk and his companies, but on her administration’s terms, she added.

"It cannot be just running over the people of Texas, and that’s what changes now," she said.

Musk supported Hinojosa’s Republican opponent Greg Abbott in the election and had spent $158 million to promote Texas Republican US Senate candidate Ken Paxton alone, Musk said on Wednesday. Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla are headquartered in the Lone Star State, where he is also planning a chipmaking venture.