The Texas Public Utility Commission is suing Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office in an effort to block the release of records indicating the location of data centers.
The commission cites terrorism concerns for withholding survey data that it describes as “critical infrastructure information.”
Background
In 2025, the Texas Legislature directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to collect and report data on the water use of certain industries that have an inverse relationship between energy and water usage. This included data centers and virtual currency mining facilities.
As a result, PUCT established the Energy and Water Use Survey, which was completed for the first time between April and May of 2026.
PUCT asserts that in the survey “confidential responses were provided to the Commission containing detailed critical infrastructure information,” including each facility’s physical location.
Specifically, the survey includes data fields for the county and state regional water planning area in which the data facility is located.
Upon receiving six Public Information Act (PIA) requests seeking survey responses, PUCT sought to withhold the facilities’ location data. The commission contended that such information is confidential and excepted from disclosure under the PIA in order to “protect against homeland security threats and hazards … and prevent significant criminal and terrorist attacks.”
PUCT sought a ruling from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) that would allow it to withhold the information, but in September the OAG came to a different conclusion.
The OAG reasoned in an open records letter ruling that PUCT had failed to establish that “the information identifies the technical details of particular vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to an act of terrorism,” and must therefore be disclosed.
The Lawsuit
On Monday, PUCT filed a lawsuit in the 200th District Court in Austin, asking the court to block the records from being released.
“The Attorney General’s position is not supported by the PIA or the Texas Homeland Security Act,” reads the lawsuit. “The Commission’s Privileged Information clearly falls within the exceptions to disclosure provided under the PIA, and the Attorney General’s letter rulings impermissibly require disclosure of this privileged information.”
PUCT laid out that in addition to location information, the survey reveals data concerning each facility’s load capacities, cooling infrastructure, water sources, water service provider, and more.
“This combined disclosure would give a person intending an act of terrorism or a hostile act by a foreign adversary of the United States what the released fields alone do not: the ability to select specific, high-load facilities and identify the regional transmission and distribution infrastructure and water systems on which each depends,” the suit continued.
PUCT is asking only for a declaratory judgment that such information is excepted from disclosure under the PIA.
If you or anyone you know has information regarding court cases, please contact our tip line: tips@texasscorecard.com.
