In a 3-2 vote, the Hood County Commissioners Court rejected citizens pleas for a moratorium on data center development.
At least four data center developments are under consideration in the county. Commissioners gave conditional approval for one by Florida-based Sailfish in January.
Shortly before the vote, commissioners were notified of a public letter from state lawmakers encouraging Attorney General Ken Paxton to “investigate” any counties seeking to implement such a pause and “explore any necessary legal actions.”
“Hood County Commissioners’ Court is taking up an agenda item that would grant a data center building moratorium,” State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston) wrote in a social media post that shared the letter by himself and State Rep. Jared Patterson (R–Frisco). “The point is simply that counties don’t have the constitutional authority to issue building moratoriums.”
In their February 10 letter, the lawmakers wrote that if counties did have such power, then they would have included them in Patterson’s new state law—House Bill 2559—which regulates cities’ ability to impose similar moratoriums. Bettencourt sponsored the law in the Senate. It took effect in September 2025.
Hood County’s proposed moratorium pointed to Chapter 231, Subchapter K of the Texas Local Government Code as legal backing, stating that this law provides for the commissioners “to adopt adequate development regulations to ensure that the unincorporated areas of the County, which includes the watershed that drains into Lake Granbury and the Brazos River, will not be developed in ways that endanger and interfere with the proper use of the County as a place of recreation for residents of every part of the state to the detriment of the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare.”
Bettencourt and Patterson added that the Senate Committee on Local Government will be “closely monitoring these situations” and will, if needed, consider proposed measures to clarify “the limited jurisdiction of counties in the State of Texas and establish effective remedies for private parties that are adversely affected by any ultra vires act of a county.” Bettencourt chairs that committee.
“It’s almost like the Texas Rangers have come through both sides of the door to force a decision out of us,” Commissioner Dave Eagle (R) said after the letter was read to them in commissioners court. “You got to wonder what kind of back stuff was going on, who was behind getting a letter … I tried calling Paul Bettencourt several times. He never returned my call.”
“Ultra vires means that they’re putting everybody on notice here,” County Judge Ron Massingill (R) said. “I don’t like the way he said this.”
County Attorney Matt Mills read the letter to the commissioners after citizens testified for hours in favor of a moratorium. They expressed concerns about the effects of data centers on the county’s water supply, environment, and economy.
“Don’t turn our river into an industrial waste site for data centers,” Mary Jo Bloomquist said. “You don’t have enough water for all these data centers,” Judy Hatch said. “I want to see a comprehensive study done.”
Multiple citizens asked for the proposed six-month moratorium to give the county time to better investigate the data center developments and the companies behind them. There were additional calls for the proposed moratorium to be expanded to a year and objections to providing the data centers tax abatements. “Go for the moratorium, and as far as I’m concerned, these big corporations … they have boocoo dollars. They don’t need any abatements,” said Chris Paulson.
John Smith expressed concern about the companies building the centers. “Pacifico, Sailfish have never built a data center. They can’t really answer many questions about their projects,” he said. “Why would any top tier company want to be associated with these amateurs?”
Massingill and Commissioners Kevin Andrews (R) and Jack Wilson (R) voted against the proposed moratorium. Commissioners Eagle and Nanette Samuelson (R) voted in favor.
“There are times when you need courage,” Samuelson said.
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