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AI data centers could drive a new wave of Texas air pollution, report finds

16 31
11.06.2025

The boom in artificial intelligence (AI) risks filling Texas air with toxins, a report has found.

State regulators are considering proposals for more than 100 new gas power projects — the vast majority of them entirely new plants — to power a new wave of data centers, according to findings published early Wednesday by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).

More than 30 have already been permitted in a process that amounts to a “rubber stamp,” the EIP said.

“To meet its increasing demand for electricity, Texas should be encouraging more clean energy instead of feeding public subsidies to dirty fossil fuels,” Jen Duggan, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project, said in a statement.

The plants spread across the state but cluster around Houston, the I-35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio and the oilfields of West Texas.

If all are built, they could produce as much pollution each year as........

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