Paxton says a Brazos County data center got a letter demanding water-use reporting

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) — Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office said it sent 156 letters statewide to data center developments demanding a water-use. 32 counties were included on the list of receiving letters. Among them, Brazos County.

According to Paxton’s office, the letters demand current and accurate water-use information that was never reported to the Texas Water Development Board’s water-use survey.

But more than a week after the letters were announced, it’s still unclear who in Brazos County received one.

The Reveille AI Compute Center (RACC), under construction at the RELLIS Campus, is the only new data center development KBTX is aware of in Brazos County. RACC CEO Stephan Fabel told KBTX it wasn’t them.

KBTX has also asked the Attorney General’s office directly for a copy of one of the letters. The office has not responded to that request this week from KBTX for documentation.

That leaves an open question: If RACC didn’t receive a letter, who in Brazos County did?

A statewide pause that didn’t pause everything

The letters are the latest development in a broader state reckoning over data centers’ strain on Texas water and power supplies. Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in September to halt new data center permits while ERCOT, the Public Utility Commission and the Texas Water Development Board audit the industry’s impact.

But that pause hasn’t applied evenly across every project with ties to data centers.

Neither the RELLIS Campus nor Terafab’s chip-manufacturing project in neighboring Grimes County stopped construction under the governor’s directive.

Grimes County Judge Joe Fauth has said Terafab’s permits are unaffected because county officials classify the project as a chip-manufacturing plant rather than a data center, even though the site will include a data center to support its own operations.

KBTX is continuing to press the Attorney General’s office for answers and is working to determine whether the Texas Water Development Board can provide additional information about Brazos County’s water letter.

This story will be updated as new information becomes available.