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There’s a new application sitting in the County Judge’s office, and it’s a big one. Crusoe Technologies, LLC — a Denver company — wants Leon County to carve a piece of Precinct 3 into a reinvestment zone and grant it a property tax abatement to build an AI data center campus. Multiple buildings, electrical substations, banks of backup generators. The works. They’ve put a number on it: $34 billion at full build-out. That number does a lot of heavy lifting in this application, so I read the whole thing — alongside the county’s own abatement rules — to see what we’d actually get in return. The short version: not much, and they’re asking for more than our rules allow. ...

Somewhere on a highway in Leon County right now, a camera is photographing every vehicle that passes, reading the plate, and writing down where it was and when. There are fourteen of them going up across our county — in Centerville, Buffalo, Jewett, Oakwood, Normangee, Marquez, and Leona. You didn’t vote for them. Most people don’t know they exist. And you’re paying for them. If you’re not sure what an automated license plate reader even is, start here: What Is Flock Safety and an ALPR? The short version is that these aren’t ordinary security cameras — they record everyone’s movements, not just suspects’, and they feed a nationwide network that other agencies can search. ...

About once a month somebody forwards me the same idea. Have you looked at Chapter 60? The Ag Development Districts? Couldn’t the neighbors just form one of those and keep the data center out? I have. I’ve read the whole chapter more than once, section by section. And I’ll save you the suspense: a Chapter 60 Agricultural Development District can’t stop an industrial project, can’t stop a land sale, and can’t regulate what your neighbor does with his own dirt. It was never built to. Promoting it as some kind of shield would mean handing people a tool that doesn’t do the job, and one that carries a risk most folks never see coming. ...

If you sit through enough data center meetings, you’ll hear a line like this: “Our facility uses a closed-loop cooling system. It uses about as much water as a restaurant.” That can be true. It can also be one of the most misleading things said in these meetings. The number isn’t wrong. The problem is the numbers they leave out. A data center can use almost no water at its own fence line. But it can still be the reason hundreds of millions of gallons of water get boiled away every year. It can create a steady stream of chemical wastewater that a rural county has no way to handle. And more and more often, it brings its own power plant to town. The water and the waste don’t disappear. They just move to places nobody puts on the slide. ...

Two Texas counties held their Commissioners Court meetings the same week this June. One of them trusted its residents with the details. The other handed out a list of riddles. Compare the Leon County agenda for June 8, 2026 with the Ector County agenda for June 9, 2026. Read them side by side and the difference is impossible to miss — and impossible to excuse. What Leon County tells you Here are real items, copied word-for-word from Leon County’s posted agenda: ...

Hill County has taken an important step. By passing a temporary moratorium on data center development, Hill County sent a clear message: counties do not have to sit quietly while massive industrial projects move faster than local governments can study them. Other Texas counties should follow that example now. Not someday. Not after the next legislative session. Not after every rural county has already been approached by developers, utility companies, battery storage projects, transmission planners, and tax abatement consultants. ...

Twelve active ERCOT interconnection queue projects are now lined up to land in Leon County. Every one of them will introduce new fire risk profiles to a county that still has no fire marshal.

When Process Matters More Than the Outcome Over the past several months, I pushed hard for Leon County to form a 391 Planning Commission. I believed then—and still believe—that counties need better planning tools to deal with large-scale projects and growth pressures. If you’re new to what one of these is, start here: 👉 What Is a Texas Chapter 391 Planning Committee? So recently some people have asked me a fair question: ...

Texas law does not require Leon County to accept elevated fire risk. Even without adopting a local fire code, counties retain authority to inspect, require mitigation, and contract enforcement using state-adopted fire safety standards.

One of our county commissioners recently toured a data center campus in Allen, Texas that is approximately 50 megawatts in size. I was not present for that tour, and I have only heard second-hand accounts. So rather than attributing specific statements, I want to frame this carefully: If a commissioner believes that a proposed 1,500+ megawatt data center and energy complex in Leon County would be “no big deal” based on a visit to a 50 megawatt facility, that belief is based on a flawed comparison. ...

If Leon County is going to host large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS), hyperscale data centers, or major solar projects, one thing must be non-negotiable: Developers must prove compliance with nationally recognized fire and life-safety standards before approvals, abatements, or construction proceed. These standards already exist. The question is whether Leon County will require them. This post provides: The specific national fire codes that apply to BESS and data centers Direct links so anyone can verify them A practical explanation of how enforcement works in rural counties A clarification of misinformation being spread about fire codes and small businesses Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) NFPA 855 — Installation of Stationary Energy Storage Systems NFPA 855 is the primary U.S. standard written specifically for stationary energy storage systems, including lithium-ion BESS. ...

One of the most common frustrations I hear from residents is this: “These projects just show up out of nowhere.” To be clear, the County Judge and Commissioners are following the law. Agendas are posted. Notices are made. Documents are public. The problem isn’t legality — it’s accessibility. Most residents don’t know where to look, when to look, or what matters when they do find it. That gap is what creates distrust, confusion, and anger — even when rules are technically followed. ...

I want to start by acknowledging something important. One Leon County commissioner (TJ Foley) has already come out publicly and said: He is against the data center coming here He is not in favor of granting a tax abatement But if the company were to build anyway and later request an abatement, he would reconsider in order to do what’s best for the county That kind of clarity matters. Whether people agree with him or not, it shows leadership. ...

Leon County is not facing a single project. We are facing at least four proposed data center and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, with strong indications that more could follow. That distinction matters. Why this moment is different for Leon County One large industrial project is hard enough to evaluate on its own. Multiple large industrial projects — especially when they are: power-intensive water-intensive long-lived and regionally connected …create cumulative impacts that no single agenda item or court vote can fully capture. ...

A lot of people have asked a fair question: If the county can’t legally stop a data center from being built on private land, why focus so much on the tax abatement? The short answer is this: Because the tax abatement is the most meaningful leverage the county — and the public — actually has. The county can’t “ban” a data center — but it can refuse to subsidize one In Texas, counties generally have very limited zoning authority. That means: ...