What residents typically worry about — and what’s accurate
When data centers are proposed in rural and small-town communities — in Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, and elsewhere — residents tend to raise the same concerns. Some of those concerns are well-founded. Some are overstated. Some are understated. This brief sorts through them honestly.
“They’ll drain our water”
Partly true. An older-design hyperscale campus using open-loop evaporative cooling can consume 3–5 million gallons of water per day — comparable to a small city. But cooling architecture is a design choice, not a given. Modern designs (hybrid wet/dry, direct-to-chip, dry-cooled) use 70% to 90% less water. The risk is real if no CBA is in place; the risk is substantially manageable if one is.
“My electric bill is going up because of them”
Partly true — and complicated. Data centers connected to ERCOT do affect statewide electricity prices over time as they push up demand. Data centers that build their own power plants behind-the-meter — as proposed in Hill County — do not directly raise your retail electricity rate. But large gas-fired plants do move regional natural gas prices, which affects the cost of gas-fired electricity statewide. The effect is real but indirect.
“They’ll ruin my property value”
It depends, and unevenly. Studies of completed data center developments are mixed. Properties immediately adjacent to a large industrial facility usually do see value pressure, especially if there is noise, exhaust plume, or view impact. Properties farther away — even within the same county — sometimes see no effect or modest gains from regional economic development. A standard CBA includes property-value protection mechanisms, but no contract can guarantee market outcomes.
“They’ll bring jobs and tax money”
True, but smaller than the marketing suggests. Hyperscale data centers create real construction jobs (hundreds, sometimes thousands) for the duration of the build. Permanent jobs are smaller — usually 50–200 per phase for the data center itself, plus 25–50 for any co-located generation. Tax revenue is substantial in absolute terms, but Texas’s data center sales tax exemption, property tax abatements, and school district recapture significantly reduce what stays local in years 1–10.
“Nobody’s been told what’s coming”
Largely accurate. Texas counties do not have zoning authority in unincorporated areas, and developers are not required to disclose plans to the county. Some counties are making an effort to slow projects down enough to establish disclosure and review processes that don’t currently exist.
“They’ll keep coming until everything is built up”
Possible — and that’s why the CBA matters. Up to eight data center projects are reportedly being scoped in Hill County. The CBA framework being developed sets out the conditions any of them must meet. If the conditions are durable and consistently applied, only the developers who can meet them will proceed. The CBA is the County’s tool to make sure the conditions don’t erode over time.
Next in this series
Lessons from oil and gas: a Texas comparison →
County Community Education Series · Prepared by Scope Technology and Manufacturing as advisor to Texas residents of unincorporated counties · May 2026