San Marcos is Texas' first incorporated city to essentially ban data centers. Sen. Paul Bettencourt, invoking the Lege's 2023 "death star" law, says this is an illegal moratorium. Others note that reconfiguring zoning laws is not a moratorium. Expect Lege wingnuts to push a new law next year, followed by ignoring the state and US constitution's prohibition on ex post facto laws, and then to go after San Marcos. This will be justified under the idea of the new law simply "clarifying" the 2023 death star bill. The story notes that some smaller cities have already followed a "lite" version of San Marcos' idea.
Then, there are cities that don't have zoning, like Alvin, mentioned in the story, and of course, Helltown. Like unincorporated areas in places like Hood County that considered incorporation to hold off either data centers or crypto-mining sites, maybe this will spark a change of mind.
Or maybe not. That Hood County incorporation election fairly soundly lost last fall. Those who voted it down will continue to bitch, continue to not look in the mirror, and continue to vote for Rethuglicans for the Lege, gov and lite gov. Once again, contra Kuff, this won't be a Democrat wedge issue, in part,
Because ...
==
Strangeabbott has called for a ban on data centers in rural areas. Treat this as a worried midterms election stunt/pledge until proven otherwise.
No comments:
Post a Comment