Angelina County residents call for action against AI data centers

ANGELINA COUNTY (KETK) — During a Commissioner’s Court meeting on Tuesday, Angelina County community members voiced concerns about how AI data centers entering the community could pose risks to the environment and quality of life.

In a packed courtroom on Tuesday, citizens addressed the Angelina County Commissioner’s Court while standing up to AI data centers. Including Christina Perez, whose family still lives next to the former Southland Paper Mill site, where land has already been purchased to develop an AI data center.

“Not wanting to see my childhood home turned into a battery for a machine,” Perez said.

On the other end of the debate is Bobby Tillman, a Democrat running for Texas State Senate District 3 against republican Trent Ashby. Tillman is okay with the idea of having AI data centers as long as Angelina County is protected through regulation.

“When I say restrictions, I want at least restrictions where they are safe for the environment and safe for the community,” Tillman said.

Angelina County Judge Keith Wright says the court shares the community’s concerns about how data centers could impact the area’s quality of life, but wants residents to know that county leaders don’t have the authority to stop the centers from coming in.

“We have no authority to do a moratorium or to stop any type of development in the county,” Wright said.

Wright says the only steps they can take right now are coming to terms with developers.

“The only way you can do it is in an agreement where you’re either doing a tax abatement agreement, a pilot agreement, a road use agreement,” Wright said.

Leaving residents to wonder what their future holds as their home enters the new world of technology.