COLDSPRING — Growing concern throughout the state about data centers and their impact on infrastructure and the environment has the San Jacinto County Commissioners Court looking at ways of keeping them in check.
At a Wednesday workshop regarding high-load facility site impact, commissioners discussed a resolution for creating a permitting policy, something they will present to the state Legislature in hopes of creating laws allowing the county to set parameters.
Commissioner Mark Nettuno, chairing the meeting in the absence of County Judge Fritz Faulkner, said the main focus of the proposed resolution was on data centers, but could be expanded to include more than that, such as solar farms — anything that will affect roads or the county.
Commissioner Crystal Dominy said such a resolution would give the county leverage regarding the impact centers would have, including disposal of hazardous materials, but it would not be designed to stop the creation of such centers, but to protect the taxpayers.
“It’s to make sure we don’t the costs of permitting, fire inspections and similar items,” she said. “It puts the costs squarely on the shoulders of the developers and keeps us from putting rules in place after the fact.”
Dominy said the basic resolution has been shared throughout the counties in the state in hopes of allowing counties to create policies regarding data centers and other large-scale projects, instead of the state “shoving this down our throats.”
However, Nettuno said the proposed resolution only has data centers listed, and he and Commissioner Luke Sweeney felt that was too narrow.
Dominy did say that it would be OK to create it as an industrial development policy to cover all bases.
County Engineer Mark Wood said he needs the resolution to give the county some teeth to ensure that the rules set by the county are followed.
At the regular meeting that followed, the court tabled a resolution for a little more fine-tuning; once done, it will be sent to the Legislature.
In other business handled at the regular meeting, the commissioners:
