Data Centers Are Quietly Taking Over Texas. The Pollution Could Be Catastrophic
Data Centers Are Quietly Taking Over Texas. The Pollution Could Be Catastrophic
数据中心正悄然接管德克萨斯州，其污染后果可能是灾难性的
Omaira Garcia didn’t realize life on her small ranch in Abilene, Texas, was about to change until clouds of dust—kicked up by a mysterious project next door—began to engulf her home. 奥迈拉·加西亚（Omaira Garcia）并没有意识到她在德克萨斯州阿比林（Abilene）小牧场的生活即将发生改变，直到隔壁一个神秘项目掀起的尘土开始吞没她的家。
The Air Force veteran says she found out about OpenAI’s plans to build its flagship Stargate data center directly beside her property only after construction began in the summer of 2024. Today, the site’s natural-gas-powered electrical plant sits roughly 500 yards from her house, the exhaust stacks clearly visible from her kitchen window. 这位空军退伍军人表示，直到2024年夏天施工开始后，她才得知OpenAI计划在她的房产旁建造其旗舰级“星门”（Stargate）数据中心。如今，该站点的天然气发电厂距离她的房子仅约500码，从她的厨房窗户就能清楚地看到排气烟囱。
“We weren’t given any time to understand what this impact was going to be on us,” the mother of two says through tears. “We’re trapped here.” “我们根本没有时间去了解这对我们会有什么影响，”这位两个孩子的母亲含泪说道，“我们被困在这里了。”
OpenAI did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A spokesperson for Stargate’s developer, Crusoe, says that the data center has “contributed meaningfully to the economic development” of Abilene, and its investments are “funding new fire trucks, school expansions, and road improvements across the city.” OpenAI未回应多次置评请求。星门项目的开发商Crusoe的一位发言人表示，该数据中心为阿比林的“经济发展做出了重大贡献”，其投资正在“资助全市的新消防车、学校扩建和道路改善工程”。
As President Trump seeks to fast-track AI development across the country, he has found a willing ally in Texas governor Greg Abbott, who has previously referred to the industry as the state’s “gold rush”—though his enthusiasm has recently dampened in the face of widespread opposition. 随着特朗普总统寻求在全国范围内加速人工智能发展，他找到了德克萨斯州州长格雷格·阿博特（Greg Abbott）这位志同道合的盟友。阿博特此前曾将该行业称为该州的“淘金热”，尽管面对广泛的反对，他的热情最近有所减退。
With some 300 data centers already in operation and 200 more in development, Texas could surpass Virginia as the nation’s leading data center market by 2030. Amidst the frenzy to capitalize on the AI boom, a regulatory loophole has allowed dozens of data centers like Stargate to quietly construct massive power sources that emit harmful pollutants with little to no public notice, a Floodlight investigation has found. 目前德克萨斯州已有约300个数据中心在运营，另有200个正在开发中，到2030年，德州可能超越弗吉尼亚州，成为全美领先的数据中心市场。据Floodlight的一项调查发现，在利用人工智能热潮的狂热中，一个监管漏洞使得像“星门”这样的数十个数据中心能够悄悄建造大型能源设施，并在几乎没有公众知情的情况下排放有害污染物。
Typically, before you can build a major source of new emissions, you have to get a major air permit, which includes extensive environmental reviews and engagement with the local community. But in Texas, regulators have allowed some data centers like Stargate to avoid that process by first obtaining so-called minor air permits—the kind more commonly associated with dry cleaners and autobody shops and rubber-stamped with minimal review. 通常情况下，在建设大型新排放源之前，必须获得主要空气许可证，这包括广泛的环境审查和与当地社区的沟通。但在德克萨斯州，监管机构允许像“星门”这样的一些数据中心通过首先获得所谓的“小型空气许可证”来规避这一程序——这种许可证通常与干洗店和汽车修理厂有关，且只需极少的审查即可盖章通过。
“Those lower-level permits get granted very quickly and often without the public knowing,” says Kathryn Guerra, who spent nearly four years at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) before joining the watchdog group Public Citizen. “That feels pretty intentional.” “这些低级别的许可证发放得非常快，而且往往是在公众不知情的情况下，”曾在德克萨斯州环境质量委员会（TCEQ）工作近四年，后加入监督组织“公共公民”（Public Citizen）的凯瑟琳·格拉（Kathryn Guerra）说，“这感觉相当刻意。”
These minor permits—as well as the nondisclosure agreements many developers require in their dealings with local governments and residents—are how communities like Garcia’s are left stunned when exhaust stacks pop up in their backyards. 这些小型许可证，以及许多开发商在与地方政府和居民打交道时要求的保密协议，正是像加西亚这样的社区在后院突然出现排气烟囱时感到震惊的原因。
Stargate was first announced in January 2025 as part of a $500 billion joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle to construct hyperscale AI data centers across the country. Construction was already well underway in Abilene. The 1,100-acre campus, along with its 360-megawatt onsite gas plant, were among the first hyperscale AI data centers to break ground in Texas. “星门”项目于2025年1月首次宣布，是OpenAI、软银和甲骨文之间5000亿美元合资项目的一部分，旨在全国范围内建设超大规模人工智能数据中心。阿比林的施工早已如火如荼。这个占地1100英亩的园区及其360兆瓦的现场天然气发电厂，是德克萨斯州首批动工的超大规模人工智能数据中心之一。
A wave of similar proposals has since made the state ground zero for the AI-driven build-out of fossil-fuel power plants across the US. Lured by prolific gas reserves and an industry-friendly government, AI companies have flocked to Texas seeking to construct what researchers call a “shadow grid” of custom-built power plants capable of fueling entire cities. 此后，一波类似的提案使该州成为全美人工智能驱动的化石燃料发电厂建设的“震中”。在丰富的天然气储量和对行业友好的政府吸引下，人工智能公司纷纷涌向德克萨斯州，试图构建研究人员所称的“影子电网”——即能够为整个城市供电的定制发电厂。
“You haven’t seen anything like that since the fracking boom,” says Jenny Martos, a researcher at Global Energy Monitor, a nonprofit that tracks energy infrastructures worldwide. Martos found that Texas has put more than 80 gigawatts of new gas plants into its construction pipeline, making it second only to China. Roughly half that capacity is reserved for data centers. “自水力压裂热潮以来，你从未见过这样的景象，”全球能源监测（Global Energy Monitor）的研究员珍妮·马托斯（Jenny Martos）说，该非营利组织负责追踪全球能源基础设施。马托斯发现，德克萨斯州已将超过80吉瓦的新天然气发电厂纳入建设规划，规模仅次于中国。其中约一半的产能是为数据中心预留的。
Martos describes the trend as “enormous” and says it risks “locking in fossil fuel for the foreseeable future.” 马托斯将这一趋势描述为“巨大的”，并表示这有可能会“在可预见的未来锁定化石燃料的使用”。
Including Stargate’s Abilene campus, at least 15 gas plants tied to data centers are planned for Texas, according to research by energy analytics firm Cleanview released last month. Permits reviewed by Floodlight show that nine of them combined could emit more than 130 million tons of greenhouse gases every year. That’s equivalent to the annual emissions of 35 coal-fired power plants, according to an Environmental Protection Agency calculator. 根据能源分析公司Cleanview上个月发布的研究，包括“星门”的阿比林园区在内，德克萨斯州至少有15座与数据中心挂钩的天然气发电厂正在规划中。Floodlight审查的许可证显示，其中9座发电厂每年合计可能排放超过1.3亿吨温室气体。根据美国环境保护署的计算器，这相当于35座燃煤电厂的年排放量。
While actual emissions are usually lower than estimates, the impact on the climate could still be enormous: If completed, these nine plants have the potential to emit more annual greenhouse gases than most countries do—even if emissions end up being half of what’s permitted. 虽然实际排放量通常低于估算值，但对气候的影响仍然可能是巨大的：如果建成，这9座发电厂每年排放的温室气体有可能超过大多数国家——即使最终排放量仅为许可额度的一半。
Despite ultimately seeking to build a gas plant that could power every home in Abilene more than 20 times over, Stargate’s developers started out much smaller on paper. In 2024, they secured permission to operate on-site power sources through minor permits known as “permits by rule” and “standard permits.” 尽管最终寻求建造的天然气发电厂足以让阿比林的每户家庭用电量翻20倍以上，但“星门”的开发商在纸面上起步时规模要小得多。2024年，他们通过被称为“规则许可”和“标准许可”的小型许可证，获得了运营现场能源的许可。
Widely understood to be used by low-level polluters across the country, these permits don’t require environmental studies, public notice, or public comment periods. Bruce Buckheit, a former EPA air enforcement chief who served under multiple Republican administrations, says state agencies typically use the permit-by-rule process “for small things that happen a lot,” like gas stations or dry cleaners, so “they don’t have to waste their time reinventing the wheel for common stuff.” 这些许可证被广泛认为是供全国低水平污染源使用的，不需要环境研究、公众通知或公众评议期。曾在多届共和党政府任职的前美国环保署空气执法主管布鲁斯·巴克海特（Bruce Buckheit）表示，州政府机构通常将“规则许可”程序用于“经常发生的小事”，如加油站或干洗店，这样“他们就不必浪费时间为常见事物重复造轮子”。
But Stargate “isn’t common stuff,” he says. Under the minor permits, Stargate’s fleet of 10 turbines and 62 backup diesel generators are currently allowed to emit more than 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases. 但他说，“星门”项目“并非寻常之事”。根据这些小型许可证，“星门”拥有的10台涡轮机和62台备用柴油发电机目前被允许排放超过160万吨的温室气体。