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The Rise Of Data Centers In DFW, Texas

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Sabbath Lounge
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Modern Conveniences

Unless you live under a rock, you have seen print and video coverage of AI data centers—all across the United States. Specifically, if you live in Texas, it has been in the news daily.

Moving to DFW, Texas

People have been flocking to Texas for years now because it still has abundant land at low prices. Everybody wants the American dream. They want to build their dream house on a little piece of land and live away from the hustle and bustle. Live everyday life but still be 30 minutes from a Home Depot. Texas has many places where you can do this.

Texas has always had wide open spaces. It is truly on the edge of the Great American West, which is known for its vast open spaces.

Rain Line

There is a rain line that runs across the United States along the 100th meridian, which runs north and South on the planet. It’s at this point where the rainfall. The amount dips below a normal level that allows easy human occupation. Once you get West of this line, which runs through the Dallas-Fort Worth area, it becomes increasingly difficult to live and sustain life because rainfall is less frequent. It often has stretches of time when temperatures soar above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Starting as early as March and raging all the way into September is commonplace with no rain in sight.

Be it that people continue to see Texas as a place where it’s conducive to business, it is conducive to freedom. And people are attracted to both of those things. This is bringing in businesses, corporations are relocating here, and the quality of life is pretty good.

The DFW Metroplex is massive and sprawling. This megalopolis covers about 75 miles by 75 miles and is larger than 38 surrounding states. Recently, my sister and her family came to visit us from Alabama, and they kept saying they were blown away that this one city or megalopolis had five points. More than a million people live in the entire State of Alabama, and it’s mind-boggling to think that more people live here than in many other states. In fact, 38 states.

Get Rich Quick

One of the things that we enjoy about Texas is that you have these pristine old ranches that dominate the. Countryside. Many of these original ranch families, unfortunately, have now sold out to other rich folks, and sometimes to developers or children who don’t care about the land and want a paycheck. Which leads to quick sales of the land, and people cash out and make millions off of a piece of land that they inherited. Big corporate entities are bankrolling this, and they’re constantly on the lookout for families. That might have a large piece of land they want to sell quickly. Recently, that has happened just north of Weatherford on Pearson Ranch Road. A piece of property came up for sale that had been in the family for a long time, and in fact, those in the area knew it was at the David McDavid Ranch. He had a car dealership in North Texas for years. His family sold it to someone else eager to develop it. We are now learning that the new owners have recently sold it to an AI data center.

When you look at this area on the map below, you can see that empty fields do not surround it. Nothing. Farmland. It has communities and houses nearby. And all of these people moved out here and decided to live in this rural part of North Texas because of the wide-open spaces, and they want to see a little Prairie. Grass blowing in the wind, they want to see. More cows than people in this area have done that for a long time. Now, a sudden shift in 2026.

Now you’re talking about the following:

  • Removing the cows
  • Wildlife
  • Wildflowers
  • Peace
  • Terraform the land
  • Pour giant slabs of concrete
  • Build Warehouses full of industrial machines that hum and make noise
  • Electrical draw (impacting us)
  • Fresh water usage

This tends to be an area with less rainfall, and we rely on groundwater for our drinking water, our livestock water, and to water our plants.

Most homes in small cities in the area drill wells into the Trinity Aquifer, which is pretty deep and vast. But one does have to wonder how long the good water will last when they start putting more straws into it. These data center straws suck out tremendously more than the average homeowner does.

The cities that surround. North Texas, including Weatherford and Azle, has recently seen some lively discussions. The citizens in both towns are now sounding the alarm and raise the flag.

People don’t want to live next to giant warehouses.
They don’t want to live next to the constant industrial hum.

Matt Cook

It’s also interesting to know who builds these. They most likely live in a quiet neighborhood away from the big city, in a large mansion with views of wildlife and a park-like setting at the front door. They will fight tooth and nail. To keep these things out of their backyard, but they’re happy to put it in your backyard because it’s not their backyard—meanwhile, the city council’s. The cities are getting paid. They’re getting kickbacks, endorsements, and their pet projects funded. And so they’ve already said yes to these projects kind of secretly behind closed doors, or we weren’t paying attention. Now that they’re starting to be built, we notice it, and we’re upset, rightfully so.

But is it too little too late?

I guess time will tell on that. My gut is that it is too late.

We waited until the deals were already done, till the wheels were already greased, and now we’re letting them know, “Hey, we don’t like this.” But I do believe we’ve made it abundantly clear that not only do we not like it, but it’s also not welcome, and please do not do any more. Do it.

Things I’ve been reading and watching to educate myself about this, and one that really caught my eye was the story of Glen Rose. They put a Bitcoin mine, and that Bitcoin mine was happily making somebody millions of dollars. With no thought to the impact that it had on the tiny rural community that it surrounded, many people there complained about 24/7 noise and hum, and it caused anxiety and some health problems. It is very concerning to think that your quality of life and way of life can be disrupted by some rich corporation or person who doesn’t seem to care because it doesn’t affect them in any way.

Urban Heat Island

One more thing to consider in all of this is that these warehouse data centers will also contribute to the heat island effect we have here in DFW. It is known that the urban heat island effect is stronger in DFW. For temperatures, uh, sometimes 5 to 10° because of all the excess concrete, the buildings, the vehicles, the engines, all of the things that make the Metroplex go also produce heat, and that added heat can increase the effect of the high pressure. A film that is always built in the summer. This Dome and this Ridge of high pressure prohibit the development of thunderstorms. You will often see thunderstorms blow up and develop all around us in the summer, and then they heat the heat Dome and split, going North and South of this heat island. Now, as we add these data centers across Texas, we are potentially disrupting the wetter weather pattern and the flow of rain across the State.

So in the end, what can we do about it?.

I write this for any of you who might be in a place where it hasn’t happened to your town yet. I encourage you to be proactive and have your city pass mandates, legislation, rules, and requirements in place. How? These plants can be built where they can be built. What sound engineering needs to be done? Below are some articles and links to them.

 I do think we continue to fight; we continue to bring it up; we continue to let our voices be heard. They do say the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I think we’re going to have to be the squeaky wheel.

Sources

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