Harlingen residents urge moratorium on AI data centers, citing water, power and transparency concerns

Residents at Monday’s Harlingen City Commission meeting pressed elected officials to halt or slow consideration of AI data centers, saying the projects could strain the region’s limited water supply and local electric grid and that developers have used nondisclosure agreements that limit public information.

The commission heard a string of public comments from residents who said they had read limited material about proposed projects and were worried about long-term local impacts. Joshua Morales said he had spoken with a Cameron County mother who regularly runs brown tap water and warned the commission that the Rio Grande is the region’s shared water source. "What we allow upstream, we approve locally," Morales said, arguing that large data centers require enormous amounts of water and energy and that residents already face health and affordability challenges.

Isaac Newman, cofounder of For the People Alliance and a former city employee, called for greater transparency and said the city should not move forward with data-center approvals until it has robust evidence of net community benefit. "We do not want to see AI data centers proposed or addressed unless there is an extensive amount of evidence that shows there is a lot to gain," Newman said.

Alexis Bey asked about an apparent discrepancy in filing deadlines for citizen comments and urged that changes to public procedures be noticed well in advance. Bey also said noise, nighttime operational impacts and nondisclosure agreements used by some developers have limited residents’ ability to assess proposals. "These NDAs limit the public's ability to know what is going on," she said.

Others asked the commission to advocate that county officials avoid offering tax abatements to data-center developers and questioned whether projected local job gains (often described by developers as a few dozen technician positions) would materially benefit Harlingen.

City staff responded in part by explaining procedural matters about notice and comment deadlines and said the city is collecting information. The mayor acknowledged the community’s concerns and said staff would continue study and conversations with the city attorney about potential local ordinances or moratoria. No ordinance or moratorium was introduced during the meeting.

Next steps: commissioners did not take formal action on AI data centers at Monday’s meeting; several residents asked the commission to hold public forums and to consider a temporary moratorium while the city reviews potential resource and health impacts.