Austin Technology Commission approves strengthened data‑center recommendations including decommissioning bond and disclosure requirements

The City of Austin Technology Commission voted unanimously May 13 to adopt a modified set of recommendations for large data‑center development and to forward the package to City Council.

The package, developed by the commission's artificial‑intelligence and public‑surveillance working groups and revised during Thursday's meeting, adds several enforcement and community‑protection measures to an existing set of guidelines. Key changes include mandatory disclosure of projected and actual water use for large facilities, a target that at least 50% of a facility's grid consumption be offset by renewable sources, language directing the city to pursue rules with "fines of sufficient magnitude," and a new requirement that developers post a decommissioning bond sized to cover site remediation and community mitigation costs.

"If there are not fines of sufficient magnitude to constitute an existential risk to any company building or running a data center, then violating our regulations and paying these fines will merely be seen as the cost of doing business," Kevin Welch, president of…