Core Scientific presents 285 MW data center plan; residents press county on water, power and emergency response

Core Scientific representatives told the Hunt County Commissioners Court on March 24 that the company is proposing a roughly 285-megawatt compute campus on about 70 acres south of I-30 and east of Cache. Carol Haynes, the company’s senior vice president for power and policy, said the site sits near existing substations and that the project has an interconnection expected to start service in 2027.

Why it matters: Residents and several commissioners raised sustained concerns that a large data center could strain local water supplies, change drainage patterns and require training and equipment for volunteer fire departments. The company said it would fund required electrical infrastructure and take part in community engagement and training but could not yet supply final civil plans.

Haynes described cooling at modern facilities as “closed loop” and non‑evaporative and told the court, “our daily average use is equivalent to a super Walmart,” adding the majority of daily water would serve restrooms and employee amenities rather than evaporative cooling systems. She said Core Scientific has funded roughly $33 million in electrical infrastructure in the area and estimated long-term capital investment in the county could exceed $4 billion, with about 150 permanent skilled jobs at full build-out.

Residents pressed for specifics on water and power. Several commenters and e‑mailed submissions cited regional water‑plan concerns and the county’s documented long‑term unmet water needs; Susan Partridge Mets, a precinct resident, told the court, “A high consumption industrial facility like a data center threatens the reliability of our water supply and our local agricultural economy.”

County staff and engineers asked technical questions about the cooling systems, initial water fills and stormwater management. Shannon McCall of Tios Engineers explained the planned closed‑loop chiller approach: the site’s glycol/water loop is intended to be filled once and maintained, with routine sampling and no routine drain-and-replace cycle. “We don’t change out the water. We sample it, we test it, make sure it’s still conducting heat, but we don’t ever have to replace it,” McCall said.

Emergency response, noise and emissions were not settled in the meeting. Commissioners asked whether volunteer fire departments would have the training and equipment needed to respond to battery‑storage or generator incidents. Haynes and the engineering team said Core Scientific will meet with local emergency responders, discuss backup fire suppression and consider funding or training help where needed. On noise, Haynes presented examples from other sites and said perimeter noise was expected to fall in the 40–60 dB range (a soft whisper to conversational level), with the company open to landscaping and other mitigation that could lower sound levels.

On power, company officials said the project team worked with the utility and ERCOT/PUC processes; Haynes said “URKT and the utility companies did in fact complete grid reliability studies…in 2024.” She added that in emergencies projects with backup generation often participate in grid programs and can be asked to reduce or suspend consumption if needed.

What’s next: Core Scientific committed to host evening town halls within weeks and to provide more-detailed civil engineering and drainage plans, noise studies and documentation of utility interconnection and permitting. Commissioners said they would press for further public engagement and for documentation showing how water, drainage and emergency needs will be addressed before any permitting or plat approvals move forward.