SpaceX’s $24 billion data center outside Texas city would circumvent moratorium

Elon Musk’s SpaceX this week revealed it plans to build a multibillion-dollar data center and gas plant in Starbase, Texas, a move that appears to circumvent a recently enacted local ban on such projects.The $24 billion gas-fired power plant and supercomputing facility will be built on land in Starbase, SpaceX’s company town, just outside of Brownsville, according to a notice of a public hearing posted on Starbase’s website. The move appears to circumvent Brownsville’s ban on data centers, which went into effect earlier this month. Recommended Stories Brownsville lies under two dozen miles from Starbase. Brownsville de-annexed the land earlier this year at Musk’s request, allowing SpaceX to annex the property. SpaceX gave $220 million to Brownsville to fund water and wastewater projects in exchange for de-annexing the 444 acres. Starbase city commissioners will consider tax breaks for the new data center project at a Dec. 9 meeting.Brownsville’s 90-day moratorium on data center applications took effect last week. The move temporarily pauses data center development within the Texas city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction. The moratorium could be extended for another 90 days.Data centers are essential for powering the technology grid and artificial intelligence, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.DATA CENTERS FACE UPHILL BATTLE WITH INCOMING DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORSThey face an uphill battle in Texas, where Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa (D-TX) has vowed to issue a ban on all data center approvals until state legislators can pass laws “to protect Texans.”In October, Hinojosa called for the proposed moratorium to last until the state legislature meets in January 2027 to pass “real protections so Texans can have a seat at the table to decide if and how data centers come into their communities.”