Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller announced that his office is investigating a large data center outside Amarillo after residents raised an alarm that it might deplete the region’s water supply and affect cotton production.
A Texas cotton farmer initially expressed concerns about “Project Matador,” an enormous AI data center planned outside Amarillo, on social media. The farmer warned that the well water needed to grow cotton and sustain residents could be used up.
A massive 18 million square foot data center is being planned north of Amarillo Texas along with a nuclear power plant to power it
Cotton farmer says the Texas panhandle is the largest US cotton producing region and the water needs of the data center will wipe out the industry… pic.twitter.com/QsBfwtZEGw
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) February 26, 2026
Miller replied on February 26: “I am working with congressional leaders and the White House to steer data center construction, along with wind and solar farms, away from productive agriculture lands,” Miller wrote on X. “My staff is digging in regarding this specific case. It is one of several raising these legitimate concerns throughout the state.”
Precious Resource Under Threat
The farmer expressed concern Project Matador’s cooling system would drain well water needed for cotton production and for residents to survive.
“It needs to come to a stop,” said the farmer. “Water is the most precious resource we have, and in an area where we don’t get a lot of rainfall, we rely on that water that comes from underground to grow the crops we grow, and just to sustain life.”
The center would reportedly drain from the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies the region with water, according to KVII.
Fermi America, a startup led by former Texas governor and U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Dallas billionaire Toby Neugebauer, is behind the project – aiming to build the world’s largest private energy grid, according to Politico. It would cover 18 million square feet, hosting numerous supercomputers powered by nuclear, gas, and solar plants.
Neugebauer and Perry told Politico the center would help America compete with China for AI dominance. The center would produce 11 gigawatts – or 11 billion watts – of power, according to Amarillo Tribune.
The natural gas plant alone would use roughly 1.5 to 2 billion gallons of water per year, which is enough to grow three to four sections of sweetcorn, per Amarillo Tribune.
The Amarillo City Council gave permission in October 2025 to draw 2.5 million gallons of water per day to cool computers, according to the Amarillo Globe-News.
Texas Data Center Boom
Google has announced yet another data center just southeast of Amarillo, near the small town of Claude, according to KVII. This campus would span 1,300 acres.
Unlike Project Matador, Google promised not to use water to cool its computers – instead, pursuing “advanced air-cooling technology,” according to New Atlas. The details of this technology are unclear.
Closer to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, developers have been planning massive data centers in Hood County like the 2,600-acre Comanche Circle Project.
More than 60 residents asked the Hood County Commissioners February 10 to pause new data centers, expressing concern about how they might affect local water supply and the electric grid, as The Dallas Express reported. The commissioners chose to let the projects proceed. On February 24, Hood County commissioners rejected residents’ concerns again – shooting down a second data center moratorium in a month.
Agricultural Freedom Zones
Miller announced February 25 he was partnering with Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), to back a bill establishing “agricultural freedom zones” across America, according to a press release. These voluntary zones aim to “protect prime agricultural land from irreversible conversion,” by using tax incentives to encourage development in other areas.
“Congressman Sessions has seen firsthand the dramatic impact data center expansion is having on landowners, family-run agricultural operations, and rural Texas communities,” Miller said in the release. “These facilities consume vast amounts of land and water resources that are vital to food production and our national security.”
Sessions is planning to sponsor the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“At a time of global instability and increasing competition, America cannot afford to weaken its agricultural foundation,” Sessions said in the release. “If we allow prime farmland and critical water resources to be permanently lost without a national strategy, we risk compromising our food supply and our national security.”
