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Methodology & sources

How we find projects, how we verify them, and how to read our labels.

Our rules

  • Every fact has a link. A record needs one source we actually opened that states the fact.
  • Official first. We prefer government records (commissioners court minutes, TDLR, TCEQ, Comptroller, PUC, ERCOT) over news, and news over company press releases.
  • New projects need two independent sources, or one official record. Anything less stays an internal lead and isn't published.
  • No inference. If size, investment, jobs or water use aren't stated by a source, we leave them blank. Claims are attributed inline, e.g. "(company figure)" or "(per KXXV)".
  • Conflicts are shown, not resolved by guesswork. When sources disagree (including on which county a site is in), we list both.
  • Benefits and impacts need evidence. Jobs, tax revenue, water and power claims are shown only with a source, and attributed.
  • History is kept. When a status changes, we add a dated record and keep the earlier milestones.

Source labels

Official record

Government documents: commissioners court minutes and agendas, TDLR registrations, TCEQ permits, ERCOT and PUC filings, Comptroller records.

Company claim

What a developer, utility or tenant says in its own announcement. Useful, but not independently verified.

News report

Reporting by news outlets. We attribute figures to the outlet and prefer the underlying record when we can get it.

Third-party tracker

Other trackers and databases. Treated as leads, never as the only source for a fact.

Where we look

  • Commissioners courts: agendas and minutes (tax abatements under Tax Code Ch. 312, PILOT and development agreements, resolutions, moratorium votes). Texas counties generally can't zone unincorporated land, so these are the main local decisions.
  • TDLR TABS: commercial building registrations (owner, tenant, cost, square footage, start and completion dates). Often the earliest statewide signal.
  • TCEQ: air permits for turbines and backup generators, stormwater permits. Note the Governor's Sep 21, 2026 directive pausing data center permits.
  • ERCOT and PUC: large-load interconnection and batch studies, utility dockets.
  • Comptroller: Ch. 312 abatement registry and JETI (Ch. 403) applications.
  • Company announcements and news: used for context and attributed. Third-party trackers are leads only.

Commissioners court minutes audit

On Sep 30–Oct 1, 2026 we checked all 254 county websites for readable 2026 commissioners court minutes: 53 were readable, 10 had historical minutes only, and 191 couldn't be verified in that pass. See the county list.

Update cadence

New filings are checked daily, every proposed or approved project is re-verified weekly, and every source link is re-checked monthly. Each page shows its last-verified date.

Corrections

Email support@txdatacenterwatch.com with the page and a source link. Confirmed errors are fixed and noted on the page.