Data Centers Are Quietly Taking Over Texas. The Pollution Could Be Catastrophic

Omaira Garcia didn’t realize life on her small ranch in Abilene, Texas, was about to change until clouds of dust—kicked up by a mysterious project next door—began to engulf her home.

The Air Force veteran says she found out about OpenAI’s plans to build its flagship Stargate data center directly beside her property only after construction began in the summer of 2024. Today, the site’s natural-gas-powered electrical plant sits roughly 500 yards from her house, the exhaust stacks clearly visible from her kitchen window.

“We weren’t given any time to understand what this impact was going to be on us,” the mother of two says through tears. “We’re trapped here.”

OpenAI did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A spokesperson for Stargate’s developer, Crusoe, says that the data center has “contributed meaningfully to the economic development” of Abilene, and its investments are “funding new fire trucks, school expansions, and...

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