Study: Texas’ coming wave of power plants to fuel data centers will surge greenhouse gas pollution

Companies’ plans to build more than natural gas power plants across Texas to meet growing demand from data centers, artificial intelligence and other energy-hungry industries could release as much greenhouse gas pollution as 27 million automobiles spewing exhaust for a year, a new study reports.

The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) parsed through permit applications, government data and public announcements to learn that 108 new gas plants, 17 expansions of existing plants and five gas-related projects with yet-unspecified details are in the works across the Lone Star State.

Together, those projects could emit 115 million metric tons of greenhouse gases annually, the report states. While energy companies tout natural gas as a cleaner alternative to coal and oil, the total greenhouse gas release cited in the report is equivalent to pollution from 30 coal-fired power plants, according EIP’s number crunching.
“Everything is supposed to be bigger in Texas, but there’s no need to go big with gas plant pollution when there are cleaner alternatives,” Adrian Shelley, Texas director for watchdog group Public Citizen, said of EIP’s study in an emailed statement. “Texas is already No. 1 in clean energy, which helps save the electric grid and reduce consumer costs, so we should rely on clean energy to increase our supply of electricity.”

EIP’s analysis warns that tons of health-damaging pollutants also could be introduced in San Antonio and other parts of Texas that already fail to meet federal standards for ozone pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency last summer moved the San Antonio metro into the “serious nonattainment” category for its continued inability to meet current standards for ozone, a key contributor to smog.

Indeed, three of the natural gas plant projects documented in the EIP report are in the San Antonio area — the Midland Power Project, the Calpine Guadalupe Generating Station and CPS Energy’s J. K. Spruce Station, a coal plant which will be partially decommissioned with its remaining power unit switched to natural gas.

EIP’s report accuses Texas of illegally rubber-stamping permits for the construction of at least three large power plants — and potentially others — without meeting the stringent air pollution limits or public hearings required under the federal Clean Air Act.

“To meet its increasing demand for electricity, Texas should be encouraging more clean energy instead of feeding public subsidies to dirty fossil fuels,” EIP Executive Director Jen Duggan said in an emailed statement. “Texas must also immediately stop issuing illegal permits in the shadows without the stringent air pollution limits that are required by the Clean Air Act.”

Further, many of the projects documented in the study are seeking money through the Texas Energy Fund, which has set aside billions in taxpayer money for new gas power plants.

“Polluters and politicians sold Texans on the Texas Energy Fund as a solution to grid reliability. Instead, we got a taxpayer-funded blank check for wealthy energy corporations to pollute our air and avoid basic pollution protections. If the state wants to prop up these dirty power plants, we’ll be here every step of the way to hold them accountable to the Clean Air Act.”

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This article appears in Jun 12-25, 2025.