Amazon’s latest data center project may end up becoming the worst polluter in the U.S. — and it will be located in Texas.
The megacorporation has bought land and acquired permits in West Texas’ Pecos County for a data center campus powered by a 7.65-gigawatt natural gas power plant, the climate-focused Distilled newsletter reported Friday.
The state-issued air permit for the plant would allow it to emit 33 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to the report, or considerably more than the emissions of the nation’s largest coal-burning power plant.
Amazon’s data center project, known as GW Ranch, will be situated on 8,400 acres along Highway 18, approximately 17 miles north of Fort Stockton, according to its air permit application.
The gas power plant, being developed by Pacifico Energy, will allow the data centers to avoid relying on the Texas power grid, internal documents show. The co-location of the gas plant also enables Amazon to obtain minor air permits for its campus as a low-level polluter since it’s technically a separate entity from the plant.
However, the gas plant powering it could become the nation’s worst polluter, Distilled reports.
Permits for the plant reveal that it would use 35 turbines to generate 7.65 gigawatts of power — or roughly double the output of the biggest U.S. coal plant, which generates 3.5 gigawatts in rural Georgia.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bragged about his adoption of stringent new rules governing data center development. However, critics argue he’s also encouraged the use of colocated gas power plants as a legal loophole by encouraging the data centers to supply their own on-site power.
Amazon’s plans for Pecos County also appear to stand in sharp contrast to the company’s public commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2040 as part of its Climate Pledge. However, it remains to be seen whether Amazon — like the state of Texas — will treat the power plant like an unrelated entity in its reporting.
Pecos County is located close to beloved West Texas destinations including Marfa, Alpine and the vast wilderness of Big Bend National Park. And GW Ranch isn’t the only data center coming to the area.
In June, Microsoft announced it had partnered with Chevron to build a data center campus near the town of Pecos, roughly 30 miles west of GW Ranch. That project also will be powered by off-grid natural gas.
The paper trail connecting Amazon to GW Ranch surfaced last week when Amazon filed three construction permits to build a trio of data centers, with construction set to begin immediately.
Indeed, satellite imagery provided by Cleanview reveals that land clearing has already begun at the site.
This marks Amazon’s first project to generate its own off-grid electricity, according to Distilled. In doing so, it joins the ranks of Microsoft, Google, Meta and other “hyperscalers” going off grid with recent projects to accommodate the AI boom.
Data center developer Vantage also recently built its own colocated power plant in San Antonio to power two data centers near Alamo Ranch, raising pollution concerns from surrounding residents.
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