(The Center Square) – Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday issued another directive on data center expansion, directing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to halt all permits sought by data centers until state agency audits are completed.

It’s the fourth directive he’s issued in four months related to data centers.

It was issued as many Texans continue to express widespread opposition to data centers being built across the state, citing water usage among other concerns.

“This action is consistent with my whole-of-government approach to ensure Texans’ natural resources and way of life are protected,” Abbott said. “Data center projects must cover all electrical infrastructure costs, result in lower residential electrical bills, and complete” all required state agency audits.

In June, Abbott ordered state regulators to audit data center companies prior to approving permits to ensure they “pay for their electric infrastructure instead of shifting costs onto Texas families and small businesses, reuse their own water, reduce the cost of electricity for Texans, do not disrupt residential neighborhoods to preserve Texas’ quality of life, and pay their own way and eliminate reliance on outdated taxpayer-funded incentives,” The Center Square reported.

In August, he issued his second directive ordering the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to conduct a comprehensive verification and audit of all data centers advancing through ERCOT’s interconnection process. The agencies must complete the audits before any data center project moves forward, he said.

Not soon after, dozens of companies said they would comply with his directive, The Center Square reported.

However, that wasn’t enough once Abbott learned from state regulators that not all data centers were following state law.

Earlier this month, he issued a third directive requiring data centers to follow the law, this time calling for penalties to be enforced by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). In this directive, he said data centers “appear to have committed civil and criminal violations by failing to provide” the TWDB with information about water usage as required by Texas Water Code, The Center Square reported.

He ordered the TWDB to impose legal consequences for past and future failure to comply with state law and to partner with ERCOT to obtain additional water-use information. he also required data centers to provide detailed information about their water consumption, water supply source and implementation of water-efficient technologies. Any data center project that fails to complete the audit process must be denied interconnection to the state grid, Abbott said.

“Simply put, Texans must come first,” he said. “Data centers must pay their own way, protect our grid and water, and complete the ERCOT and TWDB audits. Until they do, TCEQ will issue no permits sought by data center projects.”

In his fourth directive, Abbott ordered the TCEQ “to halt all permits sought by data centers.”

Throughout the audit process, he said, “the PUC, ERCOT, and TWDB will determine the impact of data centers upon grid reliability and security, and upon the water resources needed by our communities.”

Because the agencies need the audit information to make informed decisions, “no state agency shall move forward with regulatory approvals related to data center development until it is acquired,” he said.

As ERCOT and TWDB conduct audits, TCEQ must ensure that its permitting decisions align with his directives, including receiving sufficient information from pending audits and time to thoroughly review all proposed permits, Abbott said.

TCEQ is required to give his office an update on compliance with his directive by Oct. 19.

Abbott also said he will work with the legislature next year to eliminate financial incentives for data centers that he and the legislature created. Roughly 10 years ago, bipartisan legislation was enacted that created billions of dollars in tax breaks and other incentives to multi-million and billion-dollar data center companies. State lawmakers have also recently backtracked on their previous support for the tax breaks, The Center Square reported.

Abbott’s latest directive appears to partially fulfill a request by state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, who is challenging him in this year’s race for governor. She has called on Abbott to issue an emergency executive order to place a moratorium on all new data center development.

Under Abbott, Texas has surpassed Virginia with the greatest data center construction in the U.S., according to a Houston Business Journal analysis.