LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) – Lufkin residents packed a town hall Tuesday night, voicing concerns about a proposed AI data center planned for the old paper mill property on State Highway 103.
Angelina County Judge Keith Wright confirmed the project is in the planning phase but no deal is finalized.
READ MORE: Angelina County residents speak out against proposed AI data center
Concerned residents gathered for a town hall moderated by the Angelina County Democratic Party, bringing together a panel of experts to address growing fears about the Amp Z AI data center proposed for east Lufkin.
The biggest concern of the night was East Texas water.
“To take the water away from us and our future, to use it to produce energy for other people, to be sold elsewhere,” one resident said.
Environmental policy specialist Kris Hill said Amp Z is looking to expand to a 1.1 gigawatt data center by 2028.
“Which takes up 15 to 30 million gallons of water a day in just direct water use,” Hill said.
Hill said developers will face environmental hurdles, including Clean Air Act requirements, a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversight of any navigable waterways.
On the panel was Clayton Tucker, a candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, who said he has seen the effects of data centers on communities across Texas.
“The way that things are being done, they’re not being done well. They’re not being done carefully. We’re becoming sacrificial lambs, and that’s not OK,” Tucker said.
The defining question of the night was whether there is anything residents can do to stop the development of the center.
Wright said at the last commissioners court meeting that at least two public hearings must happen before any tax abatement deal is finalized and urged residents to call their state lawmakers.
Not every voice in the room was opposed. Former Lufkin ISD Superintendent Roy Knight said the data center could bring economic benefits to local schools.
“There’s a benefit to this. We all do our own cost-benefit analysis. Does the cost of this outweigh the benefit? You’ll have to decide that on your own,” Knight said.
Residents said they are not done fighting, and these hearings give them a chance to be heard.
No timeline exists yet for a tax abatement application from the developers. Wright said only the Texas Legislature has the authority to impose broader restrictions on data center development.
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