Texas is ground zero for the AI industry’s massive fossil fuel build out occurring across the country. Lured by prolific gas reserves and an industry-friendly government, AI companies have flocked to the Lone Star State in droves, erecting custom-built power plants capable of fueling entire cities.  

The state has put more than 80 gigawatts of new gas power plants into its construction pipeline, more than any country besides China. Roughly half of those gas plants will provide power exclusively to data centers, according to Global Energy Monitor.  

Floodlight teamed up with PBS’ science and nature series Overview to investigate what’s really happening at OpenAI’s Stargate facility — one of the state’s largest operational data centers — and to show how the AI boom is already impacting the people who live in its backyard. 

“We’re trapped here,” said Omaira Garcia, an Air Force veteran who lives with her family directly beside Stargate in Abilene. Garcia can see the data center’s 10 gas-powered turbines from inside her home and was shocked to learn Stargate’s developers are seeking to expand their on-site power plant to a total of 51 turbines and 80 backup diesel generators.  

“I can't even begin to understand what kind of impact that's going to have on me and my health in the future,” she said.   

Floodlight and PBS also spoke with former Texas environmental regulators who said their former employer let the plant begin operations with no public input by granting it minor permits more commonly associated with laundromats and autobody shops.

“When a data center pursues these lower-level, pre-construction authorizations — that grant them the authority to begin operating with no public notice requirement and no public input or participation — that feels pretty intentional,” said Kathryn Guerra, who provided regulatory compliance assistance at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s Environmental Assistance Division before joining the watchdog group Public Citizen. 

Even with proper permits, however, Guerra said she seriously doubts her former agency is equipped to properly enforce environmental laws when it comes to the AI boom.

“The data center industry is expanding at a rate that is beyond the capability of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to sufficiently regulate,” she said.  

Watch the video above to experience life inside the wild west of the AI fossil fuel boom and see rare thermal imagery documenting pollution at one of the nation’s most high-profile data centers.