Amazon's Texas AI data center comes with a gas plant permitted to be the country's biggest polluter
The Pecos County facility's on-site power plant is allowed to emit 33 million tons of CO2 a year, more than any other U.S. power plant, even as Amazon insists it's still on track for net-zero.
What happened: Amazon has all the permits it needs to build a huge AI data center in Pecos County, Texas, paired with its own on-site natural gas power plant called GW Ranch. The plant's 35 turbines can generate 7.65 gigawatts, and its Texas permit allows up to 33 million tons of CO2 emissions a year, more than any other power plant in the country, including the largest coal plant, according to reporting by the New York Times and tracking firm Cleanview.
Why it matters: Amazon pledged in 2019 to be carbon-neutral by 2040 and co-founded a 700-company Climate Pledge coalition. Instead, its emissions have risen every year since, up 16 percent last year alone, driven by data center construction for AI. A plant this size, even running well below its permitted ceiling, would be a major step backward for that promise, and Amazon isn't alone: Microsoft's emissions jumped 25 percent this past year for similar reasons.
How it works, plainly: Rather than draw power from Texas's already-strained grid, Amazon is paying for a dedicated gas plant built specifically to feed this one data center, at least at first. Amazon says the setup means it is paying the full cost of its own power rather than adding to grid strain, and that it plans to eventually connect to the grid and add solar and battery storage on site. Permits set a ceiling, not a promise, since plants rarely emit their full allowance, but regulators still approved unusually loose limits.
The rollout: Texas has paused approving new data center grid connections while regulators audit demand; data centers now account for 90 percent of new requests, totaling five times the state's peak electricity record. Governor Greg Abbott says Texans must come first. The Trump administration, meanwhile, is encouraging data center growth and favoring gas, oil and coal over renewables, and companies like Meta and Google are following Amazon's lead in building their own fossil-fuel power plants.