Gov. Greg Abbott ordered Texas environmental regulators on Monday, Sept. 21, to halt all data center permits statewide, a sweeping freeze that reaches into The Woodlands, where data center infrastructure company Lancium is headquartered.

The directive, sent in a letter to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Executive Director Kelly Keel, blocks every state agency from moving forward with data center regulatory approvals. It stacks on top of an Aug. 3 moratorium that already froze new grid connections through the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

"Simply put, Texans must come first," Abbott said in a statement accompanying the order. "Data centers must pay their own way, protect our grid and water, and complete the ERCOT and TWDB audits."

Lancium, which designs and operates gigawatt-scale AI data center campuses, has 4 gigawatts of capacity under lease and a development pipeline exceeding 15 gigawatts. The company announced a strategic partnership and investment from NVIDIA on Aug. 24. Lancium has not publicly addressed how the permit freeze affects its operations.

More than 470 gigawatts of data center and large-energy-user projects sat in the ERCOT connection queue as of early August, according to a Reuters report carried by KFGO. That is more than five times the state's peak electricity demand. Abbott said on Aug. 20 that his earlier directive had already stalled up to 1,800 projects.

CNBC reported that analysts at BloombergNEF estimated nearly 50 gigawatts of proposed capacity is at risk. That could mean upward of $8 billion in lost data center revenue by the first quarter of 2027.

Under the new order, developers must disclose projected power consumption, water use, cooling technology, neighborhood impacts including noise and traffic, tax incentives received, and ownership structure. They must also state whether they plan to generate their own electricity or draw from the ERCOT grid. Data centers that generate power on-site and do not need a grid connection are not covered by the earlier moratorium, Houston Public Media reported.

The freeze applies to new permit applications. It does not revoke approvals already granted, according to Houston Public Media.

ERCOT said the verification process for its "Batch Zero" review of roughly 300 large data center projects will not wrap up until December. Beth Garza, a former ERCOT independent market monitor, told Houston Public Media in reporting last updated Sept. 14 that she would be surprised if the industry had a clear picture of which projects could move forward by April 2027.

Abbott also signaled he will push the Legislature to eliminate financial incentives for data centers in the next session. Only 17% of the 341 data centers in Texas responded to a legally required water-use survey from the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), according to Smart Water Magazine. The maximum penalty for not responding: a $500 fine.

TCEQ must report back to the governor's office on its compliance by Oct. 19. No public statements from The Woodlands Township Board of Directors or Montgomery County Commissioners Court regarding the freeze were available as of publication.