Google-Backed Texas Data Center Could Run on a Gas Plant Emitting 4.5 Million Tons a Year

A Texas data center with a very large gas bill

A new data center campus in Armstrong County, Texas, backed by Google investment, is being built with a power plan that includes a private natural gas plant expected to emit more than 4.5 million tons of greenhouse gases a year. That is roughly the same annual pollution as adding more than 970,000 gas-powered cars to the road, according to the state air permit application.

The project, known as the Goodnight data center campus, would also produce more annual emissions than an average coal plant, and more than 10 times the output of a typical natural gas facility. For a company that regularly talks about clean energy and climate commitments, the numbers are not exactly subtle.

Michael Thomas, founder of Cleanview and author of a new report on Google’s data center power strategy, says the project shows how the AI boom is pushing even companies with public renewable energy pledges toward fossil fuels.

Google has long been held up by environmental groups as one of the better actors in Big Tech on energy and climate. Thomas argues that the Goodnight plan suggests that the old story is getting harder to tell.

“It suggests that something is changing,” he said.

What Google says it has and has not signed up for

AI infrastructure company Crusoe began building the campus in May, according to local reporting. Then in November, Google announced a $40 billion AI investment in Texas and said it would join Crusoe to help build the Armstrong County site, which was already under construction.

The air permit application filed in January says the campus will have six buildings. The first four are planned to connect to the electric grid, while the fifth and sixth would run on the on-site gas plant.

Asked about the project, Google spokesperson Chrissy Moy said the company does not have a “contract in place” for gas power at the facility.

At the same time, a separate request filed with the Texas Public Utility Commission says the campus would include more than 900 megawatts of natural gas power and 265 megawatts of wind power. Google says it does have an “agreement” for the wind portion.

Moy also said Google is “signed on to the data center campus,” but added that “a permit for an energy project doesn't necessarily confirm contracted energy plans for the data center, and isn't mutually exclusive to other energy sources.”

Why data center builders are turning to their own power

The Google-backed project is part of a broader shift in how data centers are getting electricity. As developers face long waits to connect to the grid and growing concern about higher power bills for everyone else, many are choosing to build their own electricity supply instead. The industry term is behind-the-meter power, which means the project generates its own electricity rather than depending entirely on the local grid.

For these builds, natural gas has become the preferred option. A January report from nonprofit Global Energy Monitor found that nearly 100 gigawatts of natural-gas-fired capacity is now in development across the United States for data centers alone.

Thomas says that speed is driving the trend.

“It’s important to note how novel this is,” he said. “This is not something that any business was doing up until a year ago or so, and now it is so popular. The speed is so much better than waiting for the grid.”

This one is not even the biggest

The Goodnight campus is large, but it is not the biggest gas project being planned for data centers in the United States. Global Energy Monitor says at least 15 projects under development are larger.

Some of the biggest projects have not yet filed air permits, so their emissions are still unknown. But the figures that have been released are already eye-watering.

OpenAI and Oracle’s Project Jupiter in New Mexico, according to its air permit application, could emit 14 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, more than three times the Goodnight campus estimate. Crusoe is also developing multiple other Texas projects as part of the massive Stargate campus. One of those gas projects would emit almost 8 million tons of greenhouse gases, according to state permit filings.

Crusoe cofounder and president Cully Cavness defended the approach in a statement to WIRED.

“Grid growth can't match AI demand, so a pragmatic 'all-of-the-above' strategy is essential, with gas as a critical bridge,” he said. “This isn't the destination; it's the foundation we build on while investing in batteries, solar, wind, and small modular nuclear reactors. We're not waiting for a carbon-free grid; we're building the path to one.”

Big Tech’s climate promises are getting awkward

Google is not the only tech company leaning harder into gas. This week, Microsoft signed a deal with Chevron to secure up to 2.5 gigawatts of gas power for a data center in West Texas.

That shift is happening while the tech industry keeps trying to talk about clean-energy progress. Google, for example, has said its data center emissions were down 12 percent in its latest sustainability report, even though the company’s overall emissions have risen nearly 50 percent over the past five years. It also continues to highlight its renewable energy commitments.

In Texas, Google’s other major AI-related project in Haskell County is being built alongside a new solar and battery storage plant, according to a company press release. Thomas has also noted that Google is developing several large behind-the-meter renewable projects.

Politics are not making this easier

The policy environment is not offering much resistance. The current administration has promoted data center expansion, downplayed greenhouse gas reporting rules, and encouraged more American natural gas production. In that setting, behind-the-meter gas projects look likely to keep moving forward, emissions consequences included.

In March, the White House brought together executives from seven major tech companies, including Google, to sign a nonbinding agreement aimed at protecting ratepayers. The companies pledged to “build, bring, or buy the new generation resources and electricity needed to satisfy their new energy demands.” Experts told WIRED the gesture was mostly symbolic, since neither the White House nor data center developers have much control over the policies that would actually lower electricity bills.

Lawmakers are starting to ask sharper questions. Just days after the White House event, three Democratic senators sent letters to several AI companies and data center developers, including xAI, OpenAI, and Meta, warning about the environmental and climate impacts of large projects. Google did not receive one of those letters, though Crusoe did over an unrelated project.

The senators, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, asked executives why they were choosing natural gas rather than renewables for these facilities.

They wrote:

“It’s well established that climate upheaval and huge economic impacts will result if we fail to limit global temperature increase to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels,”

and added:

“I would ask that you explain how your actions are consistent with this goal, and if they are not, why you don’t think that matters.”