Archer County · Wichita County · Wichita Falls
Where the Project Raptor data center stands right now, and what we do about it. Neighbor-run, sourced to public documents.
Where it stands
ERCOT, PUCT, TCEQ, dBA: what the acronyms mean
The most important thing on this site. A great deal of energy gets spent fighting decisions that are already made. Here is where a citizen's voice still lands.
Google states plainly that power delivery is subject to ERCOT approval. On Aug 20 the PUCT granted ERCOT's request to put its Batch Zero study on hold while it verifies what large load developers told it, as the Governor ordered on Aug 3. The Commission found good cause to let ERCOT complete and report the audit before continuing Batch Zero.
On Sept 3 ERCOT sent each utility a conditional classification for its large loads. Statewide, 362 loads are conditionally in the study (about 192 GW), 373 are out (about 302 GW), and 9 are in only if the PUCT grants a future exception. ERCOT did not name projects, so whether Project Raptor is in, out, or waiting is not public. Developers who were excluded can dispute it. Verification answers from included projects were due Sept 23, each with a notarized attestation.
ERCOT files its verification report on Dec 10, and the PUCT takes it up at its Dec 17 open meeting. That is the next point where a resident's comment lands. Without megawatts there is no data center, which keeps this the single largest variable in the project.
Official record PUCT Order Granting Good Cause Exceptions, Project No. 59142, Aug 20 2026. Primary ERCOT update filed in Project No. 59142, Sept 11 2026 (classification totals, RFI deadlines, Dec 10 and Dec 17 dates). ERCOT market notice M-A080326-01, Aug 3 2026. Power-delivery language from the Project Raptor FAQ. All mirrored on our documents page.
Plan to file a short comment in PUCT Project No. 59142 after ERCOT's Dec 10 reports come out and before the Dec 17 meeting. Say you live here and ask that Project Raptor's verification results and community impact answers be made public. Meanwhile, ask Rep. Frank's office to find out where the Three Way Road load was classified. Filing instructions · Finding out where Raptor landed.
Separate from the verification audit, ERCOT is sending about 130 questions to 461 data center projects that are not yet connected: 247 Batch Zero large loads and 214 medium loads (25 to 75 MW). The questions cover financial assistance, power self-sufficiency, water and cooling, community impact, and ownership. Each developer signs a notarized attestation.
ERCOT expected to send it the week of Sept 14, with answers due in mid-October. ERCOT will file a community impact report on Dec 10, give the PUCT and the Governor a list of developers who did not respond, and says the report may inform legislative action. Energized data centers do not receive it, and it goes only to large loads that were conditionally included in Batch Zero, so whether Raptor's developer is asked depends on the classification above.
Primary ERCOT update filed in PUCT Project No. 59142, Sept 11 2026. We do not yet know whether individual answers will be public. The report may present them only in aggregate.
When ERCOT posts the question list, read it and tell us which answers matter most to you. Those become the specific disclosures we ask for in the Dec 17 comments and from our legislators. Details.
The plan is to hold treated water in an evaporation pond until the state approves direct discharge to a stream. That permit has not been granted. TCEQ permits carry a formal public comment period, and some are eligible for a contested case hearing. This is the clearest procedural handle left.
Primary Project Raptor FAQ, April 28 2026, on the evaporation pond and the pending direct discharge permit. TCEQ comment and hearing procedures from agency rules.
Ask TCEQ to put you on the mailing list for any wastewater application at this site, before it is noticed. Once notice goes out the comment window is short. We are also asking Rep. Frank's office to request a public meeting in Archer County. How to do it.
A draft study with Wichita Valley Water Supply Corporation identified pump station upgrades and 9.5 miles of pipe replacement. Final results were expected in mid-2026. Who carries the long-term cost of a resized system, and what it does to capacity for existing members, is the question to press.
WVWSC is a nonprofit corporation distributing treated water to rural member households and businesses. It holds monthly board meetings and posts them at wichitavalleywater.com. If you are a member, that is a room you already have standing in.
What "air-cooled" has meant at other Google sites →
Primary Pipeline mileage, pump station upgrades and the mid-2026 timing are from the Project Raptor FAQ. WVWSC board meeting schedule from wichitavalleywater.com.
If you are a WVWSC member, attend a monthly board meeting and ask three questions: has the final hydraulic analysis come back, has any service agreement been signed, and what does this do to capacity and rates for existing members. Wichita Falls residents: ask your council what the wholesale contract permits. Details.
Data center siting, noise, water, and tax treatment are all live at the Capitol. Rep. James Frank represents House District 69 and has said this has become one of the biggest political issues across his 14 counties. The Senate Finance Committee has been taking testimony on data center tax exemptions, and the Governor's August directive signals more oversight coming. ERCOT's Dec 10 community impact report lands about a month before the 90th Legislature convenes on Jan 12, 2027.
Reported Rep. Frank's House District 69 comments as reported in April 2026. Senate Finance testimony on data center tax exemptions, July 2026.
Request an in-district meeting with Rep. Frank and our state senator this fall, before the session opens in January. What we want in statute: county authority over siting and setbacks, enforceable noise standards, and mandatory disclosure of water and power commitments. Details.
Rebuilds, deceleration lanes, and intersection work are described as pending TxDOT input. Road projects have their own public involvement process, and the county still negotiates its own road damage terms.
Primary Road improvements and the "pending TxDOT input" language are from the Project Raptor FAQ. Commissioner Scarbrough's description of the reviewed plan was Reported from the May 21 2026 public session.
At the next Commissioners Court meeting, ask in open session that road use and damage terms be negotiated now rather than after the first haul truck, and ask which county permits the project triggers. Watch for TxDOT public involvement notices on FM 2224 and US 79. Details.
Voted down unanimously. Worth understanding clearly: the abatement was the county's main lever for attaching binding conditions: noise limits, clawbacks, inspection rights. Denying it kept the tax revenue and refused the invitation, but it also means there is now no county contract governing how the site operates.
Reported The June 22 2026 unanimous denial and officials' statements come from local reporting of that meeting. The application date and applicant name are also reported. The underlying vote appears in the court minutes, Official record, linked on our documents page.
The abatement vote is over and we are not asking anyone to reopen it. Because no county contract now governs how this site operates, we are asking the Commissioners Court for a standing open-session agenda item: "Project Raptor status update." It costs the court nothing and it is fully within its power. Details.
Texas counties generally cannot zone unincorporated land. The Archer County Attorney has stated the county cannot impose a moratorium and that one would not stop construction. Petitioning the county to "just say no" asks for something it cannot legally do.
Reported The Archer County Attorney's statement that the county cannot impose a moratorium was made in open session and reported in May 2026. The general absence of county zoning authority over unincorporated land is Texas statute.
Please do not petition the county for a moratorium or for zoning. It cannot legally deliver either, and the request gives everyone an easy reason to dismiss us. If you were going to spend an afternoon on this, spend it on the PUCT comment or the water board instead.
Our position
Short enough that any one of us can say it from the podium without notes.
Secondary These are our positions, not findings. The 65 dBA design target they respond to is Primary, from the Project Raptor FAQ.
The plan
Sorted by deadline, not by importance, because deadlines are what you lose. Each item names the body that decides it. If a handful of people split these up rather than all attending the same meeting, five rooms get covered instead of one.
Now through December: the grid
Primary Dates from ERCOT's Sept 11 2026 update in Project No. 59142.
Now
ERCOT sent each utility its projects' classifications on Sept 3, but the list is not public. Three ways to get the answer: ask Rep. Frank's office to request it from ERCOT or the PUCT (we have asked publicly); ask the utility that submitted the Three Way Road load; and file a Public Information Act request with the PUCT for records showing the classification. ERCOT itself is generally not covered by the Public Information Act the way state agencies are. Expect confidentiality objections, and publish any refusal along with any answer.
Rep. James Frank (HD 69) · PUCT · the interconnecting utilityWeek of Sept 14
About 130 questions on water, cooling, power, financial assistance, and ownership. Knowing exactly what developers are being asked lets us ask, precisely, for those answers about Three Way Road to be made public.
ERCOTDec 10 to Dec 17
The PUCT granted ERCOT's audit delay on Aug 20. Comments filed in August stay in the record. The next decision point is Dec 17, when the Commission takes up ERCOT's verification and community impact reports. Read the reports when they post on Dec 10, then file.
Say who you are, where you live, that a 1,000 MW request sits near your home, and ask that Project Raptor's verification results and community impact answers be made public before it moves forward. Short is fine. Filings from real residents of the affected county are the point.
How to actually file
Go to interchange.puc.texas.gov/filer and click Begin.
1. Enter control number 59142. Do not check "New Control Number."
2. Fill in your contact info.
3. Upload your comment as a PDF. Each document must be its own file.
4. Submit and save the confirmation.
Also watch 59142 before then: ERCOT has said a separate good cause request is coming for the 9 loads whose eligibility is in question. If Raptor is one of them, that filing is worth commenting on as soon as it appears.
Public Utility Commission of TexasToday
This is how we learned Batch Zero stopped. Free, at ercot.com. Also follow ERCOT's "Large Load Integration" page, where the questionnaires and user guides are posted.
ERCOTThis fall: the county and the water
Next regular meeting
Not a vote, not a moratorium. Just a recurring line on the agenda: "Project Raptor status update." It costs the court nothing, it is entirely within its power, and it converts a project we learn about from Facebook into one with a monthly public record. This is the single most winnable ask on this site.
Archer County Commissioners CourtNext regular meeting
The county cannot zone, but it does administer floodplain permits, on-site sewage facility permits, and subdivision regulations, and it negotiates its own road use and damage terms. Ask in open session which of these the project triggers, and ask that road damage terms be negotiated now rather than after the first haul truck.
Archer County Commissioners CourtMonthly
Three questions for WVWSC: has the final hydraulic analysis come back, has any service agreement been signed for this site, and what does resizing 9.5 miles of line do to capacity and rates for existing members.
WVWSC boardThis fall
The city has said it has no agreement with Google and that its role is wholesale sales only. Fine. Then ask in open session what the wholesale contract with WVWSC permits, whether it caps resale to a single industrial customer, and whether council gets a vote before that happens. Wichita Falls residents should be the ones asking this.
Wichita Falls City CouncilThis fall
Ask TCEQ's Office of the Chief Clerk to add you to the mailing list for any wastewater application at this site. When a permit is noticed the comment window is short, and a public meeting can be requested, and a request carries far more weight coming from a legislator or a group of affected residents. Line that up with Rep. Frank's office now.
TCEQThis fall
To the Archer County Clerk: the Dynamo Ventures abatement application, all correspondence between county officials and the developer or its representatives, the road improvement plans discussed May 21, and any hydraulic analysis in the county's possession. Ask the county attorney what is releasable rather than guessing. Publish what comes back, in full.
Archer County ClerkBefore January: the Legislature
Now through Jan 2027
The 90th Legislature convenes on Jan 12, 2027, and the PUCT is expected to seek expanded authority over data centers. Senate Bill 6 in 2025 already established disclosure and curtailment obligations for large loads of 75 MW and up. What we want in statute: county authority over siting and setbacks, enforceable noise standards, and mandatory disclosure of water and power commitments. Ask for a meeting in district, in the fall, not a form letter in February. Add one more ask: that ERCOT's community impact answers be published project by project, not only in aggregate.
Rep. James Frank (HD 69) · STATE SENATOROngoing
Thirty residents showed up on June 22 and the abatement died. Not a petition signature. A person in a chair. That is the only currency in this that has ever worked anywhere.
Who to call
| Who | Role | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| Randall C. Jackson | County Judge | Courthouse |
| Wade Scarbrough | Commissioner, Pct. 1 | 940-586-1315 |
| Darin Wolf | Commissioner, Pct. 2 | 940-423-6423 |
| Kendall Coleman | Commissioner, Pct. 3 | 940-631-2005 |
| Todd Herring | Commissioner, Pct. 4 | 940-583-5825 |
Primary Names and phone numbers read directly from the Archer County Commissioners Court page at co.archer.tx.us.
One call from inside a precinct outweighs twenty from outside it. Say where you live, make one point, be brief and be civil. Archer County Courthouse, 100 S Center St, Archer City, TX 76351. Verify numbers against co.archer.tx.us before a call-in push.
Keeping this current
There is no list to join and nothing to sign. This is a public record, kept current by neighbors, and the only thing asked of you is to read it and check our work.
We watch five places and update this page when something moves in any of them: ERCOT market notices, filings and orders at the Public Utility Commission, the Archer County Public Notices page where agendas post 72 hours ahead, TCEQ permit notices, and the Wichita Valley Water Supply Corporation board postings.
The date at the foot of every page is when it was last reviewed. If that date is stale, assume something may have moved that we have not caught yet, and go to the source. Every one of those five is public and none of them require a login.
Found something we missed, or something we got wrong? Tell us. No name or email required.