Amazon Lays Out Its Power and Water Plan for a Data Center Beside Comanche Peak Nuclear Plant

Amazon says site preparation is underway for a planned data center campus in Somervell County next to the Comanche Peak nuclear plant. It has put in writing how it says the project will handle two major concerns for Texans: power and water.

In a statement posted Thursday on its company news site, Amazon said site preparation is underway on the campus in an unincorporated area near Glen Rose, on land owned by Vistra Corp. The company said the project is expected to support at least 550 full-time jobs "with wages well above the county average," with thousands more during construction. It did not give a dollar figure or an opening date, and said development will come in stages.

The timing puts the project squarely in the middle of a statewide argument. Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned on pausing new data centers until lawmakers act. Our earlier report, Hinojosa Promised a Ban on New Texas Data Centers Until Lawmakers Act. Here Is What Could Change in January, covered her campaign promise and the existing debate. Amazon's statement offers a project-specific set of claims to examine as lawmakers consider data center policy.

Power straight from the plant

Amazon said electricity will come from Comanche Peak through dedicated transmission lines to a substation on the campus. The company says it will be a "direct off-taker" from the plant, paying the full cost of its energy, and that the arrangement provides "a stable financial backstop for the plant's continued operation."

The company said the facility connects to the high-voltage transmission system, not to the local distribution lines that serve homes and businesses, and that its power needs will not affect reliability for other customers. Amazon also said it is "fully committed to complying with Senate Bill 6" and Texas grid reliability standards, and says it is legally required to curtail its load as directed during grid emergencies. This report has not independently assessed how those legal requirements apply to the campus.

More broadly, the company said it has enabled 40 carbon-free energy projects in Texas totaling nearly 10 gigawatts.

Water from the cooling reservoir

Amazon's statement gives these projections and descriptions of its water arrangements:

• Outside air cools the buildings about 84% of the year. Water-based cooling runs only in the hottest hours, about 16% of the time.

• Cooling water will come only from the reservoir at Comanche Creek, an industrial cooling reservoir for the nuclear plant that the company says is too salty to drink. It will be drawn under surface water rights owned by Vistra and leased to Amazon, not from groundwater or the local drinking supply.

• No new water rights will be sought. Amazon projects average annual use under 2% of Vistra's existing rights at the site, with a contracted peak allocation under 5%.

• Restroom and other domestic water will come from the Somervell County Water District, which Amazon says it coordinated with to protect residents' access.

The company also said it is putting about $3.75 million into a project with a firm called Arable to help farmers in the Brazos River Basin near Glen Rose cut groundwater use with irrigation technology, which it expects to replenish more than 330 million gallons a year once fully in place.

Backup generators and noise

Amazon said the campus will have backup generators that run "very infrequently," mostly for brief midday tests, and that they use emissions controls that the company says it field-tests as required by its environmental permits. It said it uses sound-dampening materials, equipment placement, screening and enclosures to manage noise.

What the community gets

The company listed a STEM partnership with Glen Rose ISD, a $15,000 contribution toward a joint sponsorship with Vistra of the Texas Amphitheater Performing Arts Foundation, and plans for a $100,000 to $150,000 community fund and a public meet-and-greet in 2027.

Trust, but verify

This story is based on Amazon's statement alone. Dock Line has not independently confirmed these arrangements with Vistra, the county, the water district or regulators. The projections are not findings that the project will have no impact, and a press statement is not a permit. Readers should look for the underlying water-rights and lease documents, applicable permits and grid reviews, and evidence of how costs and emergency curtailment will be handled. Somervell County residents are right to hold Amazon to its commitments.

The proposal deserves a fair hearing, not an automatic endorsement or rejection. A high-voltage connection is not the same as independence from the grid, and an existing water right does not by itself prove that additional use has no effect on others. If the promised protections hold up under scrutiny, they should count in the project's favor. Jobs and investment matter, but neighbors should not have to take assurances on faith.

Scripture tells us to be faithful stewards of what we have been given, and land and water are near the top of that list. Lawmakers weighing Hinojosa's pause should ask every builder for the same written commitments Amazon has now made, and then make sure someone checks them.