State of Texas Report on Deadly July 4th Floods

Five days ago the Texas State legislature released a report focused on the deaths at Camp Mystic.  

No governmental organization has evaluated Kerr County's disaster response to the July 4th flash flooding that killed 119 people in 2025.  Kerr County has not done so and neither has the State of Texas despite their charge:

Senate Resolution 2 includes:

House Resolution 177 is even more specific as to its charge:

The report indicates a flash flood warning was issued at 1:14 am on July 4, 2025 and that should have triggered a Kerr County response, per their disaster plan.

Local authorities did not respond per their plan.  A headline from August 1, 2025 leads the graphic below which includes text from the State Legislative report underneath.

The state report does not include any efforts made by local 911 operators and public safety officials to reach responsible Kerr County officials, the county judge, county sheriff and emergency management coordinator.  

Camp Mystic warranted a timeline, maps and pictures but Kerr County did not.

It remains to be seen if the Joint Legislative Committee's work is done or if they will tackle Kerr County directly with maps showing the 119 deaths, the specific actions taken by local 911 operators to mobilize an official disaster response via a timeline and any supporting audiovisuals.

Someone needs to evaluate Kerr County's response, otherwise the most basic responsibility of disaster planning/management will be abdicated.  That's evaluating what actually happened.

July 4th 2025 Texas Floods: So Much Loss & So Little Information

Vanity Fair ran a timely story on last year's flash flood in the Texas Hill County.  It's a disaster where some public officials clearly failed to prepare, to effectively respond and to take proper account for their actions/non-actions.  

On June 3rd Kerr County's Assistant County Attorney responded to my public information request for documents indicating the county evaluated their disaster response to the July 4th flooding that killed 139 people, 119 in Kerr County.   His message is below:

On May 28, 2026, Kerr County received via email a request from you pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act (TPIA), Chapter 552 of the Texas Government Code. Your request states: 

Please provide copies of any disaster evaluation/ after action report regarding Kerr County's emergency management response on July 4, 2025. This request is being submitted for all County Commissioners, all department heads (including Information Technology) and the County Attorney’s Office. 

In partial response, Kerr County has completed its search for records responsive to your request for the Sheriff’s Office, all County Commissioners, Information Technology, Road & Bridge, Engineering, and the County Attorney’s Office. 

After a diligent search of files, records, and information systems reasonably likely to contain responsive materials, these departments and/or department heads have no records responsive to your request. 

We will provide you with an updated response once all other departments have concluded their searches for responsive documents. 

Notice of Obligations Under the Act, a governmental body is not required to create new information, perform legal research, or answer questions in response to a request. A governmental body is only required to provide information that is already in existence at the time the request is received. (See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. Nos. JM-672 (1987), OR2014-04746). 

Status As no responsive records exist in these offices and/or maintained by these department heads, those departments consider this request fulfilled and closed.

Last fall I'd submitted a public information request for documents indicating Kerr County's conducting disaster drills under the tenure of Emergency Management Coordinator William "Dub" Thomas.  That request also had no records responsive to the request.

Kerr County did not drill for a flash flood disaster and it did not evaluate its response to the deadly July 4th flash flood event.  These are basic competencies in the disaster response world.  

I await Kerr County's response from all other departments and reached out to the Assistant County Attorney several days ago.  He may not have appreciated my question on June 3rd:

As Assistant County Attorney do you find it odd that your organization never conducted a review of its response for the flash flood disaster that occurred on 7-4-25?

There is another oddity, the strange way Kerr County does not have one public information official but one per County Department and County Commissioner.  I learned this when I submitted the May 28, 2026 public information request.  

Kerr County does not have a general county-wide TPIA officer, but rather each elected official and department maintains their own TPIA officer. Please clarify to which department or elected official that you are directing this TPIA request. Please be aware that if we do not receive a written response from you within 61 days, then this request will be deemed withdrawn.

The Texas Attorney General's Office under Ken Paxton shows "no results" for Kerr County in their Public Information Coordinator database.

Local elected officials and County staff were charged with and paid to effectively respond when disasters strike.  That did not happen.  

What the County failed to provide, Vanity Fair did:

Around 2:50 a.m. on July 4, a two-dispatcher team at the Kerr­ville 911 center started getting calls for help. Between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., recordings show that they apparently received 106 frantic life-or-death pleas for rescue. 

The NWS has since released a detailed summary of the night of the floods. The report states that the Austin/San Antonio Weather Forecast Office (WFO) tried calling the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office and the Kerr County emergency coordinator around 3:40 a.m., two and a half hours after the first flash flood warning. (Neither the sheriff nor the emergency management coordinator, who announced his retirement in March, responded to a request for comment.) 

The sheriff didn’t receive a call until 4:20 and didn’t arrive at the sheriff’s office until around 5 a.m. The emergency management coordinator was woken up by his wife around 5:30 a.m.; the WFO couldn’t reach him until 6:19 a.m.

The State of Texas knows exactly what happened as it took over the response effort.  There already is a report card, 119 Kerr County deaths and 139 overall.  

It's hard to see where there has been any accountability for local officials who failed their constituents.  

The State of Texas floods and it tends to flood more in El Nino years.  We enter this potential flood season with a black mark, a significant deficiency, haunted by ineffectiveness and incompetence of the people charged with intervening on our behalf and state officials charged with holding them accountable.

Update 6-18-26:  Several more departments indicated they had no documents relative to a disaster response evaluation or after action report.  The Assistant County Attorney did include a press release on their new siren warning system which states:  

"We are ready to do our part in Emergency Management."

Your part was accounting for Kerr County's action/inaction on July 4, 2025.  It remains unfulfilled.  

Update 6-19-26:  HR and the Auditor had no documents relative to Kerr County's disaster response on July 4, 2025.  Were all departments ordered not to document their actions that day?

Is anyone else puzzled by this level of complexity and inefficiency for something that is a basic in the disaster preparedness/response world?  Surely, deputies were dispatched to the homes of the County Judge, Sheriff and Emergency Management Coordinator early that morning.

"Sirens" will save us.  San Angelo relied on emergency warning sirens for decades.  Maintenance was an issue.  Eighty mile an hour winds impact the way sound carries while having a roar of their own.

If no one is there to activate the siren, what good is it?  Kerr County officials had access to a perfectly good warning system.  They simply did not use it.  

Update 6-22-26:  Add a County Constable and District Clerk to the list of Kerr County departments that did not conduct an evaluation of their disaster response on July 4, 2025.  

Texas Highways reported:

“A big flood is coming,” Scott Towery told the 911 dispatcher from the Kerr County Sheriff’s office at 2:52 a.m. on July 4, 2025. The electronic rain gauge in the River Inn Resort and Conference Center apartment where Towery lives with his wife, Connie, read 5 1/2 inches. He walked out on the deck and saw water 4 feet over the dam. He spoke plainly, “I just wanted to alert y’all.”

 The State of Texas issued their report on the July 4th flash flood.  It goes light on Kerr County's "emergency response."  There is a section on responsibilities but no real evaluation of how the county responded per their emergency preparedness plan to the life threatening flash flood warning on July 4, 2025.  

The plan indicates the following responsibilities in such a case:

"notifying the public about the warning, evacuating low-lying areas, open[ing] shelters to house evacuees, and continuous situation monitoring"

Camp Mystic warranted a timeline in the state report but Kerr County did not even though it was the governmental entity charged with disaster planning/ response and local emergency response.  

Vanity Fair and Texas Highways shared more than the state did about efforts to contact Kerr County officials and information shared with local 911 operators.  

Update 6-23-26:  ABC News shared a timeline of of the flash flood disaster that killed 119 people and did so on August 1. 2025.  KXAN did likewise regarding the National Weather Service's efforts to contact Kerr County officials to mobilize an urgently needed disaster response.

Shannon Dropping Humana Medicare Advantage

A Shannon MyChart message from CEO Shane Plymell informed me that Shannon Medical Center would no longer participate in Humana Medicare Advantage come June 30, 2026.  

When I look at Humana paperwork (EOBs) showing what little they actually paid for my care, I understand why Shannon would make such a decision.  

Medicare allows me to switch insurance companies in such a situation.  I wanted to know which insurers Shannon accepts in the Medicare Advantage arena and when those contracts expire.  I was told that information is not available.  

I asked that my request be shared with decision makers, simply that someone asked for that information.  The answer?  That's not possible.  One might expect an organization focused on "patient centered" care to at least pass on a patient request.  

Medicare informed me that Shannon accepts Medicare Advantage plans from United Healthcare and Blue Cross/Blue Shield, but could not tell me how long that might last.

Humana is yet to inform me of their looming nonparticipation with my healthcare provider.  

We are in the age of information and no one wants to share.  

Letter to San Angelo City Council re: Data Centers

June 2, 2026

Dear Mayor and Members of City Council,

In December 2025 I filed a public information request re: incentives and subsidies for the Skybox Data Center. It remains with the Texas Attorney General’s office.

The City has partnered with Skybox and its developer, Emergent Data Centers, since early 2025. This “exceptional municipal partnership built for speed”, Emergent’s promotional description, strangely has no documents associated with it from the city side.

Emergent CEO Chris Sumter informed the audience at the April public meeting that he has developed numerous data centers and sold them (making handsome profits). He named several private equity firms, which I will generally refer to as the Lords of Capital for the remainder of this letter. The Lords desire big profits and frequently need public subsidies for those to occur.

A data center power generation project outside of Pecos. Texas is “contingent upon several forms of economic development” to achieve the project’s “attractive returns.” It’s called a hurdle rate and the Lords don’t provide capital funding unless that is achieved.

The economic development agreement with Skybox is under negotiation. Skybox won’t go ahead with the project without ERCOT approval and a committed tenant. Financing for the project depends on those as well. That means three different hurdle rates need to be met, Skybox’s, the tenant’s and the Lords of Capital’s. Blue Owl financed a number of prior Skybox projects.

Time will reveal if there are local incentives or subsidies for Skybox on top of massive State tax breaks. Whoever is negotiating the 380 economic development agreement should have some idea as to the types and size of incentives offered by other Texas communities. The City researched data center zoning and shared that with citizens. It is yet to do so re: incentives.

The tenant gets a state sales tax break on the expensive hardware and many building systems it needs to operate their data center.

https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/data-centers/ 

The following items, if necessary and essential to the operation of a qualifying large data center project, are eligible for the exemption when purchased by a qualifying owner, operator or occupant: 

• electricity;* 

• an electrical system; 

• a cooling system; 

• an emergency generator; 

• hardware or a distributed mainframe computer or server; 

• a data storage device; 

• network connectivity equipment; 

• a rack, cabinet and raised floor system; 

• a peripheral component or system; 

• software; 

• a mechanical, electrical or plumbing system that is necessary to operate any tangible personal property described above; 

• any other item of equipment or system necessary to operate any tangible personal property described above, including a fixture; and 

• a component part of any tangible personal property described above.

Predatory TechGods will occupy this data center. Will it be Meta who allowed child sexual predators seventeen strikes before banning them?  Will it be Microsoft who plotted to make its AI more addictive?

High hurdle rate on profits, low propensity to protect children, tech offerings designed to maximize addiction – these are the organizations you are inviting to set up in San Angelo proper. 

Once the three hurdles are achieved, this project will flood forth as a fait accompli. It will come down from Twin Mountain as a divine offering from the Lords of Capital and their TechGod occupant. And in five years or less it will be sold or refinanced, because that is the real business going on here, the buying and selling of companies. 

It is not unheard of for the Lords of Capital to abandon their liege, to walk away, to not throw good money after bad, to hand the keys back to creditors (who may or may not want them). Thus, the City should be prepared to take possession of such a building. 

It wouldn’t be the first time something with great promise did not pan out. Does anyone remember MedHab, former Mayor Alvin New’s investment and future creator of some 400 San Angelo jobs? That future never arrived. 

Just as the city funds the closure of a landfill cell, it should consider setting aside money to safely manage down the facility and its contents, should both the developer and TechGod occupant walk away. 

As an over twenty year resident of District #1, I currently reside in a community just outside Tom Green County. It happens to be in the impact zone of the proposed Beacon Data Center in Dove Creek. Our water and electricity will be directly impacted and air quality will depend on the wind direction.

We have solar power with battery backup, installed after Winter Storm Uri when we went without power for five days in bitter cold. None of the initial financial projections came true. 

The State of Texas allowed electrical providers to add delivery charges and Reliant pays us half of the amount they did just a year and half ago for power we send to the grid. There is no competition for our solar/battery power.  We take whatever the Texas electrical cartel gives, an ever shrinking amount, while their fees to us soar. 

I imagine the city will be treated likewise by Skybox/Emergent/Lords of Capital. It’s their hurdle rate the State of Texas is subsidizing.  The city may do likewise. 

My prayer is the Lords of Capital lose interest in funding these projects. No financing, no project. 

Thank you for the opportunity to share these thoughts.

Note:  I posted this on my other blog, PEUReport, which focuses on private equity underwriters (PEU), a major category within the Lords of Capital.

Update 6-14-26:  Futurism reported:

John O’Farrell — former general partner at the mammoth investment firm Andreessen Horowitz — chastised his former colleagues in the tech industry for putting AI hype before the common good. 

As the first outside general partner ever hired by Andreessen Horowitz in 2010, O’Farrell’s departure is significant, and his warning for his former colleagues is telling. 

At the core of O’Farrell’s complaint is the fact that tech firms and their financial backers have invested unfathomable sums of money in an attempt to influence top US politicians who should, in a better system, be impartially regulating AI. 

“I believe this attempted political infiltration by the AI industry will fail,” O’Farrell explained. “A backlash is building, and it will become fiercer when voters learn that a handful of billionaires are altogether spending nine figures, apparently in an effort to try to stop debates about regulation from further developing.” 

Continuing, the former partner explained that he’d been approached by groups interested in exposing the tech industry’s effort to “buy political influence,” adding that he “may contribute my own money to these public awareness efforts.”

The Lords of Capital want your retirement savings to fund data center expansion.  

Cipher Digital on Colchis, Data Center #3

Cipher Digital's 2025 annual report had much to say about their Colchis project, Tom Green County's third possible data center.   It is a joint venture although Cipher Digital never shares their joint venture partner(s) or from whom they purchased their majority interest.

The Tom Green County Appraisal District shows four tracts of land owned by Colchis.  They are next to the land currently leased by SkyBox Data Centers for their project, which is currently being marketed by Emergent Data Centers as SA1.  Both sited in that location to access a large AEP electrical substation.  

Texas electricity regulator ERCOT is running a Batch Zero competition for the state's data center explosion.  That means SkyBox and Cipher are competing for the same monstrous amount of electricity.  

Cipher's Annual Report states: 

Colchis Site 

In November 2025, we purchased a majority interest in a joint venture entity to develop a new HPC site in West Texas capable of providing 1-GW, referred to as Colchis (the “Colchis Site”), under which we expect to hold a majority equity interest subject to final lease and development terms. The Colchis Site includes a fully executed direct interconnection agreement with American Electric Power (“AEP”) for a dual interconnection facility targeting energization in 2028 and options to buy approximately 620 acres of land adjacent to an existing substation.

Redeemable noncontrolling interest 

Redeemable noncontrolling interest represent a 47% noncontrolling ownership in Colchis, variable interest entity (“VIE”), and a consolidated subsidiary of the Company. The entity is deemed a VIE as it does not have sufficient equity-at-risk to finance its activities. As the managing member, the Company has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact Colchis’s economic performance. Accordingly, the Company was determined to be the primary beneficiary of the VIE and therefore consolidates the entity in its consolidated financial statements. Redeemable noncontrolling interests are presented outside of permanent equity on the consolidated balance sheets as they are redeemable by the holders of the noncontrolling interest and the redemption is outside the control of the Company. The redeemable noncontrolling interests were initially recorded at their issuance date fair value of $30.3 million. The Company subsequently measures the carrying amount of the redeemable noncontrolling interests at the greater of (i) the initial carrying amount, increased or decreased for the noncontrolling interest’s share of net income or loss and its share of other comprehensive income or loss, and dividends or (ii) the redemption value. For interests that are  redeemable in the future, we recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur.

Note 8:  Investment in Joint Ventures

In October 2025, the Company purchased 53% of the equity in Colchis LLC (“Colchis”), a joint venture of a potential 1 GW site in Texas, the “Colchis Site.” The Company is the managing member and consolidates Colchis, and records redeemable noncontrolling interest for the minority interest in the site. The Company deems the noncontrolling interest to be redeemable due to certain clauses in the agreement, which could trigger the redemption of the noncontrolling shares upon events outside of the Company's control. 

There were no changes in ownership of Colchis LLC for the year ended December 31, 2025 after the Company’s original investment.

Note 9:  Intangible Assets

 

The Company recorded amortization expense related to intangible assets of $0.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, and $0.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. During the year ended December 31, 2025, the Company acquired strategic contracts for $56.6 million and $12.6 million related to the development of the Colchis and Ulysses sites, respectively, and wrote off $1.2 million of capitalized software related to software projects the Company is no longer pursuing.

There are mixed messages between the Annual Report and other Cipher corporate communications.  A November 3, 2025 press release stated:

In addition, Cipher today announced the formation of a joint entity to develop a 1-gigawatt (“GW”) site, named “Colchis”, in West Texas. Under the terms of the agreement, Cipher is expected to provide the majority of the financing, which would result in approximately 95% equity ownership assuming standard lease and development terms in a future HPC lease. 

The Colchis site includes a fully executed 1-GW Direct Connect Agreement with American Electric Power (“AEP”), under which AEP will construct the necessary dual interconnection facility for a targeted energization in 2028. Construction of the interconnection facility will proceed in parallel with ERCOT's final review and approval. The 620-acres of land under option sit adjacent to the existing substation, and the site has all the necessary characteristics for development of an HPC data center.

One said "purchased" the joint venture while the other said "formed."  One said 53% equity while the other said 95%.

I wonder if AEP's dual interconnection facility garners them an equity stake in Colchis.  It seems strange that AEP would pick one data center over another at this stage.  Shouldn't they work with whichever was approved by ERCOT via Batch Zero?  It feels like a thumb on the scale.  

However it is Texas where there are lots of thumbs and even more scales.  

Update 6-11-26:  It appears even more political heavyweights are behind Colchis and Cipher Digital.  The Lords of Capital have arrived with expensive chip financing.  Apollo amd Blackstone will fund Broadcom chips for Fluidstack in Texas.  Fluidstack is a major Cipher Digital customer.  Anthropic is in the political mix as well for Fluidstack.

Texans Feel AI-Moed

Tom Green County residents are already facing the force of federal incentives and state of Texas subsidies luring hyperscale data centers to our area.  The imbalance may become greater if the federal government takes equity stakes in the major AI companies.

Four data centers are considering locating here, one in San Angelo proper and the other three in the county.  The Texas Tribune reported that nearly half of the 248 planned data centers will be outside of cities, in unincorporated areas.  

People in our area remember the shale boom.   The Carlyle Group's Jeff Currie compared the two in their voracious need for capital.  Abilene's experience with Lancium -"Stargate" is an amplified echo of our experience in the shale boom with rising rents, absurdly expensive hotel rooms and dangerous road conditions.  Many new workers arrived with their addictions and large dog breeds.  

That is our future if the State of Texas via ERCOT deems a project worthy of power and the Lords of Capital provide the necessary funding.  

Irion County Commissioners have two items on their upcoming agenda for June 9th at 9:00am:

6.  Options for having input on both public and private industrial/technological development within the county (Executive/Closed Session)

7.  Tax abatement agreements for economic development within Irion County (Executive/Closed Session)

"Data centers have become shockingly unpopular" is one recent headline and Texans have virtually no say as to whether they can come, where they can locate or how much local resources they can usurp.

That means a name change....and the TechGods offer "AI Factories."  Same thing, just slightly more attuned to economic development.  It also fits better with their desire to charge a piece rate for each AI product that comes off the factory floor.  TechGods have all the momentum with their control of state and federal government.

Responses vary across the country.  One mayor insulted data center opponents for the look of their homes.  The State of Ohio suspended giant tax breaks for data centers to evaluate their actual impact.

There is a very short window for federal and state elected officials to intervene and allow communities to strike more of a balance.  An AI equity stake by Uncle Sam is decidedly counter to that.  

So it should not be surprising that many Texans feel trapped in an AI-MO that is running us into a dangerous construction zone at high speed.  Let us out so we can never do this again.  Please.

Update 6-9-26:  At his time Irion County does not have any data centers interested, according to one county official.  There is a battery energy storage system project and new high voltage power lines are planned for parts of the county.   

It appears Irion County Commissioner were educated from outside attorneys on their rights, responsibilities and limitations in considering new industrial/technological employers.  As the County had not updated their tax abatement program in many years, this item needed attention should the County wish to offer abatements to future projects, like the BESS facility.

Tom Green County: Data Center Site #3 Revealed

San Angelo Chamber of Commerce executive Michael Looney stated that four data centers are interested in the area.  He did so at an Economic Development Board meeting.  

Two of the projects are known to the public.  A third has been revealed.

1)  The Skybox/Emergent in San Angelo is actively being marketed.  

2)  Beacon Data Centers expressed interest and met with the community, which clearly told them to look elsewhere.  They returned and met with Tom Green County Commissioners.

The other two sites have not been named, by interested party or location in the county. 

3) Cipher Digital (below is how I learned this). 

I sent a letter outlining my data center concerns to City Council (the subject of a future post).  San Angelo Mayor Tom Thompson replied:

If the regulations are put in place, the discussion moves to the economic impact, benefits, and risks.

I believe the data center project adjacent to Skybox continues to move forward, as it does not have the restrictions the city has in place. 

The political climate has kept that project clear of the city, which has had the opposite effect of the coalition's intent of regulatory guidelines. 

ERCOT and AEP appear to be prioritizing the non-city property project for power allotments.

A data center next to Skybox/Emergent would be the third location (however not in city limits like Skybox).  

I followed up and learned that site is a potential data center for Cipher Digital.  

In a recent CNBC interview Cipher Digital's CEO noted their announced pipeline will tap the Texas electrical grid (i.e. not provide their own power).

Cipher Digital's CEO noted his company's land holdings in energy abundant West Texas.  

He did not mention his company's consideration of "private land a quarter mile east of" the proposed Skybox/Emergent site in Northeast San Angelo, just outside of city limits, but his corporate documents show a number of Texas projects.  

Cipher has a project known as Mikeska in Doole which is past Paint Rock.  I don't know if that's a quirk of landowner addresses.   Time will reveal if Mikeska is the site close to Skybox or not.

Cipher Digital has a Lancium (Stargate-Abilene) like history.  It began as a bitcoin miner taking advantage of stranded renewable energy.  They switched goldrushes from bitcoin to AI and demand is off the charts.  

At their recent meeting Tom Green County Commissioners tried to steer Beacon Data Centers to this part of town, however Joseph Shovlin did not seem receptive to a move from their current site at the intersection of Highway 2335 and Highway 67 given its access to Spring Creek for water use and discharging treated water.  He also saw proximity to the railroad as another plus.  

Shovlin showed his ignorance when he assumed the local community could absorb 1,200 new construction workers easily.  Beacon has no plans to provide temporary housing.   

One month ago Chamber of Commerce executive Michael Looney interviewed Tom Green County Judge Lane Carter about business growth in the area and specifically addressed data centers.  They addressed the issue of power/electricity needed by data centers.  Judge Carter cited solar and wind power, as well as abundant natural gas.

While the state rolls out the red carpet to power hungry and water usurping data centers, it turned our residential solar power system with battery backup into a nonperformer.  

At a time when we should be getting top dollar for the power generated Reliant is literally giving us nickels when before they gave dimes.  Texas rates went up 7%.  Reliant cut what they pay us in half (50%).

Cipher will also use water, I imagine from the City of San Angelo given their proximity.

Data center water usage (Beacon) - 400 acre feet per year.   Over 3 data centers that's 1,200 acre feet 

Water usage for 3,600 construction workers (1,200 per data center) - 730 acre feet per year

The running total is 2,000 new acre feet of water.  Beacon's Dove Creek Technology Center promised not to drill wells and impact groundwater.  Beacon's Westline Energy & Infrastructure will use groundwater for facility use.  Water will be needed for the power generation side (not factored into the water projections above).  

The Cipher Digital CEO interview is below for those who wish to view it.  Pay attention to what he says about Tier I vs Tier III sites:

Is anybody fighting mad?  To be clear I am speaking about the non-violent kind of standing up.  From my perspective the rules keep changing and not in the little guys favor.

AI Data Centers/Power Plants are flocking to Texas because of tax breaks in the Big Beautiful Bill and the chance to bypass state sales tax for extremely large capital outlays.  These incentives were set up by federal and state leaders, not local officials.  

San Angelo had a West Texas Utilities power plant on Lake Nasworthy and it discharged its cooling water into "Hot Water Slough."  Now such facilities will be located within the data center complex.

Our federal elected officials need to hear from constituents.  So do our state elected officials.  Those of us who lived through the Shale Boom know exactly what is coming.  Abilene is showing us that very thing at the moment.

Violence is never a solution.  Make your position clear to your representatives,  Thank heaven our local officials listen.  What is happening in many cases is beyond their control.

Federal and state officials clearly want to change our way of life.  Ask them to strike some kind of balance, because currently none exists.  

Update 6-6-26:  Cipher Digital has a major stockholder V3 Holdings, a Singapore investment firm.  V3 owns 15% of Cipher's stock.

Update 6-7-26:  Cipher refers to its San Angelo project as Colchis:

Cipher also formed a joint venture in West Texas to develop a new 1-gigawatt site called “Colchis.” Cipher will finance most of the project and expects to retain 95% ownership. The site features a 1-gigawatt Direct Connect Agreement with American Electric Power to construct a dual interconnection facility, scheduled for energization in 2028. The 620-acre site is next to an existing substation and intended for high-performance computing data center use.

It's a 1 GW data center.

Cipher has information about its Colchis project in its 2025 Annual Report and other SEC filings.