{"id":35221,"date":"2026-08-09T21:47:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T16:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=35221"},"modified":"2026-08-09T21:47:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T16:47:40","slug":"amazons-new-texas-ai-data-center-will-include-massive-amounts-of-air-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=35221","title":{"rendered":"Amazon&#8217;s new Texas AI data center will include massive amounts of air pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article\">\n<p>In 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/category\/amazon\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Amazon<\/a> signed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aboutamazon.com\/planet\/climate-pledge\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">Climate Pledge<\/a>, aiming to help Earth&#8217;s environmental health. In 2026, Amazon aims to set a record for the most air pollution emitted by a single power plant.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/08\/08\/climate\/amazon-data-center-texas-pollution.html\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\"><em>New York Times<\/em><\/a> reported that the company is building a new natural-gas-burning power plant in Pecos County, Texas, for a huge <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/category\/artificial-intelligence\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">AI<\/a> data center project. The plant, if built as planned, would emit approximately 33 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, making it among the largest emitters in the United States. <\/p>\n<div class=\"flex mx-auto mt-8 w-full max-w-3xl font-sans text-lg leading-normal md:text-xl md:leading-7\">\n        <span class=\"font-bold text-primary-400\">SEE ALSO:<\/span><br \/>\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/tech\/greg-abbott-texas-data-center-audit\" class=\"flex items-center text-secondary-300\"><br \/>\n            <span class=\"ml-1\">Texas, yes Texas, puts limits on data centers<\/span><br \/>\n            <svg class=\"ml-1 w-4 h-4 font-normal fill-current\"><use href=\"http:\/\/mashable.com\/images\/icons\/spritemap.svg#sprite-arrow-right-thin\"\/><\/svg><br \/>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<p>AI data centers are already known to have multiple huge downsides to their construction. Aside from their <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/ai-data-center-carbon-emissions-uk\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">huge carbon emissions<\/a>, they&#8217;re also known for generating\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eesi.org\/articles\/view\/communities-are-raising-noise-pollution-concernsabout-data-centers\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">massive amounts of noise pollution<\/a>, and they can\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.consumerreports.org\/data-centers\/ai-data-centers-impact-on-electric-bills-water-and-more-a1040338678\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">raise utility bills<\/a>\u00a0for nearby residents if they\u00a0use the local electrical grid. Amazon&#8217;s new plant won&#8217;t necessarily do the last thing, as it&#8217;s providing its own power using natural gas, but the proposed carbon emissions would still be damaging to the environment.<\/p>\n<section x-data=\"window.newsletter({ isDeal: false })\" x-init=\"init()\" aria-label=\"Newsletter Sign-Up\" class=\"relative invisible my-12 mx-auto w-full max-w-3xl md:my-16 ziff-component accent-cut-for-gradient-bg accent-cut-border-for-gradient-bg bg-gradient-fuchsia-secondary p-[2px]\">\n<p>\n            <span class=\"text-gradient-fuchsia-secondary\">Mashable Light Speed<\/span>\n        <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>Construction of the plant appears to be proceeding despite\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/tech\/greg-abbott-texas-data-center-audit\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">recent pushback<\/a>\u00a0from the Texas government on data centers. As for Amazon&#8217;s Climate Pledge, a spokesperson told the <em>NYT<\/em> that, simply put, things change over time.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The world looks different now than when we co-founded the climate pledge,&#8221; the spokesperson told the <em>New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<section class=\"mx-auto max-w-7xl\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-wrap mt-8 w-full font-sans subtitle-2 editor-content\">\n<p>\n        <span class=\"mr-1.5 font-sans font-bold\">Topics<\/span><br \/>\n                    <a class=\"underline-link hover:no-underline text-secondary-300 mr-1.5\" href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/category\/amazon\" aria-label=\"Navigate to the Amazon tag\" data-ga-click=\"\" data-ga-label=\"$text\">Amazon<\/a><br \/>\n                    <a class=\"underline-link hover:no-underline text-secondary-300 \" href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/category\/artificial-intelligence\" aria-label=\"Navigate to the Artificial Intelligence tag\" data-ga-click=\"\" data-ga-label=\"$text\">Artificial Intelligence<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2019, Amazon signed the Climate Pledge, aiming to help Earth&#8217;s environmental health. In 2026, Amazon aims to set a record for the most air pollution emitted by a single power plant. The New York Times reported that the company is building a new natural-gas-burning power plant in Pecos County, Texas, for a huge AI&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/helios-i.mashable.com\/imagery\/articles\/02JlNP7DVZ0DVvU2n5vcFmb\/hero-image.fill.size_1200x675.v1786290976.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}