Bastrop County commissioners on Oct. 13 asked the state to hold a public meeting on a proposed natural gas power plant at Cedar Creek, using the one tool the county says it has: a request.
The Commissioners Court approved a resolution presented by Precinct 3 Commissioner Mark Meuth. It asks the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state agency that issues air permits, to convene a meeting on an application from Pacifico CCK Energy. The resolution asks for a meeting and adequate public notice. It does not ask TCEQ to deny the permit.
The request shows a gap in what Texas counties can do. Texas has no general county zoning power, meaning no broad authority to decide what can be built where. The state’s county-zoning chapter of the Local Government Code grants zoning only in named places, such as Padre Island and areas around certain lakes. On unincorporated land like the Cedar Creek site, the main decisions run through state permits. Precinct 2 Commissioner Clara Beckett told CBS Austin that the county has no zoning authority like a city does. She said she doubts the Legislature will grant it and that the county will work with other counties on legislation.
CBS Austin reported that the plant would have 48 turbines and produce about 1,300 megawatts, and that it would power two data center buildings. Community Impact put the proposed campus at 2,842 acres, or about 4.4 square miles. Pacifico did not respond to CBS Austin’s request for comment.
TCEQ’s online permit record, viewed Oct. 15, lists the application as a new standard-permit registration received Aug. 14 for a site at 382 Earl Callahan Road, filed under Pacifico CCK Energy 1 LLC. Its status is pending. A standard permit is a preapproved set of operating conditions that a company registers to use, rather than a permit written for one site. The county’s resolution calls this an expedited pathway. It says the plant’s estimated nitrogen oxide emissions approach the major-source thresholds, the levels that trigger stricter permit review, and asks that the meeting cover air emissions, cumulative pollution across the whole site and whether the plant’s operating limits match state rules.
Residents told CBS Austin that this type of filing carries no public notice or comment period. John Bush, a Bastrop resident with Lost Pines Watch, a group critical of the project, told Community Impact that 204 people have asked TCEQ for a public meeting and none has received an answer. Community Impact reported that TCEQ guidance says the agency holds a public meeting when there is significant interest in an application under certain conditions, including a request from a legislator or a legal requirement. State Rep. Stan Gerdes raised concerns about the project in September.
A separate state action, part of a wider statewide fight over data center rules, may also bear on the application. In a Sept. 21 letter, Gov. Greg Abbott directed TCEQ to pause issuance of all permits related to data center projects until the state’s grid operator, ERCOT, completes its review. A law-firm summary of the letter says it also directs TCEQ to report on its compliance by Oct. 19, and notes the letter does not say how standard permits are treated. Neither the letter nor the county’s resolution says whether the pause reaches this registration, and TCEQ’s record still shows it pending.
The county’s request now waits on TCEQ, which owes the governor its compliance report on Oct. 19.