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Leaders address data center - san benito news. By ALBERT VILLEGAS Special to the NEWS RIO HONDO, TX - Now that Cameron County has officially announced that a worksite permit has been issued for a data center near this community, leaders here, citing citizen concerns, have chimed in, stating that no one currently with the city has been contacted about it, although there could be future discussion on the matter among elected officials. On Aug. 31, a day after the City of Rio Hondo issued a press release, the City Commissioners held a special meeting unrelated to the issue. According to the minutes, during the Mayor's and Commissioners' Reports portion of the special meeting, Commissioner Diana Bustamante-Zavala initially apologized to Chief Julian Longoria if he had been directed to post on the City of Rio Hondo's Facebook page about data centers. Longoria currently serves as interim city administrator after Ben Medina, Jr.'s departure. The press release, approved by the city attorney's office, read in part: "The City of Rio Hondo has heard and understands the concerns expressed by residents regarding the proposed development of a data center outside the city limits." According to the meeting minutes, Commissioner Bustamante-Zavala added that Medina, who served in this capacity for 14 years, "had presented a commissioner packet to MDD from Fluidstack." The minutes recorded that Mayor Gustavo Olivares said it was not a misdirection, but rather that Longoria had asked him whether any commissioners were aware of prior commitments, since many citizens had asked. The minutes showed that Mayor Olivares, Commissioner Bustamente-Zavala, and Commissioner Esteban Bocanegra shared their thoughts on the matter and pondered in what capacity data centers had been brought up during past meetings, or whether any other terminology had been used to describe them. The minutes also showed that Commissioner Bustamante-Zavala said former city administrator Medina did present an item regarding data centers while still employed, but didn't specify when. She remembers the term "Javelina project of a data center" being used. Finally, in the minutes, city attorney Robert Drinkard interrupted the commissioners and instructed them to place this item on the agenda if it needs further discussion or even a public hearing. A regular Sept. 15 meeting of the Rio Hondo Commissioners didn't show any items regarding data centers. Medina resigned on Aug. 11, and Longoria was appointed shortly thereafter. It continued with the following: "We want to respectfully clarify that no representative of the City of Rio Hondo has been contacted by, nor has communicated with, the developers of any data center regarding permits, resources, utilities, or development agreements. At this time, there are no agreements, discussions, or commitments involving the use of city services, infrastructure, or utilities related to any data center development." On Sept. 10, Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino, Jr. also shared his thoughts on the worksite permit issued for the Fluidstack data center project. He said the Fluidstack would be constructing a closed-loop technology data center facility in the unincorporated area of the county, east of FM 509 and west of FM 106, near Valley International Airport in Harlingen. "A worksite permit allows a company or developer to make changes to a piece of land before constructing any buildings. Such changes include clearing and grading the land, installing utilities, building surface infrastructure such as streets and parking lots, and building retention ponds or other storm water management infrastructure," Judge Trevino said. He added that the permit's issuance follows the county's mandatory review of the application and the materials submitted by the company. As part of the permitting process, Fluidstack has agreed to voluntarily comply with the provisions outlined in a county resolution and with directives issued by Gov. Greg Abbott related to data center development in Texas. On Aug. 3, Gov. Abbott, in a press release, said he directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and ERCOT to conduct a comprehensive audit of all data centers that advance through ERCOT's interconnection process. He said the audit requires detailed information on water consumption, water supply sources, and the implementation of water-efficient technologies. He said any data center project that fails to complete the audit process must be denied interconnection. On Sept. 14, Gov. Abbott directed the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to compel major water users, including data centers, to comply with water-use reporting requirements and to impose legal consequences for past and future failures to comply with state law. In a press release, he said major water users, including data centers, appear to have committed civil and criminal violations by failing to provide TWDB with required water-use information. The Governor also directed TWDB to partner with ERCOT in its audit of data centers to obtain additional water-use information. "Data centers must share the responsibility to protect Texas water," said Gov. Abbott. "The Texas Water Code requires a complete and accurate water-use survey. I direct the Texas Water Development Board to use its enforcement authority to penalize past failures and to impose legal consequences for any future noncompliance." Judge Trevino said he understands the public concerns about data centers. "The county recognizes that residents have expressed a range of opinions regarding data center development in Cameron County. Officials will continue to work with state agencies, utility partners, and the developer to ensure that all applicable requirements are met and that local concerns are addressed," Judge Trevino said. Cameron County is not providing a tax abatement for this development, the judge added. The exchange of data center information via Facebook still has county and Rio Hondo citizens distressed. There were numerous shares of the posts, along with comments. Cameron County received 241 comments. Among the replies on the county's Facebook were: Rachel Reynolds, who posted, "It's not near Harlingen. It's right next to Rio Hondo without one word to our town." Rodrigo Dávila added, "The issuance of this worksite permit is an important development, but it is not the final building permit. Judge Trevino stated that future permits will still be required before construction of the facility can begin. This means there remains an opportunity for Cameron County, Fluidstack, local leaders, and residents to negotiate a transparent, enforceable Community Benefits Agreement." Nick Rojas posted, "Everybody wants Netflix, Spotify, maps, and on-line banking but nobody wants the hardware to do it." Dana Ann Baldwin was more critical, posting, "Backdoor deals with no public vote - there's a reason they are placing these centers in economically disadvantaged areas. Ask yourself why. How does a water-intensive facility like a data center make sense in a drought-prone area like the RGV? What will happen to our water and sewer rates and property values? Where will this water come from? What will the environmental impact be? Fluidstack's data center is a 1,100-acre project. That's over 756 football fields." Daisy Gutierrez added, "Go to YouTube and type data centers. You will be surprised how bad they are and how people do not want them and why?" The City of Rio Hondo received 81 comments. Among some of the replies on Rio Hondo's Facebook included Daniel Field, who posted, "Ok but as elected officials, you can stand up for us and have a bigger voice at the county level! You can express how the existence of such a thing just outside of your city limits can impact the city! You could also advocate for people's families about this proposed highway going right through generationally owned properties! Don't just act like you can't do anything! You were voted in and can be voted out!" Mayte Lozano Chapa posted, "With all due respect, as representatives for the community of Rio Hondo, our commissioners and our mayor, should demand a "seat at the table" when decisions are being made about the data center since the proximity of the data center will also impact the citizens of Rio Hondo. The data center is approximately one-mile from our city limits sign." Soni Fig engaged by posting, "Thank you for sending this out. However, there does seem to be a substantial amount of evidence that something is being developed right outside our city. Seeing that we would be impacted one way or another, it feels appropriate for our leaders to reach out to those stakeholders for more information and transparency. That information should then be shared with the residents of Rio Hondo. Can a special meeting be held on this topic specifically? Clearly there are a lot of people scarred and worried about this and we are simply asking for more action to clear up the confusion and ease the panic. Thank you in advance."

Pentagon in talks to lend $5 billion to AI cloud startup Fluidstack to shore up US data center supply chain. Daniel Levi Posted On September 11, 2026 The Pentagon is in talks to lend about $5 billion to AI cloud startup Fluidstack, a striking sign that the infrastructure behind artificial intelligence is moving from a Silicon Valley spending race into the heart of U.S. industrial strategy. The proposed financing would come through the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital and would strengthen U.S. manufacturing capacity and supply chains for data center components, rather than directly funding a new AI facility, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters subsequently reported the talks. "The Pentagon is in talks to lend roughly $5 billion to AI cloud-computing startup Fluidstack," the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, "adding the U.S. military to the growing list of financiers of artificial-intelligence infrastructure." "The money would come from the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital, which provides loans to companies working in areas deemed critical to U.S. national security. A $5 billion loan would be, by far, the office's largest to date," the Journal added. Neither the Pentagon nor Fluidstack immediately commented on the report. The potential loan's size stands out. Fluidstack raised an $830 million Series A at a $7.5 billion valuation earlier this year, according to the company. A $5 billion Pentagon loan would be roughly six times that funding round and put the government behind one of the companies building the physical backbone of the AI boom. Fluidstack is not a conventional cloud startup. Founded in 2017 at Oxford University and now headquartered in New York, the company builds and operates large-scale AI infrastructure, including GPU clusters and custom data centers used for training and running advanced AI models. The company has said it manages more than 100,000 GPUs. Its customer list helps explain why Washington may be interested. Anthropic selected Fluidstack last year to build custom data centers in New York and Texas as part of a $50 billion investment in U.S. computing infrastructure, Reuters reported. Fluidstack has worked with AI companies including Mistral, Character.AI, Poolside and Black Forest Labs, and its website lists Anthropic, Nvidia and Meta among companies associated with its infrastructure business. AI infrastructure is becoming strategic infrastructure. The reported Fluidstack talks point to a larger shift taking place beneath the AI boom. Building frontier AI systems increasingly depends on far more than GPUs. Data centers require electrical equipment, cooling systems, networking hardware, transformers, generators, and a long chain of components that can become bottlenecks when thousands of GPUs are deployed at once. That dependency is starting to collide with national security policy. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month declaring a national emergency and restricting the use of some foreign equipment in the U.S. electricity grid, Reuters reported. The grid has become closely tied to the AI race as data centers consume more electricity. The Office of Strategic Capital has already backed companies in sectors Washington considers strategically important. Previous deals have involved rare earth companies Vulcan Elements, Phoenix Tailings and Energy Fuels, along with drone companies including Unusual Machines and Sequoia Capital-backed Neros. Fluidstack would push that strategy deeper into AI infrastructure. The significance goes beyond one startup or one $5 billion loan. For years, the AI race centered on who could build the best models and secure the most advanced chips. The competition is now moving down the stack, into the factories, electrical systems, data centers, and supply chains required to keep those chips running. If the Fluidstack financing goes through, it would send a clear signal about where Washington believes the next AI bottleneck may emerge: not inside the model, but in the physical infrastructure underneath it.

Fluidstack begins $4 billion AI data center project in Cameron County. First phase near Rio Hondo expected to create more than 2,500 construction jobs while company pledges to cover infrastructure costs and pay full local property taxes Sep 10, 2026 Listen to article (english) Translate text to Spanish or other 102 languages! Sep 1, 2026 Aug 28, 2026 Aug 25, 2026 Aug 3, 2026 - Advertisement - Texas Border Business - Advertisement - Texas Border Business CAMERON COUNTY, Texas - Fluidstack has begun construction on the first phase of a $4 billion artificial intelligence data center campus in Cameron County, bringing one of the region's largest technology infrastructure investments to more than 1,100 acres near Rio Hondo. The campus will be developed east of Valley International Airport and west of the Port of Harlingen. Fluidstack, which describes itself as an American builder of AI infrastructure, said the project is expected to generate more than 2,500 construction jobs and several hundred permanent positions. - Advertisement - The company said the project is being developed to comply with data center requirements established by Gov. Greg Abbott, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and Cameron County. A key part of Fluidstack's announcement focuses on how the massive project will use local resources. The company said it will pay for its own energy and infrastructure and has neither requested nor received local property tax abatements or county incentives. Fluidstack said the development will instead contribute millions of dollars annually to the local tax base supporting schools and county services. "We pay our own way: our energy, our infrastructure, our water, and full local property taxes," said Kate Franko, Fluidstack's head of public affairs. The project plans also address water use, an important issue for major developments in the Rio Grande Valley. Fluidstack said the campus will use a closed-loop cooling system with a tank holding less water than an Olympic-size swimming pool. The system will be filled once and will continually recycle the water, which East Rio Hondo Water Supply Corporation will supply rather than a municipal system. - Advertisement - Cameron County Commissioner David A. Garza welcomed the investment, emphasizing the company's commitment to paying for its infrastructure and local taxes. "They are investing in and paying for their own energy and infrastructure, ensuring those costs do not fall on our residents," Garza said. "They will also pay their full share of local taxes, while maintaining extremely low water usage - an especially important consideration for our region." State Sen. Adam Hinojosa said data center development should strengthen communities without placing additional pressure on their resources. Hinojosa said he has advocated for a "Gold Standard" for responsible data center development that protects water, electricity and other critical resources while leaving decisions about such projects with individual communities. He said Fluidstack's commitment to securing its own power and water resources, coordinating with local leaders and creating good-paying jobs represents "the kind of responsible growth we can get behind in the Rio Grande Valley." Fluidstack also committed to seeking local workers wherever possible, including for construction, electrical, and operations positions that do not necessarily require four-year college degrees. The company said it is developing additional community benefit commitments with local leaders and will announce them as agreements are finalized. - Advertisement - Sep 10, 2026