AWS Project Eagle (Boling) data center, Boling, Texas

Amazon Web Services is building Project Eagle, a $10 billion data center campus on nearly 3,000 acres in unincorporated Wharton County outside Boling, Texas, a town of fewer than 400 people about 55 miles southwest of Houston. Amazon bought the land in March 2026 and, with county permits in hand, is moving dirt on a site now planned for 10 buildings of 189,060 square feet each, about $3 billion in listed construction.

The company has not disclosed the campus's electricity needs, but Amazon confirmed it is in ERCOT's new review process for large customers, which sets a 75-megawatt minimum at peak demand. Amazon says the first buildings will be air-cooled and will not use groundwater for cooling, though the Lower Colorado River Authority says the company expects to use about 500 acre-feet, roughly 163 million gallons, of surface water a year as the site grows. The company promises at least 150 permanent jobs by mid-2027.

Water and secrecy are the local fight: red yard signs across the highway from the site read "You can live without data, but you can't live without water," and County Judge Philip Spenrath signed a non-disclosure agreement restricting what the county can say about the project's design and finances. "We don't have any zoning, so all of that adds to a ripe place for a corporation like Amazon to exploit," said David Rodriguez, a goat farmer who lives about six miles away. Earlier in 2026 the Coastal Bend Groundwater Conservation District delayed permits for two larger wells for the project after community objections.

Statewide, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a moratorium on new data center grid connections on August 3, 2026, pending audits of tax breaks, power use and water use, and ERCOT has said approvals will be delayed while it complies. Spenrath is negotiating a binding county agreement that would bar groundwater for cooling and require Amazon to protect roads, drainage and water resources, and County Attorney Trey Maffet said none has been finalized: "We don't know if there is going to be one." That agreement, the county's remaining permits and the groundwater district's decision on the well permits are the next steps ahead for Wharton County.