Meta Fort Worth data center, Fort Worth, Texas

Meta's Fort Worth data center is the company's first in Texas, a campus in north Fort Worth in Tarrant County where Meta broke ground in 2015 and is now operating. Meta says it has invested more than $1.5 billion there, had 1,200 skilled trade workers at peak construction, and supports more than 200 jobs. The company says it pays the full cost of the energy the campus uses and works with the Fort Worth Water Department to cover water and wastewater costs.

On August 11, 2026, the Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously to start the process toward a 90 day moratorium on new data center construction. It voted 10 to 1 to require applicants to show approval from the Public Utility Commission and the state grid operator, and 10 to 1 to create a data center committee.

The council is set to adopt the moratorium on February 16, 2027, by a three quarters majority; if adopted, the pause would run to May 17, 2027, and would not apply to projects already filed or approved.

That six month wait before any pause begins is what residents came to object to. "We're here because the city has had a flawed approach to data centers this whole time," Kent DeCardenas told the council. Gary Hogan, who lives in southwest Fort Worth, asked, "I don't think there's one person on this city council that would like to have this data center 200 feet from their home. So why impose it on other neighborhoods?"

Council member Elizabeth Beck told residents, "We are here to work with you on this. We aren't your enemy in this fight." Caleb Roberts of Downwinders at Risk said the long timetable would push developers to file their applications before any pause takes effect.

The committee the council created is to study noise, what data centers take from local water supplies and how long that supply will last, and how the sites fit alongside other land uses. On August 3, 2026, Governor Greg Abbott ordered state regulators to audit data centers waiting for grid connections, freezing those approvals while the reviews run.