AI data centers in Texas are using a permit designed for dry cleaners to run thousands of diesel generators, and critics say the state's new crackdown won't fix it

The data center boom powering a lot of AI infrastructure has provoked pushback from a wide array of groups critical of how they are built and run. The backlash has been strong enough that even in Texas, which had become a hub of new data centers, Governor Greg Abbott felt the need to order an audit of those seeking connections to the state’s electricity grid and to tell the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing permits sought for…