VA loan in Bexar, TX

Texas has requested federal participation in preliminary damage assessments for Bexar County communities hit by severe storms in late August, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday.

The review will determine whether the damage meets federal-assistance thresholds. No SBA disaster declaration has been approved for this event, and residents who experienced losses are being asked to document them through the state’s online reporting system.

Federal Officials Asked to Join Damage Review

Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to ask the U.S. Small Business Administration to join state and local officials conducting the assessments, according to the governor’s September 2 announcement.

“These assessments will determine whether Texas meets the threshold for federal disaster assistance,” Abbott said.

Officials will examine damage to homes, businesses, and other property as they calculate the scale and financial effect of the storms. The assessment is an early step in the process and does not constitute a disaster declaration or guarantee that assistance will become available.

If a qualifying declaration is issued, the SBA offers low-interest disaster loans to eligible homeowners, renters, businesses, and private nonprofit organizations for losses not fully covered by insurance or other sources. Homeowners may qualify for loans of up to $500,000 to repair or replace a primary residence, while homeowners and renters may borrow up to $100,000 for damaged personal property. Businesses may qualify for physical-damage loans of up to $2 million.

Storm Caused Flooding and Widespread Outages

Severe weather struck the San Antonio area during the evening of August 28, bringing heavy rain, strong winds, flooding, fallen trees, and extensive electrical damage.

By 4 p.m. the following day, CPS Energy was responding to 653 outages affecting approximately 63,000 customers and had received 250 reports of downed wires, according to a joint storm-recovery update from the utility and the City of San Antonio.

City crews worked to remove trees and debris from public rights of way, while six overnight resilience hubs provided residents with electricity, device charging, basic supplies, and places to escape the heat. VIA Metropolitan Transit offered free transportation to the hubs and other cooling locations.

San Antonio officials also reported that two people were swept into rapidly moving water in San Pedro Creek during the storm. One was rescued, while a 46-year-old woman was later found dead from an apparent drowning. Police were also investigating a possible storm-related drowning at Woodlawn Lake, according to a subsequent city update.

Residents Asked to Submit Damage Reports

Bexar County residents can report residential, commercial, or agricultural losses through TDEM’s Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool. The survey allows users to describe damage and upload photographs.

TDEM has said information submitted through iSTAT helps officials measure the extent of a disaster, identify immediate resource needs, and determine whether federal-assistance requirements have been met. The agency’s guidance cautions that completing the survey is voluntary, does not replace an insurance claim, and does not guarantee disaster assistance.

The governor’s office did not announce a deadline for submitting reports or a date when the preliminary assessments would be completed.

North Texas Floods Offer Earlier Example

The same reporting process was used after major flooding struck North Texas in August 2022. More than 1,200 residents submitted information through iSTAT, and a subsequent joint assessment found that at least 47 Dallas County homes and businesses sustained major damage, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.

Those findings supported Texas’ request for an SBA disaster declaration for Dallas County. The request also identified Collin, Denton, Ellis, Kaufman, Rockwall, and Tarrant counties as neighboring jurisdictions that could become eligible for certain assistance.

Omicron Drive runs for roughly two miles at the western edge of Bexar County, before it enters neighboring Medina County and ends at County Road 381. It’s not a major thoroughfare, like Potranco Road, several hundred feet to the north. It doesn’t link major highways, like Texas Research Parkway to the west.

But it is one of the focal points of data center construction in San Antonio.

Companies like CyrusOne and Vantage Data Centers have registered construction worth more than $1 billion along the two-mile-long road since 2020, according to cost estimates in the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation’s project database.

Data center development has increased as companies and consumers demand physical space for data, artificial intelligence and computing operations.

More than 30 of data centers have already been built in Bexar County, according to new research from The Texas Tribune, with at least 23 more on the way.

As the data centers quickly proliferate in the area and across the country, community members are asking what it means for the environment, infrastructure and economy and how these hulking, monolithic loci of the internet fit into San Antonio’s future.

Concern is becoming organized

Texas is business friendly with available land, water and power. That draws data centers, says Deedee Belmares, a San Antonio-based clean energy advocate with Public Citizen, a national nonprofit that advocates on issues from democracy to the environment. Her work focuses clean energy and utilities, but in recent years that’s expanded to include data centers.

“They’re able to cluster in the same area because they’re able to utilize some of the same resources, like substations,” Belmares said.

Data centers aren’t all the same, she added. There are smaller facilities that serve institutions like hospitals, businesses and local governments with secure data storage. Recently, larger and larger data centers called hyperscalers have been built to run AI, Belmares said.

Belmares said Texas residents have been alarmed by noise and energy use, as well as pollution risks. Those concerns could land in court after Public Citizen, Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project filed a complaint July 22 against two San Antonio data centers.

Mary Greene, director of enforcement at the Environmental Integrity Project, said two data centers and their accompanying power sources need a higher level of permitting for air quality.

The data centers, one near State Highway 151 and Wiseman Boulevard, the other on Omicron Drive, are owned by Vantage, according to the complaint, and both have onsite natural gas power plants operated by VoltaGrid.

“The developers are building 423 megawatts of dedicated generation capacity — enough to power about a fifth of San Antonio’s homes — for a pair of huge data centers using permits meant only for minor sources of air pollution,” read a press release from EIP.

The complaint asks Vantage and VoltaGrid to seek major source permits, which it says have more stringent pollution and monitoring requirements, or risk a lawsuit. Otherwise, Greene alleged, pollutants like nitrous oxides, volatile organic compounds and formaldehyde could threaten local populations with smog, respiratory issues and cancer risks.

Major source permits would also give residents in the area a chance to comment on the development, Greene added.

Greene and Belmares both said that transparency has been a central issue around data centers. Belmares said residents often don’t find out about data centers until they’re about to be built. Many residents want a chance to see what’s being built nearby and learn how it will affect them before construction equipment rolls down their block.

That’s one of the recommendations that advocates are pushing local government to consider. In April, the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance released a report on data centers in the area. The nonprofit promotes protection of the Edwards Aquifer, an essential freshwater source for the region, in 21 counties.

Rachel Hanes, policy manager at GEAA, looked at the impacts of data centers around San Antonio and suggested steps state and local governments could take, including requiring transparency and investing in water and energy infrastructure.

The GEAA report also recommended state legislators repeal tax incentives for data centers, charge impact fees and allow county governments to govern local land use. Outside of cities, Hanes said, many data centers do not face zoning laws and can build next to or in residential areas.

Hanes and GEAA Executive Director Annalisa Peace said some of their proposals have gained traction. The City of San Antonio has convened local stakeholders for advice on data center regulation.

Even Texas’ conservative-dominated state government could weigh in. Gov. Greg Abbott, typically pro-business and anti-regulation, sent a list of proposals to lawmakers aimed at making data centers pay for the public costs of development.

Vantage and VoltaGrid could not be reached for comment as of publication time. The multi-billion dollar data industry has support from advocacy organizations like the Data Center Coalition with members such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon.

Dan Diorio, excutive vice president of state policy and government affairs for that coalition, said data centers are building near population centers to improve speed and reliability for the online activity they support.

Diorio said data centers are paying the costs required of them, including for energy and water, and he’s also open to new regulatory structures that protect residents from rising utility rates while still allowing data centers to grow.

Data centers are also trying to innovate, Diorio added.

“Our member companies are already deploying advanced cooling technologies, working in close consultation with water providers and local leaders,” he said “… Data centers are a diverse industry, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to facility design, cooling, or regulation — which is why siting and operational decisions are made in close coordination with local utilities.”

In San Antonio, economic development organizations see the data center boom as an opportunity.

“These projects represent significant capital investment in our community and are helping position the region for growth in the digital economy,” said Jeff Webster, President and CEO of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, in an email.

Data centers add tax revenue, Webster said.

Diorio with Data Center Coalition claims data centers generated $4.5 billion in state and local revenues in Texas in 2024.

That could be critical given San Antonio’s cash-strapped local government. There are jobs generated during construction and Webster said he still sees good jobs attached to operating the buildings.

Critics have asked how many jobs are actually created for data centers. Belmares estimates that 24 to 36 workers were employed for every 150,000 square feet of data center being built.

For reference, Toyota’s new rear axle facility on the South Side is just over three times that size, but employs more than 11 times the number of workers.

Webster did note the strain on resources. Data centers shouldn’t just grow alone, he said, there needs to be corresponding investment in local infrastructure to make sure water and power keep up.

“Continued collaboration among utilities, local governments, developers, and the business community is essential to ensure growth occurs in a way that is sustainable and benefits the broader community,” Webster added.

What comes next?

Local utilities project demand from data centers to grow, they said in a presentation to San Antonio City Council in March. Both the San Antonio Water System and CPS Energy are said they were monitoring the growth of larger customers and trying to meet those needs.

City council members are beginning to discuss policy for data centers in San Antonio. While some communities and public officials, including gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, have called for halts to data center development, city council members are trying to figure out how they can alleviate resident concerts without necessarily halting construction.

Council members discussed community benefit agreements and updates to zoning rules that would create requirements for data centers. During the March 4 meeting, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones asked how data center construction could line up with existing local infrastructure.

Changing city rules for development could become its own issue — some council members advocated waiting until 2027 — but those updates could also be pushed along if desire to regulate grows.

“I am supportive of the recommendation to expedite our amendments to the UDC (Unified Development Code),” Jones said. “These companies aren’t waiting on our timeline. We should proactively help ourselves.”

Other communities have taken more drastic steps. The City of Harlingen approved a 120-day moratorium on data center construction to study their impacts.

When asked, industry advocates say data center construction will continue across the state.

“Yes — Texas leaders have made clear the state needs to build big and build responsibly, and that’s exactly how this industry approaches every community where we operate,” he said.

Bexar County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a $16.4 million tax break for H-E-B’s $700 million expansion of the San Antonio company’s East Side distribution hub, which H-E-B called a “generational project.”

H-E-B wants to expand its manufacturing operations and add a bakery, refrigerated warehouse and transportation building at its facilities on South Foster Road and south of East Houston Street. The company said the project would be its largest investment in its supply chain operations, boosting its logistics as it opens more stores in the region, and construction could start later this year.

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The county is providing an 85% property tax abatement through 2038, which it said is worth $16.4 million.

In exchange, H-E-B agreed to add 720 jobs at its facilities by Dec. 31, 2030, and spend $700 million on upgrades. The company currently employs about 1,389 people there and said it plans to add more than 1,200 full-time jobs by 2038.

The county made an exception to its requirement that companies asking for tax benefits must pay all full-time workers a “living wage” of $20.18 per hour or pay 70% of full-time employees an “all-industry wage” of $21.34 per hour. H-E-B pledged to pay 74% of all employees at the facilities at least $20.18 per hour within a year.

RELATED: H-E-B confirms plans to open new San Antonio-area store in late 2026

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In its application in April for the tax break, H-E-B said it is also seeking financial benefits from the city. The City Council has not yet voted on a package.

The company said its expansion comes with “substantial” costs of improving infrastructure, training employees and buying equipment. Utility upgrades also are a factor. The company said it plans to invest about $20 million in off-site utility upgrades and will provide land for an on-site CPS Energy substation that will serve other customers in the area as well.

H-E-B said financial perks were “essential” to its project. Tax benefits would help bridge a financial gap between the East Side campus and other cities under consideration for the expansion, such as Temple, where it has a distribution hub, the company said.

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It added that the area where it’s expanding was “bare and void of economic activity” when it started erecting its cluster of buildings, and its investment has since drawn other manufacturers. H-E-B bought more than 870 acres off of South Foster Road in 2017 and said it has since built more than $445 million worth of manufacturing facilities. The company received financial benefits from the city and county for the campus in 2018.

The new facilities could be built as soon as 2028. Some 319 of the new jobs would be in logistics and distribution, according to H-E-B’s application. Another 194 positions would be in production, with the rest of the jobs in administrative services, sanitation, quality assurance, security and maintenance.

SAN ANTONIO — Drivers in Bexar County, get ready for what might be an inspection sticker shock.

The state’s fourth most populous county, which includes San Antonio, is joining 17 other Texas counties in requiring emissions testing of vehicles for registration.

All gasoline-powered vehicles between two and 24 years old must pass the new emissions test in Bexar County starting in November, and several businesses have already begun preparing.

“If you want to do the registration, you have to do the emissions test. So it’s going to be more like every year,” said Saul Castillo of Bravos Auto Care in San Antonio.

Castillo is one of many technicians who will tackle the upcoming change when people come into the shop ahead of registering or renewing a vehicle’s registration.

“This is not new. In California, they’re already doing that. So Texas is catching on,” said Castillo.

Dallas and El Paso counties have required emissions tests for decades, and some counties have required the tests since the 1990s. Bexar County will become the 18th county in Texas starting Nov. 1.

“If the fuel system is not working right, obviously we’re going to have smoke,” said Castillo.

The question is, does the county have enough equipment and technicians to meet the upcoming demand?

Castillo says he took his certification test about a month ago and noticed many others in his industry locally doing the same.

“We are already prepared. We already have the machine. When I went to do the license test, there were like 30-40 people doing the same thing,” said Castillo.

As Castillo and his colleagues become certified for the new requirements, drivers will have some additional considerations at registration time.

First, the cost. The charge for the test itself is $18.50, and the addition of a state fee puts it at $26.

If the check engine light is on, the vehicle fails, and you have 15 days to repair it for a free retest.

If the vehicle is over 25 years old, it’s exempt, along with diesel and electric cars and trucks as well as motorcycles.

The rule change comes as the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the concentration of ozone at ground level in Bexar County is too high for federal standards.

Bexar was added to Texas’ list of emissions-testing counties as part of the state’s clean air plan approved last year by the EPA.

At Bravos Auto Care, the machine is being kept safe until it’s time to put it to use, which Castillo estimates will keep them busier than ever.

“No, we haven’t opened it. We’re taking care of it. We don’t want dust or anything. It’s going to hit just with brand new equipment,” said Castillo.