President Donald Trump said Texas would be making a mistake by pausing new data center grid connections, arguing the facilities could rival oil as an economic engine for host communities. His comments came as Texas sharpened its scrutiny of the sector, with Governor Greg Abbott ordering a pause on approvals this month and directing the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to audit all data centers moving through ERCOT's interconnection process. Abbott's latest framework spells out five areas companies must disclose to secure a grid connection: public funding, power use, water consumption, community impact and ownership. Developers must report any taxpayer-funded incentives, projected electricity demand and on-site generation plans, as well as water sources, reuse methods and steps to limit local effects such as noise and traffic. Abbott said any project that fails to meet PUCT, ERCOT and state-law requirements must be denied connection to the Texas grid, adding, "Simply put, Texans must come first." The review is taking place against an unusually large interconnection queue. ERCOT is weighing more than 474 gigawatts of connection requests, more than five times the state's record peak demand, with data centers accounting for roughly 90% of the total. The clash reflects a broader national backlash over the electricity, water and land demands of large computing campuses. New York enacted the first statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers in July, about a dozen states have proposed data center bans according to CNN, and public resistance has hardened, with Gallup finding 71% of Americans oppose a data center in their local area and a Reuters/Ipsos survey showing 57% would oppose one in their community.