Inside Climate News 气候新闻台 周二民主党在得克萨斯州的历史性大胜，在该州经历了30多年的共和党统治后，为环境改革带来了新的可能性，而该州正是美国石油天然气工业的大本营。
Inside Climate News Climate Desk Democrats’ historic sweep of Texas on Tuesday raises new possibilities of environmental reform after more than 30 years of Republican rule in the home of the nation’s oil and gas industry.
这包括巩固数据中心发展保障措施、降低能源成本的机会，以及随着时间推移任命新的州监管机构委员、提高环境保护标准。
That includes opportunities to cement safeguards for data center development, lower energy costs and, over time, appoint new commissioners to the state’s regulatory agencies and boost environmentally protective standards.
“我们这里正在经历领导层的代际更替，”消费者倡导组织 Public Citizen 的得州主任 Adrian Shelley 说。“我认为会有真正的改革意愿。” 美国参议员和州长竞选均在中部时间午夜前宣布结果，迅速粉碎了长期以来对民主党领导的得克萨斯州潜力的质疑。民主党还赢得了州议会众议院的控制权。“几乎所有在全州范围内获胜的人都是环境保护的冠军。”
“We have a generational shift in leadership here,” said Adrian Shelley, state director of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group. “I think there’s going to be a real appetite for reform.”Both the US Senate and governor races were called before midnight Central Time, quickly crushing the longheld skepticism of the potential of a Democrat-led Texas. Democrats also took the House in the state Legislature. “Pretty much everyone who won the statewide level is a champ on the environment.”
专家周三表示，得克萨斯州的这股蓝色浪潮，部分源于公众对该州人工智能数据中心繁荣建设的愤怒，这些数据中心吞噬着海量电力，却未披露其用水情况。当民主党政府在1月就职时，数据中心将成为其政治攻击的核心目标。“新的州领导层有明确的授权来管控数据中心行业，”Shelley 说。“我认为得克萨斯州毫无保留地‘敞开大门营业’的日子结束了。”
The blue wave in Texas resulted, in part, from an upswell of public outrage over the state’s booming buildout of data centers for artificial intelligence that are gobbling massive amounts of electricity and failing to disclose their water use, experts said Wednesday. When the Democratic administration takes office in January, data centers will sit at the center of its political crosshairs. “The new state leadership has a clear mandate to rein in the data center industry,” Shelley said. “I think the days of Texas being unequivocally open for business are over.”
民主党州议员 Gina Hinojosa 在今年早些时候还鲜为人知，却击败了寻求连任第三届的共和党州长 Greg Abbott，后者得到了全国一些最富有、最有势力的势力支持。
Gina Hinojosa, a Democratic state representative who was largely unknown earlier this year, unseated three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who was backed by some of the richest and most powerful forces across the country.
Hinojosa 将成为领导该州的首位西班牙裔政治家，拉丁裔构成该州最大人口群体，她将掌管全美第二大州经济体，仅次于加利福尼亚州。
Hinojosa will be the first Hispanic politician to lead the state, where Latinos make up the largest population, and will preside over the second-largest state economy in the country, after California.
詹姆斯·塔拉里科击败检察长肯·帕克斯顿，终结了共和党在联邦参议院长达数十年的统治，上一位当选的民主党参议员还是1988年的事了。这也是历史上花费最昂贵的参议院竞选，世界首富埃隆·马斯克投入超过1.6亿美元助力帕克斯顿当选。
The victory of James Talarico against Attorney General Ken Paxton ends decades of Republican rule in the US Senate, with the last Democratic senator elected in 1988. It was also the most expensive Senate race in history, with the richest man on earth, Elon Musk, contributing more than $160 million to secure Paxton’s victory.
民主党人乔恩·罗森塔尔击败了前塔兰特县共和党主席博·弗伦奇，赢得了该州石油天然气监管机构——铁路委员会三个席位中的一个。弗伦奇有着显赫的极端主义记录。
Democrat Jon Rosenthal defeated a former Tarrant County GOP chair with a storied record of extremism Bo French, for one of three seats at the state’s oil and gas regulator, the Railroad Commission.
“几乎所有在全州范围内获胜的人都是环保冠军，”德克萨斯环境组织执行主任卢克·梅茨格说，“这真的令人振奋。” 伊诺霍萨的当选让数据中心行业对其在全美最大市场之一的未来感到恐慌。阿博特从热情邀请数据中心投资德州、在德州发展，转变为发布一系列严格指令；而伊诺霍萨则以呼吁立即暂停新建数据中心作为竞选纲领。
“Pretty much everyone who won the statewide level is a champ on the environment,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas. “That’s really exciting.”Hinojosa’s election has panicked the data center industry over its future in one of the largest markets in the United States. While Abbott switched from issuing an enthusiastic invitation for data centers to invest and develop in Texas to a list of stringent directives, Hinojosa has campaigned on calling an immediate moratorium on new data centers.
“选民清楚地希望数据中心行业承担责任，”塞拉俱乐部孤星分会立法主任赛勒斯·里德说，“长期以来，他们不仅在桌面上占有一席之地，实际上还通过一些已通过的法律亲手打造了这张桌子，”里德说。
Voters clearly want the data center industry to be held accountable, said the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club’s legislative director, Cyrus Reed. “For a long time, they’ve had not only a seat at the table, they’ve actually been creating the table with some of the laws that have been passed,” Reed said.
全球分析机构伍德麦肯兹周三表示，伊诺霍萨的当选标志着德州数据中心政策的重大转变。
Hinojosa’s election signals a significant shift in Texas’ data center policies, global analysis firm Wood Mackenzie said Wednesday.
即便如此，鉴于其可再生能源资源、天然气基础设施以及独立于联邦能源监管委员会的监管自主权，该州仍将保持数据中心投资的主要市场地位，伍德麦肯兹补充道。
Even so, the state will remain a leading market for data center investments, given its renewable resources, natural gas infrastructure and regulatory autonomy from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Wood Mackenzie added.
一项调查发现，近80%的德州选民将支持限制数据中心数量的政策。
A survey found that nearly 80 percent of Texas voters would support a policy limiting the number of data centers.
数据中心联盟得克萨斯州政府事务总监杰斯·赫克表示，作为该行业最大的行业协会，其成员将继续与居民和地方领导人接触，了解社区优先事项，并确保数字基础设施的增长为得克萨斯人带来明确的利益。
Jess Heck, the director of Texas government affairs for the Data Center Coalition, the industry’s largest trade group, said its members will continue to engage with residents and local leaders to understand community priorities and ensure the growth of digital infrastructure delivers clear benefits for Texans.
“提高可负担性、创造就业岗位、保持州经济强劲是得克萨斯人的首要任务，”赫克在给 的声明中说。“数据中心可以继续在推进这些优先事项方面发挥关键作用，通过给当地社区带来投资，并产生关键税收收入，支持全州各地的地方政府和学区。” 达拉斯-沃斯堡地区拥有该州最大的数据中心集群。该行业扩张最快的区域位于埃利斯县，距离达拉斯市中心以南约30分钟车程。
“Enhancing affordability, creating jobs, and keeping the state’s economy strong are top priorities for Texans,” Heck said in a statement to . “Data centers can continue to play a crucial role in advancing those priorities by bringing investment to local communities and generating critical tax revenue to support local governments and school districts across the state.”The Dallas-Fort Worth region has the largest concentration of data centers in the state. The most rapid expansion of the industry is in Ellis County, some 30 minutes south of downtown Dallas.
在选举日，39岁的莱西·哈梅尔和44岁的哈兹明·比列加斯站在雷德奥克市政中心外，向开车进出大楼停车场的选民挥手致意。两人身穿印有“不要再建数据中心”字样的亮黄色衬衫。她们是“拯救我们的雷德奥克”组织的成员，该组织正在追踪并试图减缓数据中心在该市七个园区的扩张。
On Election Day, Lacey Hamel, 39, and Jazmin Villegas, 44, stood outside the Red Oak Municipal Center waving at voters driving in and out of the building’s lot. The two wore bright yellow shirts that said, “No More Data Centers.”They’re members of Save Our Red Oak, a group tracking and trying to slow down the expansion of data centers across seven campuses in the city.
与其他拥有大片土地的得克萨斯州农村县份一样，数据中心成为雷德奥克选举中的关键议题。
As in other rural Texas counties with swaths of land, data centers emerged as a critical issue for the election in Red Oak.
“拯救我们的雷德奥克”成员曾请求阿博特召集特别立法会议，应对该行业的快速增长。“那班船已经开了，”哈梅尔说。
Members of the Red Oak group had asked Abbott to call a special legislative session over the industry’s rapid growth. “That ship has sailed,” Hamel said.
哈梅尔表示，在他们的数据中心抗议团体中——该团体位于一个坚定的共和党县份，2024年近三分之二的居民投票给唐纳德·特朗普总统——有几个人因对数据中心的不满而跨越党派界限投票。这也影响了她的投票决定。“这是一个关乎我们空气、土地、水源、孩子的问题，”哈梅尔说。
Among their data center protest group, set in a staunchly Republican county where nearly two-thirds of residents voted for President Donald Trump in 2024, several people crossed party lines over frustrations on data centers, Hamel said. It informed how she voted, too. “This is one of those issues where it’s affecting our air, it’s affecting our land, it’s affecting our water, it’s affecting our kids,” Hamel said.
休斯顿大学霍比公共事务学院在大选日前一周发布的一项民意调查发现，近80%的得克萨斯州选民将支持一项限制该州可建设数据中心数量的政策。
survey published a week before Election Day by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs found that nearly 80 percent of Texas voters would support a policy limiting the number of data centers that can be built in the state.
调查发现，打算投票给伊诺霍萨的选民比打算投票给阿博特的选民更有可能极度或非常担心数据中心对电价、供水、停电、噪音和空气污染的影响。
Those who intended to vote for Hinojosa were significantly more likely than Abbott voters to be extremely or very concerned about data centers’ impact on electricity prices, water supply, power outages, noise and air pollution, the survey found.
得克萨斯州环境保护基金州主任科林·莱登在一份声明中说，伊诺霍萨可以规划新路向，保护自然资源。“选民明确表示，他们期望州长将得克萨斯州家庭的健康、安全和福祉放在首位，”莱登说。
Hinojosa can chart a new course and safeguard natural resources, Colin Leyden, Texas state director of the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement. “Voters made clear that they expect their governor to put the health, safety, and well-being of Texas families first,” Leyden said.
作为州长，伊诺霍萨将任命专员领导得克萨斯州环境质量委员会、公用事业委员会和得克萨斯州公园与野生动物部等州监管机构。
As governor, Hinojosa will appoint commissioners to lead state regulators like the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Public Utility Commission and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
环境得克萨斯组织的梅茨格说，现任专员均由阿博特任命。新任命的专员可能会采取更积极的方式执行空气质量标准、限制工业水污染或扩大土地保护。
Every current commissioner was appointed by Abbott. New appointees might take a more aggressive approach to enforcing air quality standards, limiting industrial water pollution or expanding land conservation, said Environment Texas’ Metzger.
伊诺霍萨的记录显示他对环境执法感兴趣。2021年，伊诺霍萨和15位民主党同事提出了一项“得克萨斯州气候计划”，这是一揽子41项法案，旨在减少碳排放并加强对该州化石燃料行业的监管。
Hinojosa’s record suggests an interest in environmental enforcement. In 2021, Hinojosa and 15 Democratic colleagues proposed a “Texas Climate Plan” a package of 41 bills aimed at reducing carbon emissions and increasing regulation of the state’s fossil fuel industry.
他们庆祝气候计划中的一项拟议立法，该立法寻求对生产油田中放空燃烧的天然气征收25%的税。
celebrated proposed legislation, part of their climate plan, that sought a 25 percent tax on gas flared in production fields.
石油和天然气行业广泛反对这项拟议立法，但民主党人和环保主义者将其视为一个机会，以激励能源生产商建设基础设施来捕获和输送天然气，而不是污染空气。由当选副州长维基·古德温起草的该法案，从未提交众议院全院表决。
While the oil and gas industry widely opposed the proposed legislation, Democrats and environmentalists saw it as an opportunity to incentivize infrastructure for energy producers to capture and transport the gas, rather than pollute the air. The bill authored by Lt. Governor-Elect Vikki Goodwin, never made it to a vote on the House floor.
里德是州塞拉俱乐部（Sierra Club）分会的成员，他说得克萨斯州从未认真对待过甲烷污染问题。州里没有关于甲烷污染的法规，也没有全州范围的实施计划，而特朗普正试图撤销拜登政府的甲烷规定。
Reed, with the state Sierra Club chapter, said Texas has never taken methane pollution very seriously. There aren’t state rules on it, nor is there a statewide implementation plan as Trump seeks to roll back the Biden administration’s methane rule.
但里德表示，随着铁路委员会（Railroad Commission）新任委员到位、得克萨斯州环境质量委员会（Texas Commission on Environmental Quality）可能迎来新委员，以及州议会中民主党人声势增强，采取污染治理行动是有可能的。
But with the combination of a new commissioner at the Railroad Commission, the potential for new commissioners at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and emboldened Democrats in the Legislature, there’s potential to take action on pollution, Reed said.
“希望人们能更多地关注污染对社区的影响，”里德说，“与其总是把新增监管视为坏事，不如把它看作保护社区免受污染的一种方式。”
“Hopefully there’s more attention to the impacts on communities,” Reed said. “Instead of always seeing additional regulation as a bad thing, maybe it’s seen as a way to protect communities from pollution.”