San Angelo sold 343 acres of city land for a 1.2‑gigawatt data center.
No independent impact study was ever conducted — that is the City's own answer on its own website. Three ordinances governing the project passed in five weeks. Three council members have faced recall petitions over it. We are putting every document, vote, and number in one place, with a link to the source for each one.
The numbers that matter
Every figure below is sourced. Click any source note to read the original.
Asked whether an independent study of the data center's impact had been done, the City of San Angelo's official project page answers: “No independent impact study has been conducted.”
Three things the record shows
Not opinions. Two are the City's own votes and words; the third is arithmetic on the City's own published figures, with the working shown so you can check it.
126 days
Between the January 13, 2026 vote that made the data center permissible (6–1) and the May 19 adoption of the first ordinance governing it. The water ordinance came 154 days after. The binding decision preceded every rule written to constrain it.
See the dated votes →84.9%
Of the FY26 property tax increase falls on property already on the roll — $4,854,375 of $5,716,170, with only $861,795 coming from newly added property. The City published both halves; the ratio is ours.
See the arithmetic →47 signatures
Force a recall election in District 3 — because only 155 people voted there in May 2023. The same rule requires 2,971 to recall the at-large mayor. Taxpayers fund the election either way.
The recall record →Everything on this site is free to reuse with attribution, including our computed figures. The press kit has all six findings with sources and working, and we will file a records request on a subject you name at no cost. Primary documents are here →
What we track
Four running investigations, each built from primary documents and dated council votes.
Data Center Watch
The Skybox / Emergent campus: the rezoning, the land sale, the three ordinances passed in five weeks, the Chapter 380 agreement the City says doesn't exist yet, and the water and power math behind it.
Full timeline →Water Supply
San Angelo has roughly 41 months of water and is under standing conservation rules. The Mayor cited a $400 million treatment plant to justify the data center timeline. Here is what the supply actually looks like.
The water picture →Follow the Money
A $241.3 million FY26 budget, a tax rate pushed from 0.75440 to 0.79470, and $5.7 million more collected in property taxes — most of it servicing the coliseum bond.
Budget breakdown →Accountability
Three recall petitions in three months, a police chief who went to federal prison for bribery, and a 2022 attempt by the City to limit how the public asks for records.
The record →File a records request. We send it for you.
Texas gives you the right to almost every record San Angelo creates, under the Texas Public Information Act (Government Code ch. 552). Most people never use it, because the process is unfamiliar and because putting your name on a request to your own city government is uncomfortable.
Tell us what you want to see. The Move Weight Foundation files it as the requester, so your name never appears. We publish whatever comes back — including a refusal.
- Free. Always.
- Your identity is never disclosed to the city, county, or district.
- The city has 10 business days to respond by law.
- Every request and response is published publicly.
Get the next filing in your inbox
A short email when a records request comes back, a council vote lands, or a document drops. No fundraising blasts, no daily digest. Unsubscribe in one click.
We store your address and nothing else. We do not sell, share, or rent it. See the Foundation privacy policy.
Where the reporting comes from
We do not republish other outlets' work. We link to it, and we go get the documents underneath it. San Angelo is covered by four newsrooms — support them.
SanAngeloLive
The deepest and earliest coverage of the data center controversy and the recall campaigns.
San Angelo section →ConchoValleyHomepage
Runs a dedicated data-center beat and the closest coverage of council budget votes.
Data center beat →San Angelo Standard-Times
The city's daily paper of record since 1884. Most articles are behind a paywall.
Visit →FOX West Texas
San Angelo and Abilene share this newsroom; local coverage is lighter but broadcast-fast.
Local news →Records requests cost money. Copy fees, certified copies, postage.
San Angelo charges $0.10 a page, $2 to certify a report, $6 for an accident report, $7 for a clearance letter. A single budget-year document set can run into the hundreds of dollars. Every dollar donated goes to filing fees and the tools that publish what comes back.
Prefer not to use GoFundMe? Send by Zelle to [email protected]
· IRS Form 990
Donations go to the Move Weight Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and are tax-deductible to
the extent allowed by law. GoFundMe deposits directly into the Foundation's bank account.