Willie Nelson, 93, posted an open letter on X on Tuesday (July 28) addressed to “whom it may concern and to everyone else as well,” urging Americans to fight data centers near his hometown of Abbott, Texas.
The country music legend, who turned 93 in April, spoke out against building data centers near Abbott, Texas, where he grew up and still maintains a home and farmland. The 93-year-old was brought up in the tiny rural city of Abbott, which has a population of just 352 people.
“I grew up in Abbott, and I still have a home there with farmed land where I can still see stars at night,” Nelson told his followers.
“And now our community, like many others, needs to fight against data centers invading our land. The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter).”
Nelson said rural America’s strength comes from its people and land, not industrial development.
“The strength of rural America has never come from big industrial footprints. It comes from generations of people, open spaces, local businesses, and a connection to the land.”
He then called for thoughtful stewardship of America’s resources.
“All of America deserves thoughtful stewardship that doesn’t steal farmland and small family farmers’ livelihoods, and not data centers that only destroy the environment around them.”
Nelson ended with a stark warning about control of essential resources.
“Whoever controls food and water, controls the masses. Let’s not allow our own demise or give up control over necessary resources in the U.S. and especially in Abbott.”
Nelson’s open letter came as potential plans to build one of the energy- and water-hogging plants could change the nature of Abbott, Texas, where he owns a home and farm.
There are proposed plans to build nearly 250 data centers across Texas, including 56 in Nelson’s Central Texas.
The data centers sparked concerns about environmental impact and resource depletion.
One proposed Cyrus One data centre is planned about 25 miles from Abbott, while another site owned by Nexus is approximately 20 miles to the town’s east.
Nelson’s stance aligned with growing backlash against the industry’s expansion.
A May Gallup Poll reported that seven in 10 Americans oppose local construction of AI data centers, with 48 percent strongly opposed and just seven percent strongly in favor.
Governor Greg Abbott also shifted his position on the facilities.
Gov. Greg Abbott called for a ban on data center developments in rural Texas, saying “We must prohibit them from building AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods.”
The governor’s stance represented a major reversal of his earlier rhetoric.
It marks a major backtrack for the politician who once proudly called Texas an “epicenter of AI development” after Google notably invested $40 billion in AI infrastructure in the state last November.
Nelson’s environmental activism stretched back decades.
The legendary country singer has raised more than $90 million through his Farm Aid nonprofit, which he co-founded with John Mellencamp and Neil Young. The charity was first formed in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on the land.
His message resonated with political opponents of data center expansion.
Texas state representative Gina Hinojosa wrote “Now Willie Nelson has spoken: data centers are hurting Texas. Greg Abbott has the sole power to fix TODAY what he broke. Abbott must sign an emergency order ending the taxpayer handouts he passed, and call a special session to end this data center madness.”
In the viral moment that sparked national attention, data centers had emerged as a political flashpoint in rural Texas and beyond.
Data centers have become political lightning rods in recent months, as residents across the country object to their massive resource consumption, which is leading to a major spike in utilities bills, as well as noise pollution.
At least 248 data centre projects are planned across the state of Texas.
Data centre developers have been buying up swathes of land across the rural state to build warehouses to power artificial intelligence for firms such as Meta, Amazon and Google.
The facilities required staggering amounts of resources to operate.
The environmental footprint of data centres already rivals that of some of the world’s largest countries, according to a United Nations University report, which also predicts their water and energy use and pollution will double in just four years as use of artificial intelligence grows.
Lawmakers at the federal level had begun addressing the crisis.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) earlier this year introduced a bill that would impose a nationwide moratorium on AI data center construction “until strong national safeguards are in place to protect workers, consumers, and communities, defend privacy and civil rights, and ensure these technologies do not harm our environment.”