Moratorium - An official, temporary pause or stop on a spe - cific activity or legal obligation. It is not a permanent cancellation, but rather a waiting period used to fix a problem, review a rule, or get through a crisis.
BELLVILLE - Austin Coun - ty residents packed the commis -
sioners court in Bellville on July
27 to hear what the commission - ers acted on an agenda item that has sparked controversy in the county-battery energy storage systems (BESS) and data centers.
CleanSpark's CEO Matt Schultz, spoke at the beginning of the session in response to ques - tions from citizens in attendance. CleanSpark wants to develop a data center in Austin County off Substation Road. After two hours of citizens voicing their opinions, with the majority opposed to the moratorium, the commissioners court voted unanimously to im - pose a moratorium on battery en - ergy storage systems and data cen - ters. The moratorium applies to all potential BESS and data centers and is not targeted at CleanSpark.
A moratorium will give every - one a chance to learn more about CleanSpark, what it intends to do about water, noise, and lighting pollution, and how it may or may not benefit the county. There is no fixed length for a data center moratorium. It typically lasts be - tween six months and three years. A short-term moratorium of five to six months is usually used by local towns to quickly assess a sudden influx of applications. Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently announced a moratori - um on the approval of data cen - ters until regulatory agencies can check on the centers connecting to the state's electric grid. The Tex - as moratorium does not specify a time frame.
CleanSpark plans a come-andgo community meeting at Mill - heim Hall on Friday, Aug. 14 from
5 to 7 p.m.
A copy of the Austin County Battery Energy Storage System and Data Center Moratorium can be found on the Austin County website at https://www.austin -
county.com/.
-Direct Link: https://www.aus - tincounty.com/upload/page/0154/ BESS%20and%20DATA%20 Center%20Moratorium%20 Executed.pdf?fbclid=IwY2x -
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