<p id="speakable-summary" class="wp-block-paragraph">As part of a planned data center in Pecos County, Texas, Amazon is investing in an on-site power plant that could become the largest source of climate pollution in the United States, <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/08/climate/amazon-data-center-texas-pollution.html?unlocked_article_code=1.31A.xzDh.F4qu7Zcw39Dj">according to The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The NYT says the plant would burn natural gas and is permitted to release 33 million tons of carbon dioxide per year — more than any other power plant in the U.S.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed that the data center will “be powered by new on-site generation that won’t raise electricity costs for Texas families.” (Data centers <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/new-york-state-halts-construction-of-all-new-data-centers/">face growing political opposition</a> for a number of reasons, including their effect on electricity costs.)</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">AI has already had a significant impact on Amazon’s carbon emissions, which it <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/02/a-warning-sign-about-ais-real-cost-courtesy-of-google-and-amazon/">reported were up 16% last year</a> — the wrong direction for a company that pledged to eliminate its carbon emissions by 2040. And that could get worse as Amazon and tech companies <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/03/ai-companies-are-building-huge-natural-gas-plants-to-power-data-centers-what-could-go-wrong/">back the development of huge natural gas plants</a> to support their power-hungry data centers.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Amazon spokesperson said, “The world looks different now than when we co-founded the climate pledge,” while also claiming, “Our commitment hasn’t changed.”</p>
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