Amazon-backed GW Ranch gets permits: it could be the biggest US climate polluter

Amazon-backed GW Ranch now has permission to build a 7.65 GW gas-fired power plant in West Texas to serve a data center campus in Pecos County. Based on permits filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the design could make it the largest greenhouse gas source in the US. The project would start off-grid rather than connecting to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, and those permits allow up to 33 million tons of CO2 a year at full output. Amazon says that should mean higher power prices won’t follow. Critics say the setup also lets the project sidestep parts of the usual oversight and cost-sharing rules, while speeding dedicated power to big tech.

Data centers are driving about 90% of new ERCOT requests, analysts say, and some projects have already been paused. With interconnection delays stretching into years, they’re seeing more interest in private gas generation.

And Amazon’s climate record makes this harder to ignore. In its latest sustainability report, the company said emissions rose 16% in its most recent reported year, even with the 2019 Climate Pledge still on the books, promising net zero by 2040.

Environmental groups point to smog , along with respiratory and cardiovascular risks. Amazon says it’s exploring solar, batteries, and brackish groundwater cooling to reduce pressure on freshwater supplies. The permits can be read through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the project is turning into a test case for what happens when fossil power moves in because grid access can’t keep up.