Ector County Judge Dustin Fawcett

It was a pleasure having the whole family hang out with Governor @GregAbbott_TX at the Texas Republican Party Convention! Thanks for having us, Governor, and thank you for your service to our great state!

Endorsements are utterly demeaning to voters. Create a platform based on principles. Take action in office based on your platform. Those actions will lead to provable results. Citizens deserve platforms, principles, and results. Trying to convince voters to vote for you because a non-constituent who holds a totally separate office says so is not what this system was founded on. We wonder why voters become apathetic… it’s because no one talks about the office they are running for anymore. Just red meat social issues and who they’re friends with. I hope we learn some lessons from this cycle.

Ector County's position is straightforward. We want data center development, and we won’t accept it at the expense of our residents' water supply. Those two things are compatible if deals are structured correctly. That means brackish and produced water, not municipal supply. It means agreements that hold operators to that standard. It means county leadership that reads the fine print. Earlier this year, Ector County committed $17 million through the Texas Water Development Board to upgrade water infrastructure in West Odessa. We’re planning ahead, not reacting. None of this works without people. That's where Ector County is making its biggest bet. Ector County ISD is building a new $86 million Career and Technical Education Center, backed by voters, a 37-acre donation from Grow Odessa, and $10 million from the Permian Strategic Partnership. The skills that built our oil and gas workforce—electrical, instrumentation, mechanical, HVAC, control systems—translate directly into data centers. The pipeline is already here. At a time when the state and our local governments are looking to solve the property tax question, data centers are almost too obvious of a solution. Ector County, like many counties in West Texas, has significant mineral values. In many counties, mineral values make up a majority of their property tax base. In Ector County, our mineral property estimated values are more than $2 billion. Those values fluctuate and have a significant impact on local government revenues each year. That makes budgeting challenging, not just for local governments, but for many of my neighbors as well. Many of the data center investments we are seeing are in the hundreds of millions, if not tens of billions of dollars. Over time, that kind of investment could help lower homeowners property tax burdens while broadening and stabilizing the local tax base. Lowering property taxes, protecting water usage, expanding power generation, diversifying the economy, adding jobs, and improving infrastructure. These are all of the benefits that we are looking at through embracing this new frontier. Oil and gas built this community and will continue to anchor it. A county that also hosts data center infrastructure carries a broader tax base, more stable employment, and a stronger foundation for the next generation. The Permian Basin powered America’s energy needs. There’s no reason West Texas can’t help power its digital infrastructure too.

West Texas Built One Boom. It Can Build Another. By Ector County Judge Dustin Fawcett Odessa knows how to build an industry from scratch. When the first oil wells came in across the Permian Basin, nobody had a blueprint. The infrastructure didn't exist, the workforce had to be trained, and critics said the land was too remote, the conditions too harsh, the risks too high. West Texans figured it out anyway, and in doing so, they powered a nation. That same instinct is what I bring to the conversation about data centers. Texas needs to lean into this opportunity, not shy away from it. Data centers are not an abstraction. They are the infrastructure behind everything we take for granted: the apps on our phones, the payment systems at every gas station and grocery store, the electronic health records at rural hospitals across West Texas. When a small-town ER physician pulls up a patient's medical history, a data center made it possible. When a soldier in the field accesses real-time intelligence, data infrastructure made it possible. These facilities are as essential to modern life as the power grid, and America's ability to lead in artificial intelligence depends on building enough of them, fast enough, on American soil. Texas is already at the center of that buildout, competing with Virginia, Arizona, and the rest of the world for this investment. The question for Ector County and West Texas broadly is whether we want a seat at that table. I do, and here's why we're better positioned than anywhere else in the country. The Permian Basin produces something that data centers need and most of the country lacks: energy and water, in abundance, side by side. Start with energy. The fracking revolution made the Permian the most prolific oil basin in the world, but associated natural gas overwhelmed pipeline capacity faster than anyone could keep up. Prices at Waha Hub went negative for more than 40% of trading days in 2024. Operators were paying to move gas or flaring it, disposing of abundance instead of profiting from it. Data centers change that calculus. A gigawatt-scale facility consumes roughly 170 million cubic feet of gas per day, and behind-the-meter generation turns a stranded resource into the most reliable, dispatchable power source in the world. The water side works the same way. Not municipal water but produced water. Billions of gallons pumped out of the earth alongside oil and gas, currently shot back underground for lack of better use. Treatment technology is changing that. Ceramic membrane filtration, electrocoagulation, ion exchange. These are working solutions that bring produced water to specification for industrial cooling without touching the municipal supply. Done right, cleaning those more than 20 million barrels generated daily could add to the municipal water supplies rather than drain them. The oil and gas industry has already proven this model. When operators faced pressure on freshwater use in the Permian, they didn't retreat. They innovated. ExxonMobil went from recycling 64 percent of produced water in its hydraulic fracturing operations in 2022 to 87 percent by 2024. Data centers can follow the same path, and West Texas has the infrastructure, the expertise, and the water supply to make it happen here. The broader tech industry is already moving in that direction. Google's new data center in Wilbarger County will use advanced air-cooling technology that eliminates operational water use almost entirely. The company has committed to replenishing more water than it consumes and is working with conservation groups to improve watershed health across the state. That is what responsible development looks like, and it is proof that the water concern and the growth opportunity are not mutually exclusive.

There are a lot of narratives going around regarding data centers, I authored up my take on how West Texas and specifically Ector County can take on this challenge. oaoa.com/local-news/gue…

@KonniBurton @CurrentRevolt Agreed. Social media is not real life. The people want governance, not politics. The issue is our current legislators in Austin (and DC) are governing based on feedback from these bubbles. They don’t do what is right for the citizens they serve, they do what gets clicks and views

88% Ector County! I’m honored by the incredible victory and the literal vote of confidence. We ran the first time as a Solution-Oriented Republican and my administration has delivered exactly that, to which you responded. Governance> Politics. Execution not excuses.

Public officials who betray the people they are appointed or elected to serve, must be held accountable. I am glad we not only found this wrongdoing, but took swift action, which led to the prosecution and imprisonment of our former Auditor. #NotOnMyWatch

@SethMitchell @WestTxStringer The District Judges do this. The County Judge sets their budget, but the DJ’s in the jurisdiction have ultimate authority. When I found out about the issue, the first thing I did was speak with our Administrative DJ and immediately place Mr. Donner on leave.

@WestTxStringer @DustinForEctor What elected officials are responsible for selecting and appointing a County Auditor? Once appointed, who does the County Auditor report to?

New: Ector County Judge @DustinForEctor statement on the sentencing of former County Auditor Randy Donner, after Donner was found guilty of embezzling $1 million in county funds over the course of 10 years.

I am excited to announce that I will be running for re-election in the 2026 Republican Primary. We are just getting started!! 🇺🇸

The Permian Basin is the crown jewel of U.S. energy production, powering our economy and bolstering our national security. Unfortunately, this critical region suffered greatly under President Biden's anti-energy policies. As its Representative, I took this personally. Check out a preview of my time with @MariaBartiromo in the Permian Basin to see its power firsthand ⤵️

My heart breaks in hearing the news regarding Charlie Kirk. Join me in prayer for his family. As a fellow Young Conservative working in this hostile political environment and father of young children, it breaks my heart to think of how much of a loss this is in so many ways. 🙏

Thank you for joining us in Ector County today, @JohnCornyn. We appreciate you taking the time to answer questions and listen to our community!

@KonniBurton She is an embarrassment to the office. Harris County deserves better. It’s also her fault that the state continues to hamstring local governments on serving their constituents.

@TeamBettencourt @TomSRamsey2 @LinaHidalgoTX @AdrianGarciaHTX @HCP4__Briones There are 253 other Counties in this great state. Passing a State Law for one bad actor is bad governance, Senator. Either bracket the bill, or lead your community towards electing better representation. Local governments have had enough, especially those of us in the Permian.

Yes, Commissioner @TomSRamsey2 is right!.. This was unprofessional behavior directed by Harris County Judge @LinaHidalgoTX towards him, Commissioners @AdrianGarciaHTX and @HCP4__Briones, for not going along with her insane idea to ask county voters for another $60 Million on top of last year’s HUGE Harris County 15% property tax revenue Increase! This was part of the reason I filed and passed out of the Texas Senate yesterday, SB 9, to cut the way-too-high growth of property taxes in counties and cities. Too many counties like Harris, were averaging a 9.67% yearly property tax revenue increase, and SB 9, if passed by the House, would lower the VATR (Voter Approved Tax Rate) to 2.5% above last year’s county property tax levy and new tax roll growth. So, instead of cutting the tax rate as appraisal values go up, Judge Hildago’s leftist progressive ideology keeps her asking for more and more local taxpayer dollars! Well, that got stopped today for a change… and once the House Democrats return for a quorum, SB 9 and/or its companion HB 9 by @MorganMeyerTX will pass as the priority bill of both @LtGovTX @DanPatrick and Speaker @Burrows4TX, in my opinion! #txlege

2 years in and our team in Ector County has had some tremendous successes. We’ve addressed all 6 main county assets, passed a budget for the county’s 1st $10 million surplus in history, & have led formative changes in our 41 various departments. oaoa.com/local-news/gue…

“We will drill baby drill.”

Congratulations to my fellow “Dustin” and West Texan @Burrows4TX on being named Speaker of the House for our great state! Now the work begins to lead the #TxLege towards a new era of Good Governance!

I pray that every member of the #TxLege begins this legislative session with Texas in their hearts. Every elected official swears an oath to the U.S. Constitution and to that of this great state. Not to a faction, a donor, their own aspirations, or even a party. God Bless you all

The @UTPB @shepperdleaders bridges academic learning with real-world impact, recently hosting voices from government, education and student leadership on driving change through public service. Thanks to Rep. @BrooksLandgraf, Judge @DustinForEctor, @MayorLoriBlong, @UTPB Associate Professor Christopher Stanley and Student Body President Chidubem Njoku for inspiring West Texas' future leaders! #txlege @UTPBpres