Amazon is backing a large natural gas power plant in Texas to power an AI data centre, in a project that could become one of the biggest single sources of climate pollution in the United States. The move follows a broader trend among AI companies bypassing grid connections and permitting scrutiny by generating their own power, raising concerns that public resistance to such projects is proving largely ineffective despite growing community and legal opposition.

The Texas facility, Amazon's first major investment in an off-grid data centre, would supply a planned project in Pecos County and could be permitted to emit 33 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Amazon says the arrangement avoids straining the grid or raising local electricity costs, and insists it remains committed to its Climate Pledge of net-zero emissions by 2040, but it declined to address concerns about the plant's pollution impact. The development mirrors similar moves by xAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and Oracle, and comes as the Trump administration favours fast-tracked approvals over stricter environmental review, even as groups such as the NAACP pursue legal action over gas turbine use at rival AI facilities.