Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — who has spent the past two years branding the state as the "epicenter" of AI development — reversed course this week, ordering a moratorium on new data center approvals until state regulators can audit the projects seeking to join Texas's power grid. In a Monday letter to the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which oversees roughly 90% of the state's grid, Abbott directed both agencies to conduct