By Trey Wilson, Texas Real Estate and Water Lawyer · Published October 2026 The State’s utility regulator has sued the Attorney General to keep two pieces of information about Texas data centers out of public view: the county each facility is in, and the regional water planning area it draws from. The headlines say the…
By Trey Wilson, Texas Real Estate and Water Lawyer · Published October 2026 The Texas Attorney General is investigating hundreds of data center developments for failing to report their water use to the State. If a data center is planned or running near your land, the investigation raises the question you have been asking all…
By Trey Wilson, Texas Real Estate and Water Lawyer · Published October 2026 The land agent was polite. The letter says the company wants to be a good neighbor, there is a check attached to a signature line, and the deadline is two weeks out. Before you sign a data center neighbor agreement, you need…
The San Antonio Data Center Lawsuit Won’t Pay the Neighbors. Texas Nuisance Law Might. What the Vantage and VoltaGrid Clean Air Act Case Means for Texas Landowners Living Next to a Data Center Power Plant On September 21, 2026, two national environmental groups sued the companies behind two data center campuses on San Antonio’s far…
By Trey Wilson, Texas Real Estate and Water Lawyer · Published October 2026 You signed an option, a purchase contract, or a ground lease with a data center developer. Now the State of Texas has frozen data center permits, and a letter arrives saying the freeze is “force majeure,” the deadlines are suspended, and the…
By Trey Wilson, Texas Real Estate and Water Lawyer · Published September 2026 The developer does not want to buy your land. It wants to lease it for 40 years, maybe 70 with extensions, and it has sent a letter of intent with a rent number that looks very good. Before you sign, understand what…
By Trey Wilson, Texas Real Estate and Water Lawyer · Published September 2026 · Local information last reviewed September 2026 Drive west on U.S. 90 out of San Antonio and the change is hard to miss. Land that was pasture and row crops a few years ago is fenced, graded, and under construction. If you…
By Trey Wilson, Texas Real Estate and Water Lawyer · Updated August 26, 2026 Across Texas, local governments are reaching for whatever authority they think they have to slow or stop data center development. Some of those tools are solid. Some are symbolic. At least one has already cost a county money. Here is my…
Governor Abbott Paused Texas Data Centers: What It Means for Landowners (and What It Doesn’t) Updated August 26, 2026. This is a developing situation, and the details will keep changing as the state audit runs. Since early August I have fielded a version of the same question from landowners across South and Central Texas: “The…
Lateral Support in Texas: The Duty Not to Undermine Your Neighbor’s Land Dig, cut, or grade near the property line, and the ground next door could become your legal problem. Here is the rule, and it does not turn on whether you were careful. Every parcel of land holds up the land beside it. Take…
Water Diversion and Section 11.086 of the Texas Water Code: What Landowners Should Know The statute that decides who pays when a neighbor’s grading, driveway, or new construction sends water onto your land. The water was never a problem for twenty-five years. Then someone changed the land next door. A neighbor built a wall, poured…
Will a Data Center Next Door Lower My Property Value? A Texas Landowner’s Guide to Diminished Value, Stigma, the Proof That Actually Wins, and What Happens When You Sell You have watched the announcements, the rezoning notices, and the survey trucks, and now a data center is going up within sight of your land. The…
Will a Data Center Drain My Water Well? A Texas Landowner’s Guide to Groundwater Ownership, the Rule of Capture, and Where You Actually Have Leverage When a Data Center Comes for the Water Your well has produced clean water for as long as you have owned the place, maybe longer than anyone in the family…
What if Data Center Lights or Noise Are Driving Me Crazy? A Texas Landowner’s Guide to Private Nuisance, the Crosstex Standard, and When a Data Center’s Hum and Glare Cross the Line The data center went online, and now your nights are different. A low mechanical hum rolls off the cooling banks and never stops,…
What Happens When Data Center Construction Floods My Land? A Texas Landowner’s Resource Guide to Surface Water Diversion, Water Code Section 11.086, and Drainage Claims Against Data Center Developers A developer strips the vegetation off a hundred acres next to you, regrades the whole tract so it falls toward your fence line, pours concrete pads…
The Texas Landowner’s Guide to Living Next to a Data Center What every Texas landowner should know when industrial development comes to the fence line. Trey Wilson Real Estate and Water Attorney. Representing Texas Landowners. Not Developers. Most of what has been written about data centers in Texas is written for the people building them….
A Texas Landowner’s Guide to Selling Property for a Data Center What Every Texas Landowner Should Know Before Signing an Option, Easement, or Purchase Agreement. By Trey Wilson, San Antonio Real Estate Attorney and Texas Water Lawyer. We represent Texas Landowners. Not Data Center Developers. Call 210-354-7600 What This Guide Covers What to do in…
Texas Real Estate & Water Law Blog When Government Construction Cuts Off Access to Your Property: A New Texas Court Explains When It Becomes a Constitutional Taking A road-widening project barricaded the only usable route to a Collin County ranch. The Dallas Court of Appeals just reminded us that when the government closes off the…
The Next Frontier of Texas Data Center Litigation: Challenging Governmental Approvals By Trey Wilson | San Antonio Real Estate Attorney | Texas Water Lawyer Every major development boom in Texas eventually ends up in court. We have seen it with pipelines, reservoirs, transmission lines, wind farms, master-planned communities, and virtually every other project requiring…
Rescission in Texas Real Estate Disputes: What It Is, When It Is Available, and Why It Is Hard to Win By Trey Wilson, San Antonio Real Estate Attorney and Texas Water Lawyer Rescission is one of the most powerful remedies potentially available in a Texas real estate dispute. It is also…
Same Gulf, Very Different Paths: Two Bets on Seawater Desalination in South Texas By Trey Wilson, San Antonio Real Estate Attorney and Texas Water Lawyer The Water Problem Is Not Theoretical South Texas is running short of water, and the numbers are not close. The Rio Grande Valley’s population of 1.4 million is projected…
Texas Data Centers and Water: Emerging Issues for Landowners and Water Users By Trey Wilson, San Antonio Real Estate Attorney and Texas Water Lawyer Texas is beginning to see a shift in how large-scale development is evaluated, particularly as it relates to data centers. These facilities have historically been viewed through the lens of economic…
Can You Stop a Dangerous Project Before It’s Built? A Texas Court Says Yes, If You Plead It Right By Trey Wilson, San Antonio Real Estate Attorney and Texas Water Lawyer One of the more important questions in land use and nuisance law is this: do you have to sit still and wait for the…
Here’s the complete slide deck from my 2026 presentation “What Every Texas Real Estate Broker Needs to Know About Groundwater.” I have thoroughly enjoyed giving this presentation and the audience feedback has been fantastic. Click on the arrows to advance to the next slide. Hope you enjoy!
By Trey Wilson, San Antonio Real Estate Attorney and Texas Water Lawyer Water has become one of the most important issues in Texas real estate. It affects value, use, development potential, financing, disclosure, and risk. Yet many Texas real estate brokers still approach water as an afterthought. That is a mistake. Across Texas, growth continues…
WHAT IS AN EASEMENT? An easement is a liberty, privilege, or advantage without profit granted to a person, either personally or by virtue of his ownership of a specified parcel of land, to use another parcel of land for a specific purpose. Daniel v. Fox, 917 S.W.2d 106, 110 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 1996, writ denied)….
In Texas, a prescriptive easement is one of the most common ways property owners end up in court over driveways, roads, and access routes. It is a claim that someone has earned a legal right to keep using part of your land, even though there is no written easement. Prescriptive easements are hard to prove,…
Texas is experiencing a major surge of large-scale data center announcements. The public conversation usually fixates on one headline number: a massive “state filing” with a nine-figure construction budget. Here is the reality. That “state filing” is vague and frequently misunderstood. It is usually not a plat. It is not a zoning case. It is…
When Flood Control Floods Your Land: Why a Recent Federal Court Opinion Matters to Texas Landowners By Trey Wilson, San Antonio Real Estate Attorney and Texas Water Lawyer Landowners in Texas live with water in a way most Americans do not. Rivers, creeks, arroyos, reservoirs, and flood-control projects shape how land can be used, developed,…
Proposed Texas Law Would Require New Disclosure Form to Record Real Estate Transfers By Trey Wilson, San Antonio Real Estate Attorney and Texas Water Lawyer A new bill filed in the Texas House by Representative Holt —House Bill 285—could significantly change the process for recording real property transfers in Texas. If passed, this law would…
What Is a Vara? Spanish and Mexican Land Measurements That Still Shape Texas Real Estate By Trey Wilson, San Antonio Real Estate Attorney and Texas Water Lawyer In Texas real estate law, words matter—and so do measurements. If you’ve spent any time combing through older deeds or boundary descriptions, you’ve likely run into the word…
Can a Texas HOA Restrict My Right to Harvest Rainwater or Maintain Rain Barrels? By Trey Wilson, Texas Real Estate and Water Lawyer Water conservation in Texas isn’t just smart policy—it’s backed by law. With drought cycles, population growth, and aquifer strain across the state, rainwater harvesting has become a protected activity. In fact, Section…
CURRENT LAW – THE LSIPA (2021) In 2021, the the Eighty-seventh Texas Legislature adopted the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act in order to prohibit “contracts or other agreements with certain foreign-owned companies in connection with critical infrastructure in this state.” The legislation that became the Act (SB 2116) was filed for the purpose of blocking…
The Texas Legislature has just begun its 89th Session, and proposed legislation has already been introduced to limit the ability of Texas property owners’ associations to impose fines for dried or browning vegetation during drought periods. House Bill 359 by Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D – Austin) proposes to add a new Section 202.008 to the…
INTRODUCTION In an Opinion issued on December 12, 2024, Texas’ 11th Court of Appeals out of Eastland, Tx. upheld the trial court’s dismissal of landowners’ claims that the visual appearance of a neighboring windfarm project constituted a nuisance. According to the Plaintiffs, they were entitled to an injunction and damages because the wind turbine…
TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FAVORS AGRICULTURE Texans are fond of saying that the Lone Star State is “Open for Business.” This tag line is often used by politicians to signify that Texas laws promote business and are welcoming for companies who desire to operate here. However, it cannot be overlooked that agriculture in all of its…
HOW IS THE GROUNDWATER ESTATE CHARACTERIZED RELATIVE TO LAND? The Texas Supreme Court has stated that percolating water is a “part of, and not different from, the soil” and the landowner is the “absolute” owner of it. Houston & T.C. Ry. Co. v. East, 98 Tex. 146, 81 S.W. 279, 281 (1904); see, e.g., City…
WHAT IS A LETTER OF INTENT? A letter of intent (also known as an “LOI”) is a writing (often a simple letter) designed to initiate a business or real estate transaction by summarizing or outlining the parties’ intended major deal pointst. LOIs reflect a preliminary commitment by the parties to transact business with one another,…
One of the elements of a fraud claim is reliance upon a misrepresentation made by the Defendant. This means that a Plaintiff must not only prove that the Defendant knowingly made a false representation of material fact, but also demonstrate that the Plaintiff in some way reasonably relied upon a deceitful representation. But not all…
What is Limitations? “Limitations” refers to the period within which a Plaintiff must file a lawsuit. Failure to file suit within the applicable limitations period can render the suit time-barred. The existence of limitations periods is grounded in the notion that justice requires suits to be brought within a reasonable time so that witness memories…