Amazon's Texas gas plant could emit 33M tons of CO2, worst in US

Amazon is backing a new natural-gas power plant in West Texas that could become one of the largest single sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The facility, called GW Ranch in Pecos County, Texas, is equipped with 35 natural-gas turbines and will generate 7.65 gigawatts of electricity—enough to power roughly 5.7 million homes. Notably, the plant will not initially connect to Texas's power grid; instead, its entire output is designated for a new Amazon data center nearby. Texas regulators granted GW Ranch a permit allowing up to 33 million tons of CO2 emissions annually, which exceeds the emissions cap of the largest coal plant in the country. Amazon has confirmed it purchased the site and plans to purchase power from GW Ranch. While plants rarely emit their full permitted amounts, the lax pollution limits underscore how rapidly AI infrastructure is reshaping energy priorities.

The move reflects a wider trend: Meta, Google, and other tech giants are increasingly building their own power plants, turning to natural gas, coal, and other non-renewable sources to meet the voracious energy demands of AI data centers. The Trump administration has actively pushed to relax environmental restrictions on such projects. For Amazon, GW Ranch represents a significant challenge to its Climate Pledge, where founder Jeff Bezos committed to making the company carbon neutral by 2040. Amazon's emissions have already climbed for several consecutive years due to AI expansion. Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan acknowledged the shift, telling The New York Times, "The world looks different now than when we co-founded the climate pledge," while insisting the company's "commitment hasn't changed." Even if GW Ranch only emits a fraction of its allowable CO2, it will still substantially inflate Amazon's carbon footprint and complicate its climate goals.