Demand Ellis County Require Community Consent Before Compass Gets Another Acre
Demand Ellis County Require Community Consent Before Compass Gets Another Acre
The Issue
Compass Datacenters has been expanding in Red Oak, Texas since 2019. It started with 165 acres. Then 225. Then 375 more. In May 2026, the Red Oak City Council approved an additional 830-acre campus. Compass now controls more than 1,000 acres in a single community.
More than 2,200 residents signed a petition opposing that approval.
Weeks later, Compass announced a $15 million grant to fund a new municipal animal shelter in Red Oak. The Ellis County Commissioners Court has not yet approved it. The SPCA of Texas closed its Ellis County care center in April 2025, and local volunteers have been filling the gap ever since. The need is real. But the timing is not a coincidence.
A $15 million animal shelter does not address noise, water consumption, strain on the power grid, traffic, or the concerns of residents who did not ask for a thousand acres of data centers in their community. It is a goodwill gesture designed to make opposition harder to sustain. Compass CEO Chris Crosby said the company plans to be "a 100-year neighbor to Ellis County." A hundred-year neighbor does not offer a shelter to quiet a petition. It sits down with the community before breaking ground.
We are calling on the Ellis County Commissioners Court and the Red Oak City Council to require a legally binding community benefits agreement before approving any further Compass expansion or accepting the $15 million grant as a condition of goodwill. That agreement should include independent environmental impact assessments, binding limits on water and power consumption, infrastructure investment commitments, and a community voice in future expansion decisions.
We are also calling on the Texas Legislature to require community impact hearings and binding benefits agreements for any data center campus above 500 acres before local approval is granted. Red Oak is not the only community in Texas watching this happen.
A shelter is not a substitute for consent.
Sign to demand Ellis County require a real community benefits agreement before Compass gets another acre.
108
The Issue
Compass Datacenters has been expanding in Red Oak, Texas since 2019. It started with 165 acres. Then 225. Then 375 more. In May 2026, the Red Oak City Council approved an additional 830-acre campus. Compass now controls more than 1,000 acres in a single community.
More than 2,200 residents signed a petition opposing that approval.
Weeks later, Compass announced a $15 million grant to fund a new municipal animal shelter in Red Oak. The Ellis County Commissioners Court has not yet approved it. The SPCA of Texas closed its Ellis County care center in April 2025, and local volunteers have been filling the gap ever since. The need is real. But the timing is not a coincidence.
A $15 million animal shelter does not address noise, water consumption, strain on the power grid, traffic, or the concerns of residents who did not ask for a thousand acres of data centers in their community. It is a goodwill gesture designed to make opposition harder to sustain. Compass CEO Chris Crosby said the company plans to be "a 100-year neighbor to Ellis County." A hundred-year neighbor does not offer a shelter to quiet a petition. It sits down with the community before breaking ground.
We are calling on the Ellis County Commissioners Court and the Red Oak City Council to require a legally binding community benefits agreement before approving any further Compass expansion or accepting the $15 million grant as a condition of goodwill. That agreement should include independent environmental impact assessments, binding limits on water and power consumption, infrastructure investment commitments, and a community voice in future expansion decisions.
We are also calling on the Texas Legislature to require community impact hearings and binding benefits agreements for any data center campus above 500 acres before local approval is granted. Red Oak is not the only community in Texas watching this happen.
A shelter is not a substitute for consent.
Sign to demand Ellis County require a real community benefits agreement before Compass gets another acre.
108
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Petition created on June 7, 2026