With dozens of data centers generating backlash across Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott backed away from an earlier embrace of the industry and is now calling for more regulation.

On Wednesday, Abbott’s office posted a letter the governor sent to the leaders of the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC), which regulates utility companies, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state’s grid operator.

The governor called for the PUC to “require data centers to fully fund the costs of electric infrastructure needed to serve their operations, preventing those costs from being passed on to residential ratepayers,” among other actions.

“Data centers must operate in ways that reduce costs for residential electricity customers, do not drain water needed for our communities, and take into consideration the needs of our neighborhoods,” Abbott said in a prepared statement.

The letter marks a stark shift in Abbott’s position on data center. Abbott has repeatedly touted Texas as the “the epicenter of AI development.” In a November press release announcing plans by Google to build more data centers in Texas, Abbott’s office said Texas is “where companies can pair innovation with expanding energy.”

Communities across the state are fighting back against an influx of data centers, many of which are planning to build their own natural gas-fired power plants or gas- or diesel-fired generators to supply power. These facilities can release vast amounts of climate-warming greenhouse gases, along with health-harming “criteria” air pollutants that form smog and soot.

Abbott’s letter to regulators does not mention air pollution and focuses mainly on data center developers who plan to get power from the state’s electric grid.