Woman Says Texas City Is In Deep Trouble Over How ‘Secret’ Deal With Data Center. What Happened?

What began as a nearly free land donation intended to benefit a northeast Texas community has turned into a multi-million-dollar dispute over a data center project. There are now allegations that city officials overlooked or ignored the legal limits on the property.

A viral TikTok clip from Sulphur Springs resident Jaime Mitchell (@jmitchell_truth) spells out much of the intrigue and concern about the data center being pushed by city leaders. Mitchell claims the original intent of the donated land, totaling about 5,000 acres, has been disregarded in the name of attracting a commercial project.

“It was a series of choices made behind closed doors that violated the agreements that Sulphur Springs signed,” she said in the clip that’s been viewed more than 34,000 times. “It's not a conspiracy, it's a paper trail. And now the truth is louder than City Hall.”

A land gift with strings attached

The controversy traces back to 2019, when Sulphur Springs accepted a donation of nearly 4,900 acres of land from Vistra, the former owner of the Thermo coal mine site located between Highway 11 and FM 1870. At the time, local officials touted the deal as a major win for the city, giving Sulphur Springs control of a vast tract of land at little or no cost.

But the donation came with a key restriction: the property could not be used for commercial power generation. That condition was written into the original deed, which the city signed. Such restrictions are common in large land transfers, particularly involving former industrial sites, and are often intended to limit environmental, infrastructure, or competitive impacts.

Reporting by Northeast Texas Public Radio at the time described the land gift as an opportunity for long-term economic development. However, details about how the property would ultimately be used remained open-ended.

Fast forward several years, and the same land is now central to a proposed data center project tied to MSB Global, a firm that has pursued large-scale digital infrastructure projects in multiple states. The city partnered with a local entity associated with the developer, SSDC1, to advance plans for the facility.

Mitchell and other critics say the project depends on massive on-site power generation, including references in agreements and public statements to power plants and microgrids. In her TikTok video, Mitchell claims the project could require up to 3 gigawatts of power, a figure that, if accurate, would place it among the region's more energy-intensive data center developments.

City officials have said the project represents a significant economic opportunity, though details about power sourcing, infrastructure buildout, and long-term utility impacts have not been fully disclosed publicly.

The dispute escalated after the city transferred portions of the donated land to the developer. According to Mitchell and confirmed in subsequent legal filings, the latter deed did not include the original restriction barring commercial power generation. Mitchell also claims the city failed to provide Vistra with the required notice before transferring the land, as stipulated in the original agreement.

Those actions prompted Vistra to issue a cease-and-desist letter. The city responded by filing suit, and Vistra then countersued the city, MSB Global, and SSDC1. The litigation is ongoing, and the claims and counterclaims have not yet been resolved in court.

KETK has reported that the city disputes allegations of wrongdoing, arguing that the restriction was not properly flagged and that no intentional misconduct occurred. City leaders have also addressed conflict-of-interest allegations raised by residents, though they deny any personal benefit from the deal.

Backlash and unanswered questions

The legal fight has played out alongside a growing public backlash, fueled in large part by Mitchell’s TikTok videos and online discussion. Commenters have raised concerns about transparency, utility rate increases, strain on the regional power grid, and whether taxpayers could ultimately be responsible for legal costs or settlement payments.

Mitchell has said she has filed public information requests seeking records related to the deal, including communications and agreements, but has not yet received full responses. City officials have not publicly released all requested documents, citing the ongoing litigation.

For some residents, the issue goes beyond a single project. They see the dispute as emblematic of broader tensions facing small and mid-sized Texas cities as they compete for large-scale data centers and tech investment while navigating aging infrastructure, land-use restrictions, and public trust.

Texas has become a national hotspot for data center development, driven by relatively low energy costs, available land, and a business-friendly regulatory climate. But as projects grow larger and more power-hungry, conflicts over land use, grid capacity, and transparency have become more common, particularly in rural and semi-rural communities.

In Sulphur Springs, the outcome of the Vistra lawsuit could determine whether the project moves forward, is restructured, or is halted altogether. It could also shape how cities across the state approach donated land, deed restrictions, and economic development deals in the future.

For now, the dispute remains unresolved. But as Mitchell puts it in her video, the next chapter may hinge less on viral attention and more on what judges find in the paperwork, and what was left out.

Patch has reached out to Mitchell via direct message and comment on the clip. We’ll update this if she responds.

@jmitchell_truth