Texas's Batch Zero process turned data-center demand into an eligibility screen [1][2][3]

The prior file at ngtimes.org/2026/06/21/ferc-large-load-orders-start-ai-power-filing-clock asked for a public receipt before the frame hardened. Today's record supplies one, but it does not settle every claim.

The MSM frame is straightforward: Texas is sorting a massive large-load queue. The X frame is sharper and less patient: data centers are squatting on power they may never use. The paper's read is narrower. Land control, financing, prior studies, curtailment, and self-supply separate real demand from theater.

That matters because the public decision is no longer about whether the topic feels important. It is about which document, docket, table, filing, warning, vote, or operating record should control the next claim. The source stack gives the reader multiple anchors rather than one headline. [1][2][3]

The remaining gap is practical. The first batch's accepted projects and cost-protection terms remain the next receipts. Until that gap closes, the responsible headline is a receipt check, not a victory lap.

-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco