Texas Rep. Harris touts SMRs for data centers, produced water treatment in House hearing
Source: Forbes Breaking News · All Forbes Breaking News reports
Unlock the full scoreboard
Letter grade, factuality, lean, and rationales — free with registration. No card required.
See grades free How grading works
Already have an account? Sign in. The full report below is free to read.
Embed this grade
Disagree with this grade or political lean?
Flagging is open to every reader with a free account. Sign in or create one to dispute this report.
Topics in this report
Summary
In a House subcommittee hearing, Rep. Jake Ellzey questioned Texas state Rep. Trent Harris on federal-state partnerships for water and electric infrastructure. Harris advocated granting states like Texas primacy in regulatory matters, especially site selection for small modular reactors (SMRs), to accelerate permitting during a 'nuclear renaissance.' He described SMRs, particularly Natura Resources' molten salt design, as solutions for powering data centers, treating brackish groundwater, and desalinating the state's produced water from oil and gas operations. Harris noted Texas produces about 60 million barrels of produced water daily, most of which is reinjected, and highlighted the legislature-created Produced Water Consortium partnering with Natura. When asked about Congress's role, Harris suggested rolling back outdated federal regulations but otherwise letting Texas proceed independently. The session shifted to Rep. Ellis questioning Harris on end-of-life disposal challenges for wind turbines and solar panels, with Harris describing blades and panels as difficult to recycle, often left in fields or buried, and arguing they appear cheap only when full system costs are ignored.
Editorial Assessment
The segment accurately conveys Texas's aggressive push into advanced nuclear, including real partnerships between Natura Resources, universities, the Produced Water Consortium, and NGL Water Solutions for using reactor heat in desalination. Viewers receive a clear picture of SMRs as dual-purpose for energy and water but miss that federal agencies (NRC, DOE) are already deeply involved through construction permits, GAIN vouchers, and funding—undercutting the 'let Texas roll' narrative. The produced-water volume cited exceeds recent Permian-specific estimates of 20-24 million barrels per day, though statewide totals including other basins are higher. On renewables, the focus on visible blade graveyards and rare-earth issues is factual but selective; blades are ~10-15% of turbine mass, most other components recycle easily, and global projections show blade waste far smaller than coal ash or municipal waste. Overall framing promotes nuclear and fossil-fuel co-development while portraying wind/solar primarily through their waste liabilities, potentially skewing perception of relative environmental footprints without lifecycle comparisons.
Key Moments
Texas produces about 60 million barrels of produced water a day, mostly reinjected
Recent data show Permian Basin alone at 20-24 million bbl/day in 2025-2026; statewide injection ~10-11 billion barrels annually (~30M bbl/day average) but Harris's figure appears inflated.
Natura Resources' molten salt SMR can use brackish groundwater for cooling, yielding distilled water as byproduct for produced-water treatment
Natura's MSR-100 is explicitly partnered with Texas Produced Water Consortium, NGL, and universities to pair reactor heat with thermal desalination; DOE-backed and progressing toward 2029 deployment.
Federal government should grant Texas primacy on SMR site selection to expedite building
NRC retains exclusive authority over construction/operation licensing of utilization facilities; Texas is an Agreement State for certain materials but federal primacy on reactors is codified and subject to ongoing litigation.
Wind turbine blades and solar panels are difficult to dispose of, often buried or left in fields after taxpayer subsidies
Blades are primarily landfilled in the U.S. after ~20-year life; however, they comprise small fraction of turbine mass (steel, concrete recycle well), recycling tech is advancing, and lifecycle waste per MWh is orders of magnitude below coal.
Wind and solar only appear cheap when full system costs including recycling and remediation are ignored
Levelized cost analyses increasingly incorporate externalities; claim aligns with critic talking points but omits that nuclear also carries high capital, decommissioning, and waste-management costs not fully internalized in many comparisons.
Notable Concerns
- Overstated produced-water volume (60M bbl/day vs. ~20-24M in Permian alone)
- Limited discussion of nuclear waste, licensing timelines, or cost overruns seen in other SMR projects
- One-sided emphasis on renewable disposal without equivalent scrutiny of nuclear decommissioning
Sources Consulted
- Natura receives MSR safety approval
- Texas partnership evaluates SMR use for water desalination
- Natura, NGL Move to Pair Nuclear Molten Salt Reactors with Large-Scale Produced-Water Treatment in Permian
- Comments: Texas Explores Beneficial Reuse as Produced-Water Flows Top 24 Million B/D
- Turbine Blades Have Piled Up in Landfills. A Solution May Be Coming.
- Most used wind turbine blades go to waste, but their footprint is still relatively small
- Energy Department Awards $94 Million to American Companies to Help Expedite the Deployments of Small Modular Reactors
- Momentum is building to meet electricity demand in Texas with small nuclear reactors