AGP Executive Report

Livestock Emergency: USDA confirmed the New World screwworm in a 3-week-old calf in La Pryor/Zavala County, triggering quarantines and movement checks across a control zone as Texas ranchers brace for impacts on herds and beef prices. Energy & Grid: ERCOT is warning of near-10% higher summer peak demand, with data centers and crypto mining adding pressure, while Google and Intersect Power break ground on the Meitner Energy Center in the Panhandle—clean power plus storage with air cooling to avoid water withdrawals. Workforce & Licensing: Texas expanded electrician reciprocity with Ohio to speed licensing for master electricians and contractors. Utilities Consolidation: URECC completed the ETEC/NTEC merger, aiming to cut admin costs and strengthen risk management for wholesale power. Industrial/Tech Capital: SpaceX held its IPO price at $135/share as it prepares for a major listing; meanwhile, Hut 8’s proposed AI campus near Robstown moves forward amid unresolved water and power questions. Consumer & Health Watch: Texas AG Ken Paxton opened an investigation into Celsius/Alani Nu marketing to teens over caffeine safety concerns.

Data Centers & Power: Google and Intersect broke ground on the Meitner Energy Center in Texas Panhandle (Gray/Roberts counties), pairing a new 1+ GW data center with wind/solar/battery plus on-site gas for reliability—while Hill County rescinded its data-center moratorium after a lawsuit. Local Governance: In San Angelo, a citizen recall effort expanded from Mayor Tom Thompson to City Council members over transparency and Skybox data center concerns. Agriculture & Biosecurity: USDA confirmed the New World screwworm in a South Texas calf, triggering quarantine zones, sterile-fly releases, and trapping as officials warn of serious livestock impacts; Mississippi says its food supply remains safe. Energy & Markets: IMF warned global oil inventories could drop to a five-year low as Iran-related supply disruptions ripple through prices. Food & Consumer Services: Texas DSHS began accepting applications for a statewide mobile food vendor license under a new law. Legal/Politics: Texas AG Ken Paxton launched an investigation into Celsius marketing to protect children from high caffeine. Maritime Workforce: Maritime Throwdown and We Work the Waterways teamed up to link hands-on crew training with career outreach.

Livestock Health Alert: USDA confirmed the New World screwworm in a three-week-old calf in Zavala County near the Mexico border, triggering quarantine and sterile-fly releases as Texas ranchers brace for potential beef-price pressure. Energy & Markets: Oil slipped after recent gains, with Brent around $97.14/bbl and WTI near $95.40 as traders weighed global risk and U.S. inventory data. Semiconductors & Local Economy: Grimes County commissioners moved ahead with a reinvestment zone for SpaceX’s Terafab chip plant despite resident pushback, setting up later tax-abatement votes. Industrial Tech: Siemens unveiled a new 3D electrical design workflow in its Capital software to better connect wiring and mechanical design. Water & Data Centers: Colfax County officials discussed how “closed-loop” cooling claims may understate long-term water needs for future data centers. Critical Minerals: LibertyStream delivered its first U.S. tonne of lithium carbonate from Texas operations, advancing customer qualification and scaling plans. Energy Infrastructure: Expro extended a Gulf of America contract, continuing subsea completion and intervention work.

Grid Reliability: Gov. Greg Abbott announced a Texas Energy Fund grant to Southwestern Electric Power to upgrade about 700 miles of Northeast Texas power equipment, targeting reliability for 192,000 customers. Water & Data Centers: Google unveiled a Texas Water Impact Fund to support community water sources and infrastructure, aiming to reduce data-center impacts. Energy Storage Buildout: esVolta upsized its corporate credit facility to as much as $450M to develop utility-scale battery projects across ERCOT and other regions. Lithium Supply Chain: LibertyStream delivered its first U.S. tonne of lithium carbonate from a Texas facility, moving from production to customer delivery. Industrial Tech in Texas: Xenix Medical received FDA clearance for its Riva posterior fixation system, starting full commercial rollout. Agriculture Biosecurity: USDA reported a first suspected New World screwworm case in South Texas, with lab testing underway and response teams activated. Local Water Stress: Corpus Christi approved drought water-use restrictions but delayed a desalination decision. Capital & Mining: Range Impact secured $10M from Tacora Capital for distressed coal property work in Appalachia. Policy & Workforce: Texas Tech CIO Lin Zhou was appointed to guide the state’s Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee.

Cotton & Commodities: ICE cotton futures climbed as a weaker U.S. dollar boosted export competitiveness and weather risks lingered in major producing regions; India’s move to suspend duty-free cotton imports earlier than expected tightened supply. AI & Legal Tech: A growing “token price” problem is pushing legal AI users to rethink how they deploy models, with rising costs tied to more agent-like workflows and heavier document use. Public Health Funding: The CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System faces steep cuts under a proposed budget, raising alarms as a new COVID “cicada” variant spreads. Texas Energy Costs: A key driver behind soaring summer electric bills is supply-side strain—demand rising faster than new generation—so wholesale power costs flow through to customers. Oil & Gas (Gulf): Subsea7 won a multimillion-dollar U.S. Gulf contract for Murphy’s String Music development, with Houston-based engineering starting now. Water Infrastructure (Corpus Christi): Corpus Christi delayed a near-$1B desalination decision, as drought pressure mounts and environmental concerns remain. Texas Tech Sports: Texas and Texas Tech meet again in the Women’s College World Series finals, with ESPN carrying the matchup. Houston Logistics: A CPKC derailment in northwest Houston disrupted roads and highlighted ongoing rail infrastructure strain. Health Tech (Texas): Rice and Baylor will join BrainGate, expanding brain-computer interface work to help people with paralysis control assistive devices.

Border Biosecurity: USDA says the New World screwworm fly is now detected just 25 miles from the Texas-Mexico border, with federal plans to keep livestock ports closed during a new sterile-fly facility buildout in South Texas. Public Health: Texas adds a new newborn screening test for GAMT deficiency, expanding universal rare-condition screening to 60 disorders. Energy & Critical Minerals: T5 Smackover Partners signs a binding offtake deal with Glencore for lithium carbonate from East Texas, aiming to move Phase 1 output to market. Industrial Growth: J-Star Holding outlines key milestones for a proposed Baytown solid-state battery plant, including financing authorization and a site commitment, while DOE review continues. Business Moves: Samsung confirms it’s relocating its U.S. headquarters from New Jersey to Texas by end of 2026. Legal & Food Supply: Texas AG investigates glyphosate residue in food from major companies including Bayer and PepsiCo. Infrastructure & Safety: Houston’s Columbia Tap Trail adds 300 solar-powered lights to improve visibility ahead of the World Cup.

Defense Shipbuilding: Davie Defense broke ground on a modernization of Gulf Copper shipyards in Galveston and Port Arthur, targeting up to $1B in investment and about 2,400 jobs as it prepares to build U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers. Energy Markets: Oil prices jumped about 8% amid US–Iran tension headlines, rattling global supply expectations and lifting both Brent and WTI. Grid & Water Resilience: Rockport and Aransas County are using flood-monitoring sensors to improve early warnings and planning, while the Aransas County Navigation District advanced a five-year master plan for harbor projects seeking future TxDOT and legislative support. AI & Labor: A Dallas Fed survey finds two-thirds of Texas businesses use AI, with some executives saying it’s reducing the need for workers even as productivity gains continue. Texas Business & Industry: Samsung is moving its U.S. headquarters to Texas, and Houston-based Expro is acquiring Norway’s Enhanced Drilling to expand managed pressure drilling capabilities. Local Growth & Construction Services: Waste Kings Demolition is expanding full-service demolition operations in Round Rock, and Precision Concrete Coating launched premium garage floor coating services in Conroe.

Semiconductor Supply Chain Crunch: A new feature argues the CHIPS Act’s demand signal is colliding with a specialty chemicals supply-chain gap that could slow Texas and other fab timelines. Solar Manufacturing Push: SEG Solar says it will build a third U.S. module factory in Greater Houston, targeting 10.6 GW of annual capacity, with commercial production slated for 2027. Grid Resilience in Houston: CenterPoint Energy outlines hurricane-season readiness after Hurricane Beryl, including tree trimming, new poles and equipment, more automation, and more underground lines. ERCOT Power Finance: Vesper Energy closed $236M financing for its 201 MW Nazareth Solar project in Swisher County, aimed at adding reliable generation to the Texas grid. Data Center Power Debate: A report highlights regulators’ push for proof that real-time electricity data and smarter demand management can lower bills as data centers expand in Texas. Local Business Expansion: Smalls Sliders signs a multi-unit deal for four locations in the Rio Grande Valley, with the first planned for Brownsville. Public Safety/Enforcement: Bryan police report three arrests in a drug trafficking investigation involving firearms, body armor, and narcotics. Workplace Safety Training: Galveston District Champions completed OSHA Basic Forklift Operation Certification, renewing skills for safer operations. Agriculture Update: USDA data shows the U.S. dairy herd is at its largest since mid-1993, supporting continued milk production growth.

Texas Energy & Infrastructure: The EIA says about 44.9B ft³/d of new U.S. natural gas pipeline capacity is slated for 2026-27, with roughly 70% already under construction and more than 66% of additions coming from Texas—aimed at easing Permian takeaway bottlenecks and feeding LNG export terminals plus power, residential and industrial demand. Semiconductors & Manufacturing: Siemens and Samsung Foundry are deepening their collaboration for advanced-node design enablement, including qualifying Siemens EDA tools for Samsung’s next 2nm process and expanding advanced packaging work. Corporate Moves in Texas: Samsung Electronics plans to shift its U.S. headquarters from New Jersey to Plano, moving about 1,000 employees, as it continues to concentrate operations across Texas. AI Data Center Hardware: HPE unveiled a new ProLiant server line powered by NVIDIA Vera CPU, built for agentic AI and data workloads—another sign of Texas’ growing compute buildout. Critical Minerals: USA Rare Earth says it will expand its France investments—potentially over €175M through 2030—to grow the mine-to-magnet supply chain and add 300+ jobs. Global Energy Markets: Oil jumped more than 2% as Middle East tensions raised fears of supply disruptions and Strait of Hormuz risk. Clean Energy Jobs: A new report finds clean energy manufacturing is supporting hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs, with Texas among the top states for solar module capacity.

Fleet Tech: Motive rolled out AI Dashcam Plus and AI Omnicam Plus at Vision 2026, pairing telematics with on-camera AI processing to push automated fleet management for Texas-heavy sectors like construction, energy, and passenger transport. Cybersecurity & Travel: Carnival says a social-engineering attack on its IT system exposed sensitive data, potentially affecting 800,000+ Texans—an issue for Gulf cruise hubs like Houston and Galveston. Energy & Renewables: Texas wind projects are reportedly stalled as the Defense Department delays federal permits tied to military airspace reviews, raising concerns about grid and consumer impacts. Semiconductors: Samsung’s Taylor, Texas fab cleared a major milestone, with production now targeted for 2027 after years of schedule slips. Health & Safety: Air quality alerts hit parts of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, with “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy” conditions raising risks for children and people with respiratory or heart issues. AI Policy: AI governance is splintering into multiple legal fights, including copyright claims and new frameworks aligning with EU and California rules. Healthcare Breakthrough: ASCO reports daraxonrasib nearly doubles progression-free and overall survival in second-line metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Energy & Markets: Exxon’s top executive Neil Chapman warned energy prices could spike sharply as crude inventories hit unusually low levels, with oil futures sliding after hopes for a US-Iran ceasefire and Strait of Hormuz shipping relief. Texas Energy Infrastructure: A new pipeline buildout is accelerating, with Texas slated to supply more than two-thirds of planned US natural gas pipeline capacity additions for 2026-2027, driven by Permian gas demand and LNG exports. AI Power & Data Centers: Residents in Moore Station fear a proposed solar project could strain local water supplies, while New Mexico’s Santa Teresa data-center fight underscores how AI-driven power demand is reshaping grid and water planning. Industrial Safety: Questions are mounting after a Longview, Washington paper mill chemical disaster, as investigators from the US Chemical Safety Board arrive and families press for answers. Healthcare Tech: UT MD Anderson researchers highlighted results on a radiation implant for brain metastases at ASCO 2026. Agriculture: Texas peach growers face tough losses after freeze damage, and ranchers watch a New World screwworm threat creeping toward Texas that could push beef prices higher. Policy & Trade: The Trump administration is challenging a court order expanding tariff refunds to all importers, even as early refund processing begins.

Energy Markets: Crude prices slid to six-week lows as U.S.-Iran ceasefire extension hopes eased fears around Strait of Hormuz reopenings, with WTI July settling near $87.36. Local Economy & Industry: Galveston Wharves is seeding maritime workforce talent with a new endowment at Galveston College, backed by $40,000 from its 2025 bicentennial. Tech & Manufacturing: Tesla’s Cybercab began production at Giga Texas and was certified at 165 Wh/mi, a new efficiency benchmark for autonomous EV ride-hailing. Space & Defense Supply Chain: NASA’s MoonFall mission awarded Cedar Park-based Firefly Aerospace a $75M subcontract to deliver four drones to the lunar south pole. Agriculture & Public Health: A Yale study links living near factory farms to higher cancer risk, including stronger ties to lung/bronchus cancer in Texas. Legal/Regulatory: The U.S. Supreme Court approved a Rio Grande compact settlement, ending a long-running Texas water dispute. Infrastructure & Safety: TxDOT plans I-35 bridge closures in Austin starting Friday night for construction.

Patent & IP: A Texas federal judge signed off on LG’s deal to end its patent infringement suit against a Chinese company, closing a fight that had drawn attention from the U.S. Patent Office. Ag Innovation: Texas A&M AgriLife is pushing peanut breeding focused on nutrition, shelf life and drought resilience, including high-oleic varieties that help producers compete in specialized markets. Energy & Markets: Oil slid to a six-week low as traders bet on a possible U.S.-Iran truce extension, easing Strait of Hormuz fears. Data Centers & Water: A new look at AI infrastructure highlights water as the next siting constraint, with cooling and wastewater capacity becoming deal drivers. Retail Real Estate: Retail CRE is entering a new phase as investors lean on AI and shifting consumer behavior to reshape leasing and dealmaking. Public Works: TxDOT road work is driving lane closures on Highway 83/90, while METRO plans to reopen Southwest Freeway HOV/HOT ramps at Westpark ahead of World Cup traffic. Food & Community: Fort Hood cut the ribbon on a new Barrack 101 to expand housing for Soldiers.

Public Health: A new CDC report on the 2025 measles outbreak centered in West Texas says 60 people were hospitalized, with nearly 91% under 18 and most cases tied to unvaccinated or unknown vaccination status. Energy & Markets: Oil prices slid as hopes grew for a 60-day U.S.-Iran ceasefire extension, easing pressure on global fuel expectations even as the Strait of Hormuz remains the key risk point. Texas Policy & Finance: Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock named members to a new Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Advisory Committee to guide valuation, risk, and custody policies. Tech & Manufacturing: SunHydrogen says it installed upgraded hydrogen modules at UT Austin’s Hydrogen ProtoHub, with early field performance matching lab-validated efficiency targets. Autonomous Mobility: Texas DMV filings show Tesla’s robotaxi fleet is still tiny in-state (42 vehicles) versus Waymo’s 577. Safety & Infrastructure: Dallas investigators say a gas leak likely sparked an apartment explosion that killed three, including a child. Agriculture & Trade: U.S. cattle herd numbers hit a 75-year low, a squeeze that could keep beef prices elevated. Logistics & Local Business: A new food truck park at Chase Field Airport opens June 5 to serve workers and visiting pilots.

Aviation & Training: The FAA is partnering with Angelo State University in Texas to expand its fast-track air traffic controller training, letting students skip the Oklahoma City FAA Academy and move straight into on-site facility training. Energy Storage: Goshe Energy Storage secured a $40 million strategic debt facility from S2G Investments and says its first 100 MW ERCOT battery asset is now fully operational, with more projects nearing construction and commissioning. Semiconductors & Industry: Texas Instruments CEO Haviv Ilan discussed the company’s capacity expansion phase and improving cash flow outlook at Bernstein’s strategic conference. Grid & Transmission Debate: Texans for Responsible Infrastructure Investment pushed back on Texas Public Policy Foundation transmission claims, arguing Permian Basin demand is the main driver behind ERCOT 765-kV planning. Consumer & Retail: Sam’s Club is leaning into member engagement with a campaign featuring Jason Sudeikis, highlighting how Texas-based members help shape products. Logistics Tech: Port of New Orleans and the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad are deploying AI rail planning to speed routing for oversized industrial cargo. Agriculture: The FTC opened an industry-wide probe into fertilizer price spikes affecting Texas farmers amid Hormuz-related shipping disruptions. Infrastructure: Killeen reopened Gilmer Street after a major reconstruction project, including utility upgrades and ADA improvements.

Texas Water & Courts: The U.S. Supreme Court approved a settlement to curb groundwater pumping and retire some water rights along the Rio Grande, aiming to stabilize supplies for New Mexico and Texas. Energy & Trade: Oil markets reacted to renewed Iran-Hormuz risk as traders priced faster normalization, while a U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve shipment to California underscored shifting crude routes. AI & Manufacturing: Siemens says Quanta Computer is using its Xcelerator software to cut product development timelines and tighten the design-to-factory “digital thread.” Industrial Tech & Logistics: Fixico and Caliber teamed up to offer a connected fleet-repair workflow across collision, glass, and diagnostics. Data Centers & Power/Water Pressure: Lockhart moved to regulate future data centers and crypto mining, while Stamford-area reporting shows West Texas communities bracing for the Google-led AI buildout. Texas Politics: Ken Paxton’s runoff win over John Cornyn sets up a high-stakes November Senate showdown. Uranium: Global Atomic reported renewed Niger government backing for its Dasa uranium project.