RCM Hill LLC
RCM Hill LLC is the data-centre developer behind Project Aquila, a 1,235 MW campus planned in Hill County, Texas, and plaintiff in the first Fifth Amendment taking suit against a US data-centre moratorium.
Last refreshed: 2 June 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Can a Texas county legally block a data centre, or does RCM Hill win?
Timeline for RCM Hill LLC
Filed $100m taking suit against Hill County challenging the moratorium on 28 May
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: Texas developer sues county over pause- What is RCM Hill LLC suing Hill County Texas for?
- RCM Hill LLC filed a $100 million lawsuit against Hill County on 28 May 2026, arguing the county's moratorium on its Project Aquila data-centre campus is an unconstitutional regulatory taking and that Texas counties lack the legal authority to impose such restrictions.Source: KWTX
- Why does RCM Hill face a 24 July 2026 deadline?
- ERCOT's queue reform requires developers holding interconnection positions to pay a binding deposit by a set date or lose their grid slot. RCM Hill owes $61.75 million by 24 July 2026 to retain its Project Aquila position, making a prolonged moratorium financially ruinous regardless of whether the lawsuit succeeds.Source: KWTX
- Do Texas counties have the power to stop data-centre projects?
- Texas counties hold weaker land-use authority than municipalities. They derive powers from specific state statutes rather than a general zoning grant. The Hill County commissioners' own attorney warned before the vote that the county lacked authority to impose the moratorium, which is the central legal question in RCM Hill's lawsuit.Source: KWTX
- What is a regulatory taking under the Fifth Amendment?
- A regulatory taking occurs when government action restricts the use of private property so severely that it effectively takes it from the owner without paying compensation. The Fifth Amendment requires just compensation when this happens. RCM Hill argues that Hill County's moratorium destroyed its investment-backed expectations in Project Aquila without compensation.Source: KWTX
Background
RCM Hill LLC is a data-centre development company that filed a landmark $100 million lawsuit against Hill County, Texas on 28 May 2026, challenging the county's moratorium on its Project Aquila campus as an unconstitutional regulatory taking under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and the Texas Constitution. The case is the first Fifth Amendment taking claim brought against a US data-centre moratorium, arguing the county lacked statutory authority to impose the pause and that, even if it had, the restriction destroyed investment-backed expectations worth more than $80 million in signed landowner contracts.
The company spent more than 16 months assembling land agreements covering the 800-plus-acre Project Aquila site in Hill County and secured an interconnection position in ERCOT's large-load queue requiring a $61.75 million deposit by 24 July 2026. That queue slot represents a concrete financial stake: ERCOT's deposit-deadline reforms were designed to eliminate speculative applicants, and the moratorium threatens to force RCM Hill to either forfeit the slot or pay the deposit while legally barred from breaking ground.
The case matters beyond one county. A developer win on ultra vires grounds would confirm that Texas counties lack zoning authority to impose moratoriums on specific land uses absent an express state statutory grant, deterring comparable pauses across the state. A taking-based win on damages would put a financial price on obstruction that small county governments could not easily absorb, potentially reshaping developer strategy in moratorium-threatened jurisdictions nationally.
