LEON COUNTY, Texas (KBTX) — For generations, families across the Brazos Valley have built their lives on rural land, but one Leon County woman says large-scale development is threatening the very thing that makes this place home.
Leon County is home to Rachel Streater, but for her family, land is more than just a plot on a map; it is a legacy.
“I have always seen this as my safe place,” Streater said.
Streater is a fifth-generation landowner in Marquez who said her property is in her blood. Friends travel from across the country to stay at her cottage, drawn to the peace of rural Leon County.
“Friends from all over will come and stay with me because they appreciate how peaceful and quiet and healing the space is,” she said.
However, her land has been under pressure for nearly a decade.
In 2016, the Streater family said they were approached by Cross Texas Transmission to install high-voltage power lines on their property, whether they liked it or not. Those transmission lines stretch from Limestone County through Leon County and into Grimes County.
“I don’t even feel comfortable walking under them the way I used to walk with my dogs back in the day,” Streater said.
Now, a 595-megawatt solar farm is moving in right on her property line. Energy company Repsol broke ground on the Pecan Prairie Solar Facility in October 2025. The 1,300-acre project is expected to be fully operational by 2027.
“All solar panels that used to be farm and ranch land,” Streater said. “I remember playing as a five-year-old little girl with all the kids in the field together, and that’s all going to be gone.”
Just in the past two weeks alone, Streater says she watched an entire forest disappear from her fence line.
“Huge pine trees that have been there for 30 plus years. There was a little peach tree that had grown up in the middle of the forest — and it’s all gone,” she said.
Streater said the destruction doesn’t stop when the sun goes down. Bright construction lights now flood her property at night, keeping her awake.
“Noise pollution by day, light pollution by night,” she voiced.
Streater says when she contacted the Leon County Sheriff’s Office about the light and noise, she was told there are no laws in rural Leon County to enforce. Her only legal recourse, she was told, would be to file a civil lawsuit.
However, the solar farm is just one piece of a bigger picture.
In Jewett, residents are fighting back against a proposed data center campus, called the Kahla Project, that would sit just a quarter mile from resident Daniel McCoslin’s family land.
McCoslin, whose family has farmed and ranched in Leon County for generations, said the community never wanted it.
“It’ll be the size of 30 Costcos, windowless buildings that constantly make noise, and it won’t do anything but destroy the environment and our rural way of life,” McCoslin said.
More than 200 Leon County residents packed a community meeting in Jewett in January 2026 to voice their opposition. County officials say they have invited Belltown Power to attend public meetings, but the company has declined.
These concerns stretch beyond Leon County.
Julie Hernandez lives in Grimes County, where multiple data centers have also been proposed. She says the same transmission line corridor running through Leon County runs through her community, too, and she says everyone should be paying attention.
“This is a statewide problem for anybody who loves the state of Texas, for anybody who wants to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Hernandez said.
The fight has even reached Washington. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently introduced a bill that would pause new data center construction nationwide, citing rising electricity costs, environmental concerns, and the strain on the power grid. A typical AI-focused data center consumes as much electricity as 100,000 households.
For Streater, McCoslin and Hernandez, the fight against large-scale development in rural Texas is just getting started. To Rachel, it is a fight that has brought something unexpected: a community united.
“We’re being called to re-establish our communities and our deep connections,” Streater said. “We’ve lost touch with that over the years, and this is a beautiful opportunity for all of us to share with transparency.”
Residents looking to get involved can connect with Citizens for Responsible Growth in Leon County on Facebook.
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