Texas data center leaders say shale boom offers lessons in winning community trust

Chris Crosby, CEO of Compass Datacenters, speaks on a panel during Energy Night at Southern Methodist University in Dallas on Sept. 17, 2026. (Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News)

The Dallas Morning News recently covered Chris Crosby speaking on a data center panel at Southern Methodist University’s Energy Night, hosted by the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity and the Lyle School of Engineering.

Industry leaders compared the current data center build-out to the shale revolution, pointing to community engagement and education as the lesson that carries over. Chris said Compass saw the parallel early and hired for government relations more than a year ago, which was uncommon for a data center company at the time.

He pointed to Red Oak as the model for responsible development: hundreds of on-site jobs, Compass as the city’s largest taxpayer and the workforce partnership with Texas State Technical College.

Read the full story in The Dallas Morning News.

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Compass Datacenters does data centers differently. The company develops and operates sustainable Class A, Community-First campuses guided by a 100-year neighbor philosophy that invests in the workforce, infrastructure, and well-being of every community it calls home. Backed by the institutional strength of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Brookfield Infrastructure and KKR, Compass delivers high-quality facilities at speed for the cloud and hyperscale customers driving today’s economy. By combining industrialized, prefabricated design with advanced hybrid cooling that uses no water during operations, responsible energy use, and zero-waste construction, Compass takes a more sustainable approach to digital infrastructure supporting the company’s built-to-last vision. The result is move-in ready capacity that scales efficiently and responsibly. Data Centers Done Differently.