Bastrop Jobs Pulse, Oct 21: Hiring Holds Steady as TCEQ Tightens the Data-Center Pause
The state’s data-center permit pause got more specific this week. Bastrop County’s biggest hiring boards barely noticed.
On Tuesday, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) posted its October 19 letter to Gov. Greg Abbott. It says the agency “has paused the issuance of all permits related to the construction or development of infrastructure directly supporting data centers.” It also says TCEQ is screening “claimed authorizations,” such as construction stormwater coverage, and “where possible, is suspending such authorizations for data center activities.”
The same morning, Pacifico Energy still listed 28 on-site jobs in Cedar Creek. That number has not moved in more than two weeks. SpaceX listed 542 Bastrop roles. EdgeConneX and CoreWeave kept hiring in Texas, but neither posted a job tagged to Bastrop or Cedar Creek.
Counts below come from each company’s own public job board, read Wednesday morning (about 7:10 a.m. Central). We compare against last Wednesday, October 14. We only list titles that appear on a company’s own board. A job post is a hiring signal. It is not a permit, and it is not a promise of local headcount.
At a glance
| Company | Oct 14 | Oct 21 | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| SpaceX / Starlink (Bastrop) | 541 | 542 | Flat week over week; 545 on Tuesday |
| Pacifico (Rippling) | 50 / 28 Cedar Creek | 53 / 28 Cedar Creek | Cedar Creek on-site unchanged |
| Pacifico (Recruitee) | 20 / 7 Texas | 15 / 7 Texas | Texas count unchanged |
| CoreWeave (Texas-tagged) | 52 | 58 | Global 305 to 322; no Bastrop tag |
| EdgeConneX (unique postings) | 42 | 48 | New Austin security roles; no Bastrop tag |
| Boring Company (Bastrop lines) | 45 | 45 | Unchanged |
| Amazon Data Services (Bastrop / Cedar Creek) | 0 | 0 | Land is not a campus |
Pacifico: 28 Cedar Creek jobs, no permit movement
Board: Pacifico Energy careers on Rippling
Pacifico’s main board lists 53 roles, up from 50 last Wednesday. The one new posting since Tuesday is a Civil and Structural Engineer (Power Generation) based in Dallas. The 28 Cedar Creek on-site roles are the same construction-side team we have tracked for weeks, including Civil / Structural Construction Manager, Civil Engineer, Civil QA Inspector, Commissioning Manager, and Electrical Construction Manager. The older Pacifico board on Recruitee shows 15 roles globally and 7 in Texas.
Here is the permitting side, kept separate on purpose. Community Impact reported Tuesday that permit applications tied to Pacifico’s Project Longhorn “had not been approved or advanced as of Oct. 20.” The state building-registration filing for Project Longhorn Building One still lists a November 30, 2026 start date. That is a registration estimate, not an approval to build.
Acreage numbers also differ by source. KVUE reported that a Lost Pines Watch map shows about 2,200 acres Pacifico is trying to buy, while a map Pacifico shared with the station shows its current proposal (two data centers plus a power plant) on about 600 acres. KVUE also reported that no ground has been broken.
SpaceX / Starlink: steady near 540
Board: SpaceX careers, Bastrop filter
SpaceX lists 542 Bastrop roles, one more than last Wednesday and three fewer than Tuesday. Two Bastrop titles were new since Tuesday: Sr. Supplier Development Engineer (Starlink) and Technical Recruiter, Security.
Five Bastrop postings closed since Tuesday, including Sr. Counsel, Real Estate & Infrastructure; Manager, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Production (Starlink); and Manager, Machine Maintenance (Starlink). A closed post can mean the role was filled or pulled. The board does not say which, so we do not read anything into it.
The public comment period on SpaceX’s separate TCEQ air permit 182733 (the aluminum furnace permit discussed at the October 15 public meeting) runs through Friday, October 23. That permit is not a data-center permit.
CoreWeave and EdgeConneX: Texas hiring, still no Bastrop tag
CoreWeave (careers): 58 Texas-tagged roles, up from 52 last Wednesday, and 322 globally. New Texas titles since Tuesday include Data Center Manager in Plano and two Dallas roles (Senior Accountant, Operations Accounting, and Senior Productivity Platforms Developer). None is tagged Bastrop or Cedar Creek. CoreWeave is named in public records as the occupant of EdgeConneX’s first Cedar Creek building on FM 535, but its local permanent headcount is not visible on any public board.
EdgeConneX (careers, job board): 48 unique postings, up from 42 last Wednesday. Austin now has four: Technical Program Manager, Engineering; Global Talent Acquisition Partner (Americas); Principal, Security Design; and Security Systems & Technology Engineer, Americas. None names Bastrop or Cedar Creek.
That matters for the permit question. TCEQ says post-pause stormwater authorizations were suspended, according to a spokesman quoted by the Texas Tribune. Community Impact, at press time Tuesday, still saw the stormwater coverage for EdgeConneX’s second Bastrop County campus listed as active. We have not been able to confirm that specific record’s status, so we are treating it as unresolved.
Boring, Amazon, and local openings
- The Boring Company (careers): 45 Bastrop location lines, unchanged.
- Amazon Data Services (AWS data center jobs): zero Bastrop or Cedar Creek postings. Owning land is not the same as running a campus.
- Greenport, Wyldwood Studios, Line204: no public job boards found.
- Kung Fu Tea is hiring baristas and team leaders ahead of a November opening at Burleson Crossing East, 663 SH 71 W., Suite 107, according to Community Impact. It is a small item, but it is the kind of local retail hiring that follows rooftops along SH 71.
What to watch next
- Whether TCEQ confirms the status of EdgeConneX Campus 2’s stormwater coverage, and whether it suspends any other Bastrop County authorizations.
- Oct 23: comment deadline on SpaceX air permit 182733.
- Whether TCEQ answers the county’s request for a public meeting on Pacifico’s gas-plant registration.
- Whether Pacifico’s Cedar Creek count holds at 28 as the November 30 registration start date gets closer.
- Oct 29: City of Bastrop data center town hall (5:30 p.m.).
- Any CoreWeave or EdgeConneX posting that names Bastrop or Cedar Creek. There is still none.
Bottom line
The state pause is about permits, and so far it has not shown up on the job boards. Pacifico is still recruiting a Cedar Creek construction team, SpaceX is steady, and the data-center operators keep hiring in Austin and Dallas without a Bastrop tag. If you are job hunting, use the official boards above. If you are trying to understand what is actually coming, watch the permits and the boards separately.
Building Bastrop County is an independent public-interest information hub run by a Bastrop County resident. It is not affiliated with county government or any political campaign. Sources: company job boards read Oct 21, 2026 (about 7:10 a.m. CT); TCEQ letter to the governor dated Oct 19, 2026; Texas Tribune, Community Impact, and KVUE (Oct 20, 2026); TDLR TABS2027002962; our company tracker.