As Utility Costs Rise, Durbin Introduces New Legislation To Bring Transparency To Energy & Water Consumption By Data Centers

As Utility Costs Rise, Durbin Introduces New Legislation To Bring Transparency To Energy & Water Consumption By Data Centers

Data centers are not required by federal law to report the quantity or source of the energy and water they consume

WASHINGTON - As utility costs spike for Americans, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today introduced the Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act to require data centers to disclose their energy and water usage. These data centers consume significant amounts of water and electricity, and often, the costs of this increased demand are passed down to American consumers. As growth in artificial intelligence (AI) spurs accelerated data center development, many data center operators have purchased water and energy rights decades into the future to ensure sustained operations.

The International Energy Agency estimates that a 100-megawatt data center may consume about the same amount of water as 2,600 households, and many proposed data centers are more than 10 times the size of a 100-megawatt center. There are approximately 4,000 active data centers in the U.S. with roughly 3,000 more planned or under construction. Rural counties, where water and power must be carefully managed, are increasingly targeted for data center development.

Community residents, local stakeholders, and state and local leaders should have access to accurate information about the energy and water needs of a data center to determine whether it is right for their community. Data center developers owe it to the communities they are building in to provide a fully transparent accounting of their energy and water needs.

"If you've noticed a sharp increase in your utility bills lately, it may be from the growth of energy-hungry data centers. Illinoisans deserve an honest analysis of the electricity and water needs of these data centers as they crop up around the country," Durbin said. "The Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act would ensure that transparency exists by requiring data centers to disclose their energy and water usage."

Specifically, the Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act would:

• Require data center operators and developers to report the quantity of energy and water consumed at their facilities to the states where they operate;

• Require prospective data centers to report their estimated energy and water consumption over the first five years of operation;

• Make information gathered regarding data center energy and water consumption available to local governments considering data center construction in their communities;

• Direct states to aggregate and anonymize data center energy and water consumption reports and submit them to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of Agriculture (USDA);

• Direct EPA, DOE, and USDA to jointly issue regional reports regarding the energy and water consumption of data centers; and

• Allow EPA, DOE, and USDA to fine noncompliant data centers.

Durbin wrote about the rising costs of water and electric bills in the Chicago Tribune earlier this month.

-30-