Regulation on data centers is common sense for New Hampshire's future
An opinion piece advocates for New Hampshire to adopt a responsible plan for data center development, emphasizing local control, transparency, and fair infrastructure costs. The author proposes a temporary moratorium on new large-scale data center permits and calls for updated zoning ordinances to address electricity, water, and environmental impacts. This comes after a proposed bill, SB 439, which would have sharply curtailed local authority over data center siting, died in the House.
Rebecca Harned, a Sutton resident and member of the Kearsarge Regional School District Municipal Budget Committee, argues that New Hampshire needs a responsible plan for data center development to protect local control over electricity, water, and infrastructure. She highlights national concerns about unchecked data center growth, citing actions taken in New York, Texas, and South Dakota to regulate these facilities.
Harned stresses that data centers, with their extraordinary demands for electricity and water, require careful, transparent, and local evaluation. She notes New Hampshire's constrained regional grid and high electricity prices, warning that unchecked data center loads could force families and small businesses to subsidize new power infrastructure. The proposed House amendment to Senate Bill 439, which would have stripped local authority by making data centers a "by right" use, ultimately failed, leaving the question of local versus state control unresolved.
To address these concerns, Harned proposes five key actions: preserving local control for towns to determine appropriate data center conditions; enacting a temporary moratorium on new large-scale permits to allow time for assessment; requiring transparency in deals, including public disclosure of resource demands; building a responsible energy plan where developers fund their own infrastructure; and mandating binding community benefit agreements to cover local costs and mitigate impacts.
She also emphasizes water protection, noting potential issues with cooling wastewater containing chemicals and PFAS, advocating for closed-loop systems to safeguard local water supplies. Harned concludes that New Hampshire's independent spirit demands that decisions affecting communities remain with local residents, not dictated by the State Legislature or powerful corporations.