Congressman Suhas Subramanyam Targets Data Centre Costs, Power Demand
Congressman Suhas Subramanyam has introduced a four-bill package in the U.S. Congress to regulate data center expansion and associated costs. The legislation aims to make large data centers responsible for their electricity and grid upgrade costs, and establish standards for their energy and water use. It also seeks to create guidelines for data center siting and protect communities from potential threats.
Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, representing Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, has introduced a comprehensive four-bill package in the U.S. Congress to address the rapid expansion of data centers across the nation. The proposed legislation aims to shift infrastructure costs associated with data center electricity and water consumption directly to the facilities themselves, rather than American households.
The package includes the Responsible Data Center Siting Act, which would task the U.S. Secretary of Energy with developing national guidelines for data center locations, considering factors like power availability, utility costs, water use, noise, environmental impact, and national security. Another key bill, the Data Center Fair Share Act, would mandate data centers and other major electricity users to cover the full cost of necessary power-generation and grid upgrades, with states potentially facing a loss of federal highway funding if they do not create special electricity rates for these users.
Additional bills in the package would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish measurement standards for data center energy and water consumption. The fourth bill focuses on national security, requiring the federal government to develop a plan to protect communities and critical infrastructure near data centers from foreign or domestic threats. Congressman Subramanyam, whose district encompasses parts of Northern Virginia—a significant data center market—emphasized the need for long-term planning over short-term commercial interests. The legislative effort is co-sponsored by fellow Democratic Representatives Mike Quigley, Andre Carson, Hillary Scholten, Veronica Escobar, Greg Stanton, and Mike Levin.