Op-Ed: South Carolina needs data center guardrails

State Senator Allen Blackmon (S.C. Senate District 27) has penned an op-ed emphasizing the need for regulatory "guardrails" to manage data center development in South Carolina. While acknowledging the significant economic investment brought by companies like Google, which has committed $9 billion to the state through 2027, Blackmon highlights the substantial strain these facilities place on public resources. He points out that a single data center can consume as much power as an entire city and hundreds of millions of gallons of water annually. This high consumption contributes to increased costs for everyday residents and small businesses, as the current utility rate structure forces them to subsidize new infrastructure required to support the data centers' growth. Blackmon notes that electric utilities informed lawmakers that over two-thirds of the state's electric grid growth is attributed to new data center development. He argues that this disproportionate growth from one industry necessitates basic regulations to protect the electric grid, control customer bills, and conserve natural resources, ensuring an equitable distribution of costs.