data centers / bernie sanders

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley jointly urged the U.S. Energy Information Administration to begin publicly collecting comprehensive, annual electricity-use disclosures for data centers, arguing the data is essential for accurate grid planning and to prevent large firms from driving up consumer power costs. The bipartisan push, made in a letter seen by WIRED, responds to voter concerns in data-center-heavy states like Virginia and Georgia about rising electricity demand from hyperscale facilities. The move follows related legislative activity — Hawley cosponsored a bill with Richard Blumenthal requiring data centers to provide their own power sources — and a recent White House meeting where tech executives signed a nonbinding commitment to self-supply data center power. Better transparency could influence utility planning, regulatory policy, and local community impacts.

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley asked the Energy Information Administration to require annual, public electricity-use disclosures from data centers, arguing that accurate energy data is vital for grid planning and protecting consumers from rising bills. They pressed the EIA after noting the lack of federal collection on data-center power use, the growth of behind-the-meter generation, and utilities’ inconsistent forecasts that can inflate demand. The EIA recently launched a voluntary pilot surveying nearly 200 companies in Texas, Washington and Virginia on consumption, sources, and site metrics; the senators praised the pilot but sought clarity on making reporting mandatory and comprehensive. The move could reshape policy, utility planning, and corporate transparency around large-scale computing infrastructure.

Senators Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are pushing for a moratorium on new data center construction in certain regions to address rising energy consumption and environmental impacts from hyperscale facilities. The push targets areas where data centers strain local grids, consume large amounts of water for cooling, and receive tax incentives, arguing for a pause to study community effects and climate implications. Tech companies and local governments oppose blanket bans, citing economic benefits, job creation, and the importance of data infrastructure for cloud services and AI workloads. The debate matters because it could reshape data center siting, energy policy, and how the tech industry balances growth with sustainability and local infrastructure constraints.

Senators Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced legislation seeking a temporary nationwide moratorium on construction of new data centers to study their environmental, labor, and grid impacts. The bill would require federal and state assessments of energy consumption, water use, labor practices, and community effects before permitting further builds. It targets rapid data center expansion driven by hyperscalers and cloud providers, arguing current infrastructure strains local grids and resources and raises concerns about tax incentives and worker protections. The proposal could affect cloud and colocation providers, hyperscale operators, utilities, and local planners, and signals growing regulatory scrutiny of tech infrastructure as policymakers weigh sustainability and community consequences.

Sen. Bernie Sanders will introduce a bill seeking a national moratorium on construction or upgrading of data centers used for AI until Congress enacts laws to address environmental, economic, and social harms. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez plans a companion measure in the House. The bill targets facilities above specified physical thresholds (e.g., >20 MW) and ties reopening to legislation preventing climate damage, rising electricity bills, privacy and civil-rights harms, and economic concentration; it also would ban export of compute hardware to countries without comparable rules. Sanders named leading AI figures and cited public opposition to data centers’ energy and local impacts; passage is viewed as unlikely but signals progressive pressure on AI and infrastructure policy.