Indian-American lawmaker unveils rapid US data centre expansion plan

Washington: Indian-American Congressman Suhas Subramanyam has introduced a four-bill national plan aimed at regulating the rapid expansion of data centres and preventing their infrastructure costs from being passed on to American households.

The legislative package would require data centres to pay for the energy infrastructure needed to serve them, measure their water and electricity consumption and assess potential effects on surrounding communities, the environment and national security.

Subramanyam, a Democrat representing Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, said the existing approach to developing data centres had been driven by immediate commercial considerations rather than long-term planning.

“Our region is home to the fourth largest concentration of data centres in the world, and many more are on the way. Because of this, our utility bills are up, and transmission lines are cutting through our schools and backyards,” Subramanyam said.

“People are concerned about the future of our community and angry about the impact this will have on noise, the environment, and their property. The approach to building data centres has been driven by short-term profit rather than long-term planning.

“But it doesn’t have to be this way. We need a national plan that puts communities first rather than the current ad hoc approach. That's why I am pushing this legislation forward: to give Virginians and the American people a voice,” he said.

The package consists of the Responsible Data Center Siting Act, the Data Center Fair Share Act, the Data Infrastructure Energy Measurement and Standards Act and the Data Infrastructure Risk Reduction Act.

The Responsible Data Center Siting Act would direct the US Secretary of Energy to establish national best practices for locating data centres. The guidelines would consider energy availability, utility bills, water and electricity use, environmental consequences, noise, workforce requirements, tax revenue and national-security risks.

The legislation is co-sponsored by Democratic Representatives Mike Quigley, Andre Carson, Hillary Scholten, Veronica Escobar, Greg Stanton and Mike Levin.

The Data Center Fair Share Act would require data centres and other large electricity users to pay the full cost of grid and power-generation upgrades needed to serve their facilities.

States would be required to adopt special tariffs for large electricity users to ensure that data centres, rather than residential consumers, finance the additional infrastructure. States that decline to adopt the tariffs could lose access to federal highway funds.

The Data Infrastructure Energy Measurement and Standards Act would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop technical standards for measuring the energy and water consumed by data centres.

The fourth proposal, the Data Infrastructure Risk Reduction Act, would require the federal government to develop a strategy for protecting communities near data centres and related infrastructure from foreign or domestic adversaries.

Northern Virginia has become one of the world’s largest data-centre markets because of its proximity to the federal government, extensive fibre-optic networks and access to major electricity infrastructure. The facilities support cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other digital services but have also generated concern about power demand, water consumption, transmission lines and rising utility costs.

Subramanyam, who was elected to the House of Representatives from Virginia, is among a small group of Indian-American lawmakers serving in the US Congress. His district includes portions of Northern Virginia, where data-centre development has become a prominent economic and community issue.

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