Chip Roy

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy filed legislation Friday that would require the Department of Energy to track and report water and energy used by big data centers that received expedited permitting under an executive order.

The Public Oversight of Water and energy Reporting Act would mandate a federal report to Congress tracking resource consumption of data centers qualifying for benefits under Executive Order 14318. The Trump administration executive order allows for AI data centers that require more than 100 megawatts of electrical load to apply for accelerated federal permitting.

What they're saying:

"As data centers spring up across the country, we need to be mindful of our water and energy resources. States like Texas have been enduring extreme drought conditions, and as we build out energy intensive data center infrastructure, we must have a clear picture of how much water and energy these projects are consuming. The Public Oversight of Water and Energy Reporting (POWER) Act ensures the Department of Energy collects an honest accounting of exactly how much water and energy these projects will use," Roy said.

Within two years of the bill's passage, the DOE and Environmental Protection Agency must report water consumption by the covered data centers that use public water sources. For centers that use a closed-loop system that recycles water, the report must include the total water provided during that period.

For data centers that continuously pull fresh water from public supply, the report would calculate the average daily water consumption.

The reporting would also track which data centers are able to power themselves and which ones require a connection to the public electic grid.

For those that draw power from the grid, the DOE must report the costs of connecting to the grid and how those costs were paid, either by the data center owner, federal subsidies or others on that grid.

Report claims Texas is most ready state for data centers

A report by Labrynth states Texas is the state most prepared for new data centers.

According to the report, the Lone Star State scores high in time to connect to the grid, available energy and available workforce.

Its lowest scores come from the grid itself, permitting and water availability.

Research from the University of Texas at Austin suggests that data centers could use up to 9% of the state's water supply by 2040. Water consumption from data centers in the state currently sits around 1%.

Related

Both Roy's legislation and the readiness report come at a time when some communities in Texas are fighting back against data centers moving into their communities.

Related