Sponsors (6)
The bill increases community protections, transparency, and enforcement around data center water and electricity impacts—protecting residents from costs and harms—but raises compliance and administrative burdens that may deter some investment and require new government oversight capacity.
Households, farms, and small businesses near proposed data centers are protected from bearing project-driven electricity or water infrastructure costs because covered data centers must pay and post financial security before construction.
Existing electricity customers (households and small businesses) will have their electricity reliability protected because independent assessments are required before electric service commitments to confirm no material reliability reduction.
Rural residents who rely on private wells, farms, and rural water systems will receive monitoring, notice, and compensation if a covered data center harms their water supply.
Communities may lose some data center investment, jobs, or economic development because operators could avoid locating in jurisdictions with stricter local oversight.
Covered data centers will face higher upfront compliance and financial-security costs, which could slow projects or increase costs for developers and potentially be passed on indirectly.
Utilities, developers, and local governments will incur administrative costs to perform independent reliability and water-impact assessments and to support monitoring and public meetings.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Large data centers must disclose energy/water use and pay all project-driven electric and water infrastructure costs while protecting ratepayers and local water users.
Requires large data centers (peak electricity ≥50 MW or water withdrawal ≥100,000 gal/day, including expansions) to disclose projected and actual electricity and water use, sources, and wastewater discharges, and to pay all project-driven electric and water infrastructure and service costs rather than shifting them to utility ratepayers. Establishes a ten-part "ratepayer bill of rights" with requirements for disclosures, independent reliability and water-impact assessments before final service commitments, protections and compensation for harmed rural water users, public notice and meetings, anti-evasion rules, and enforcement tools including audits, refunds, penalties, and whistleblower protections. Directs FERC, DOE, EPA, and DOL to issue rules and enforce within their existing jurisdictions while preserving State, Tribal, and local authority over rates, water rights, land use, and permitting and allowing stronger local protections to remain in place.
Official title: To require public disclosure of electricity and water use, infrastructure costs, rate impacts, public financial assistance, and related commitments associated with large data centers, and for other purposes.
Introduced August 24, 2026 by Henry Cuellar · Last progress August 24, 2026