SELC applauds effort to gain further insight into environmental impacts of data centers  

WASHINGTON —  Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) introduced legislation this week that would require federal agencies to explore the environmental impacts of AI data centers.  

The bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct a study on the environmental impacts of data centers and associated energy infrastructure. It also requires the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to convene a consortium on such environmental impacts, and to require the administrator to develop a reporting system for the reporting of the environmental impacts of AI. 

With new data centers popping up throughout the nation at rapid speed, discussions are often focused on the amount of energy, land, and water they use. Because tech companies and developers have not been meaningfully addressing these concerns, communities across the nation are resoundingly saying no to these data centers.  

“We welcome this effort. It is past time to dig deeper into the many ways AI data centers harm the environment and communities. Every day we see communities terrified of what will happen to their clean water, clean air, local landscapes, and electric bills when data centers move in. These are often communities that have long grappled with the impacts of other polluting industries and bad siting and zoning decisions. We need and deserve the transparency that this bill will provide,” said Amanda Garcia, a SELC senior attorney that leads the leads the organization’s data center work.