Data Centers
Pennsylvania lawmakers show bipartisan interest in standards for data centers
Gov. Josh Shapiro called on lawmakers to enact standards for data center developers.
Virginia built the digital capital of the world. Can governance keep pace?
COMMENTARY | How decades of rational decisions built a global data-center hub — and exposed the limits of public planning.
With electricity bills rising, some states consider new data center laws
Leaders in at least a dozen states have targeted data centers with separate, higher electric rates.
In the West Texas oil patch, companies plan gas power plants to run new data centers
The developer of one project, in Pecos County, calls it the largest power project in the U.S. Data centers are sparking a surge of gas power plant construction in Texas.
Amid the AI-driven boom in energy demand, rural Texans fight a high-voltage transmission line
Texas’s most powerful transmission line threatens pristine river basins and family ranches. Locals and conservationists are fighting to reroute it.
Rural Wisconsin has become a hotspot for data centers. State’s unique tax instrument explains why
Concerns over transparency, tax policy, and data centers’ utility usage drive many rural residents to oppose planned developments.
Bill to provide tax breaks for data centers reintroduced by Colorado lawmakers
The bill would offer a 100% sales and use tax exemption for qualified data centers for at least 20 years.
Outrage over surge of data centers in Georgia inspires wave of bipartisan bills
Proposals call for transparency, elimination of tax perk and more.
Counties wrestle with data centers’ power consumption
A recent survey from the National Association of Counties found that more than half of leaders spend time discussing data centers and other energy-intensive facilities.
Wyoming County approves construction of what could become the largest data center in US
The project could eventually use the same amount of electricity as produced by 10 nuclear power plants, boosting Wyoming’s energy industry while challenging efforts to limit emissions and stressing water supplies.
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New Jersey lawmakers OK plan to charge data centers for spiking electric costs
Data centers, which are driving higher electric costs in New Jersey, would face new tariffs under a plan legislators advanced Thursday.
The data center rush in Appalachia
Big tech eyes coal country as AI demand soars, but rural communities push back.
Data center ‘gold rush’ pits local officials’ hunt for new revenue against residents’ concerns
Without state regulations to guide them, Georgia counties are taking vastly different approaches to managing the surge in data center proposals.
In 2026, more data center regulations could be coming in Maryland
It’s likely that large scale data centers, which have a large presence in neighboring Virginia, will make their way to Maryland in greater numbers in the years ahead.
Trio of Michigan Senate Democrats introduce policy to address data center water usage
Environmental and consumer advocacy watchdogs warn these facilities can herald skyrocketing energy rates while harming drinking water access in nearby communities.
Frustrations with data center projects bubble over at Michigan Capitol
Attorney General Dana Nessel and lawmakers call for scrutiny of DTE contracts, an end to tax breaks and stronger protections for local communities.
Data centers for AI could nearly triple San Jose’s energy use. Who foots the bill?
AI’s planned data-center boom is straining California’s grid forecasts and raising fears that customers could pay for upgrades if projects never materialize.
Google data centers will bring nuclear power back to tornado country
A destructive storm in 2020 prematurely shut down Iowa’s only nuclear plant. With Google’s plans to reopen it to power nearby data centers, will extreme weather threaten the reactor’s safety?
Watchdog for electric grid in Ohio, other states wants a pause on data centers
There are more than 200 data centers in Ohio already, and American Electric Power has claimed 30 gigawatts-worth of proposed data center projects want to connect to the grid.
How to make data centers less thirsty
There’s a way to reduce both the climate and water harms of data centers: build them in places with lots of wind and solar energy.
