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Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has introduced a Data Center Bill of Rights aimed at giving Americans and local communities “greater control” over the construction and operation of artificial intelligence data centers.
The resolution, introduced on August 6, calls for “prohibiting data centers in residential areas and within 2,500 feet of homes, schools, childcare facilities, hospitals and nursing homes.”
More than 4,400 data center facilities are listed across all 50 states. As the industry continues to expand, communities have raised concerns about the potential effects of data centers on local water supplies, air quality and public health, according to a statement from Khanna’s office.
“Berkeley Lab projects that U.S. hyperscale data centers, whose growth is being driven largely by AI workloads, could directly consume as much as 33 billion gallons of water annually by 2028,” the statement said.
It also noted that diesel generators and gas turbines can emit pollutants associated with “respiratory and cardiovascular harm,” while cooling systems and other equipment can generate persistent noise that may disrupt sleep.
“Families should not face higher electricity bills, depleted water supplies, or increased pollution from data centers in their communities. Americans deserve the right to know what is being proposed, to decide what gets built in their neighborhoods and to share in the economic benefits,” said Khanna.
The resolution states that every American and community affected by an artificial intelligence data center should have the right to:
- Ban data centers in residential areas and within 2,500 feet of homes, schools, childcare facilities, hospitals or nursing homes.
- Reject any proposed data center through a transparent community process.
- Preserve the authority of counties and municipalities to prohibit or regulate data center development without being preempted or overruled by the state.
- Adopt statewide pauses on new data centers until the state enacts protections to prevent ratepayers from facing higher electricity bills, safeguard local water supplies and give communities a meaningful role in determining what is built in their neighborhoods.
- Demand that households and small businesses face no increase in electricity rates or fees related to data center development.
- Require every data center to use clean and reliable energy while complying with strict limits on noise and air pollution.
- Require, before project approval, an independent and publicly available impact report assessing a data center’s effects on electricity demand, utility bills, public health, noise and air pollution, consumer prices, rents and housing availability. The report would also provide a full accounting of the number and types of jobs expected to be created and the project’s anticipated economic impact on the community over 10 years.
- Require enforceable community benefit agreements supporting affordable housing, neighborhood improvements, water and infrastructure upgrades, public computing resources, local venture capital, workforce training and permanent technology jobs.
- Require data center operators to disclose projected water consumption to local water providers, obtain a written compatibility determination before receiving approval and submit semiannual water-use reports for public review.
- Require data center owners, operators and developers to pay their fair share of state and local taxes and ensure that tax exemptions or public subsidies include strong labor standards, full transparency and clawback provisions when those conditions are not met.
