Bill > HR9019

This bill, also known as the Public Oversight of Water and Energy Reporting Act or the POWER Act, directs the Secretary of Energy to report to Congress annually on the water and electricity usage of certain data centers. These "covered data centers" are defined as qualifying projects under a specific Executive Order aimed at speeding up data center infrastructure permits, but exclude projects owned or operated by government agencies. The reports will detail the amount of water supplied by public water systems (including recycled water) used by these data centers, how many data centers generate all their own electricity, how many are considered "electric consumers" (meaning they purchase electricity from the grid), and the costs associated with connecting these data centers to the "bulk-power system," which refers to the interconnected transmission facilities used to supply electricity. This initiative stems from a congressional finding that the growth of data centers should not negatively impact national water resources or agricultural land, and that the government should ensure it's not financially supporting data centers that wouldn't be profitable on their own.