‘A Trojan horse’: Northern Virginia congressman pushes national data center legislation

Key Points:

• Rep. Suhas Subramanyam announced a package of four bills aimed at setting national standards for data center development, addressing issues like noise, pollution, and rising utility costs impacting communities near data centers in Northern Virginia.
• He highlighted concerns about children attending schools surrounded by data centers and power lines, with some parents considering leaving the community due to these conditions.
• The legislation proposes requiring data centers to pay for their own power infrastructure and establishing special electricity rates for large users, while also mandating setbacks from homes, schools, and historic parks.
• Subramanyam supports state and local moratoriums on new data center construction and calls for improved security measures, including burying transmission lines, to protect both facilities and surrounding communities.
• He criticized the portrayal of data centers as purely beneficial, emphasizing that residents are more concerned about the direct impact on their daily lives and expenses than national competition in technology.