Senator Durbin Pushes Data Center Transparency Bill as Utility Costs Climb
Focus on water, power use
Image via baranozdemir from Getty Images
As utility bills continue to rise, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is taking aim at one of the less visible drivers behind the surge: data centers.
Durbin introduced the Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act this week, a bill that would require data center operators to disclose how much water and electricity their facilities consume. Right now, there is no federal requirement to report that information.
The timing is not random. Data center growth is accelerating, largely driven by artificial intelligence and the infrastructure needed to support it. These facilities require massive amounts of power and water, especially for cooling, and critics argue that the costs often get passed down to everyday customers.
According to the International Energy Agency, a 100-megawatt data center can use about as much water as 2,600 households. Many proposed sites are significantly larger than that. There are already around 4,000 active data centers in the United States, with roughly 3,000 more planned or under construction.
A growing number of those projects are landing in rural areas, where water and energy resources can already be tight. That has raised concerns among local officials and residents who often do not have a clear picture of what a new facility will demand before it is approved.
“If you’ve noticed a sharp increase in your utility bills lately, it may be from the growth of energy-hungry data centers,” Durbin said in a statement. “The Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act would ensure that transparency exists.”
The bill focuses on reporting and access to information. It would require operators to disclose current usage, while also forcing proposed data centers to estimate their energy and water needs for the first five years of operation. That information would be shared with state and local governments, then aggregated and reported to agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Those agencies would then publish regional reports, offering a broader look at how data centers are impacting water and energy systems. The bill also includes penalties for operators that fail to comply.
On paper, it is a transparency play. Give communities better data, and let them decide whether a project makes sense.
Whether that actually changes outcomes is less clear.
Data centers are often backed by large investments and long-term energy agreements, and in some cases, companies have already secured water and power rights years in advance. Even with more visibility, local governments may still face pressure to approve projects tied to jobs and economic development.
Still, the bill reflects a growing tension. As AI infrastructure expands, so does its footprint on water and power systems. And increasingly, communities are asking a simple question: how much is this really costing, and who is paying for it?
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