HARRISBURG, PA — Two bills aimed at increasing transparency and helping local governments manage the impacts of data center development advanced out of the Pennsylvania House Energy Committee on Monday.
What This Means For You
- Proposed legislation would require data centers to report annual water and energy use.
- Municipalities could receive model rules to regulate data center development.
- Lawmakers say the measures are intended to help communities address the impacts of rapidly expanding data center projects.
The committee voted 14-12 to advance both House Bill 2150 and House Bill 2151, legislation supporters say would give communities more information and tools as data center proposals increase across Pennsylvania.
Transparency Requirements For Data Centers
House Bill 2150, introduced by Rep. Kyle Mullins, would require data center facilities to report their annual electricity and water consumption.
Supporters say the requirement would provide public insight into the resources required to operate large computing facilities.
“If the data center industry wants to expand in Pennsylvania and avail itself of our critical resources – water, electricity, and land – the very least among many things that should be required is full transparency,” Mullins said.
Environmental organizations also expressed support for the proposal.
“Pennsylvania currently lacks a systematic way to measure and sufficiently understand or anticipate relevant impacts associated with data center operations,” said Robert Routh, Pennsylvania policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Climate and Energy Department.
Model Regulations For Local Governments
House Bill 2151, sponsored by Rep. Kyle Donahue, would direct the Department of Community and Economic Development to develop optional model ordinance language for municipalities considering data center regulations.
A model ordinance is a template law that local governments can adapt when creating their own regulations.
Supporters say the measure could help smaller municipalities that may lack legal or planning staff create rules addressing issues such as facility size, noise, and water usage.
“Right now, communities across the Commonwealth lack clear standards to address the noise, size, water usage, and other impacts data centers can have on local neighborhoods,” Donahue said.
Rapid Growth Of Data Centers
Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, chair of the House Energy Committee, said growing demand for artificial intelligence, machine learning, and video streaming has driven a surge in data center development.
These facilities can require significant amounts of electricity and water to operate.
Environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, Sierra Club of Pennsylvania, Clean Air Council, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Clean Water Action, and PennFuture said they support the proposals.
“We support these commonsense measures to ensure transparency and equip municipalities with tools to manage data center proposals in their communities,” said Molly Parzen, executive director of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania.
Both bills were previously discussed during a public hearing of the House Energy Committee on February 2 and now advance to the full House for consideration.
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