Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act of 2026

This bill would require operators of data centers with a peak demand of at least 25 megawatts to send an annual report to their State on each center's monthly energy use, water use and water sources, efficiency measures, and projected use for the next 5 years. People planning to build or expand a data center of that size would have to report projected energy and water use and plans to reduce it. If a State has no program to collect this information, the reports would go jointly to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Energy and Agriculture, which would charge fees to cover costs and could fine operators $20,000 per day for negligent violations. States would send anonymized summary data to these federal agencies, which would publish an annual public report on data center energy and water use, effects on rates and the environment, and recommended best practices. Reports would also be available to affected local governments on request.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Richard J. Durbin Democrat sponsor
• 3 cosponsors