US lawmaker proposes protecting communities' right to oppose data centers
Representative Ro Khanna has introduced a resolution calling on the House to safeguard local communities' ability to reject data center projects. The proposed 'Data Center Bill of Rights' would allow bans near homes and schools and require transparency and clean energy.
California Democrat Ro Khanna has introduced a resolution urging the U.S. House of Representatives to protect the ability of local communities to turn down data center projects proposed near their neighborhoods. Dubbed a 'Data Center Bill of Rights,' the initiative follows several state-level efforts to block or pause such developments, including a one-year moratorium on new data centers in New York.
The measure argues that communities should be able to regulate data center development without being overruled by state authorities. It envisions a transparent community process through which any project could be rejected, and it would allow local governments to prohibit data centers in residential areas and within 2,500 feet of homes, schools, childcare facilities, hospitals or nursing homes.
In addition, the resolution suggests giving communities the power to demand transparency from data center operators, block changes to electricity rates, and require facilities to rely on clean energy. The document is essentially an outline for future legislation rather than an enforceable law, but it highlights concerns that backers say make regulation worthwhile.
Those concerns include harmful emissions from generators and turbines that power data centers, as well as the potential consumption of up to 32 billion gallons of water per year by AI-focused data centers by 2028. The environmental and financial impact of rapid data center expansion has driven protests and regulatory actions across the country.
According to the resolution’s framing, these issues have not been settled at the state level. The federal government has largely moved in the opposite direction by exempting data centers from existing environmental laws and pushing to prevent states from imposing their own regulations. Khanna’s bill of rights could therefore serve as a mechanism to preserve local opposition rights in the absence of a nationwide moratorium. The proposal is also notable as the inverse of California's housing policies, which have tried to limit 'NIMBY' resistance to high-density development.
