Bill would hold data centers responsible for energy costs and environmental protections
After passing a series of landmark environmental bills in Illinois over the last few years, advocates and legislators are hoping to use that momentum to push through a new law that would regulate the growing data center industry in the state, ensuring efficient energy and water use and protections for ratepayers from rising utility bills.
“We cannot afford to be complacent now. As new industries emerge, we must continue strengthening regulations,” Lucy Contreras, Illinois state program director for GreenLatinos, said at a Wednesday news conference.
The growing use of artificial intelligence has drawn water-intensive data centers to regions where the resource is abundant, such as the Great Lakes, where experts say not all communities have the capacity to sustainably support the industry. The facilities also use massive amounts of energy that are driving electricity rates up for neighbors and nearby residents.
The POWER Act, introduced in collaboration with the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, would incentivize data centers to obtain power from local renewable energy sources and batteries, increase local accountability by setting water and electricity reporting requirements and water efficiency standards, and ensure community engagement.
“This is not too much to ask,” state Sen. Ram Villivalam, the bill’s House sponsor and a Democrat from Chicago, said at a news conference. “By establishing policies that ensure data centers, not consumers, bear the increasing energy costs and critical protections for our environment and sustainable water use, we can work towards a future built for technology to support our daily lives, not deplete our resources and price us out of our homes.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/11/illinois-data-centers-energy-environment/
I hope other states, and eventually the US government, will pass similar legislation. Of course states like Texas probably will not....
