Well of course they should pay for their own power!! They’re private companies! What am I missing here?
“ Data centers must pay for the grid upgrades they require and can’t siphon power from existing power plants, according to the bill. It also directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to update its rules related to transmission lines — which transport electricity — to allow data centers to reduce demand during peak energy hours. “
This seems reasonable to me.
Pay!? Make them BUILD 2x the capacity they need and give the rest away to the grid. Don’t let them get away with using money to escape the social consequences of their choices. The responsibility to ensure they have no impact should be forced to be theirs and theirs alone.
Write laws that make them cease to exist if they don’t do this.
Given we have the technology, any new construction should be required to be environmentally neutral at a minimum, ideally with ongoing improvement.
If they need to use millions of gallons of groundwater? Great, go fucking wild, but directly fund managed aquifer recharge projects to replace that groundwater at an equal or greater rate.
Increases in resource consumption should be covered entirely by the data center plus improvements to benefit the community.
No longer should big business be used as a means to siphon the value of labor and natural resources and concentrate it for selfish use by the worst of humanity.