Data Center Oversight Act

by, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or a State commission; and (iii) whether the agreement requires the sponsor to continue to bear that portion of the cost if the sponsor terminates the agreement or ceases to purchase electric energy before that cost has been fully recovered; and (C) for any portion of such cost that the sponsor has not agreed to bear, an identification of-- (i) each person or class of electric consumers expected to bear that portion of the cost, including through the allocation of transmission costs by a Transmission Organization, and the amount each such person or class is expected to bear; and (ii) each rate or charge through which that portion of the cost is expected to be recovered, and the tariff or rate schedule containing such rate or charge. (3) Rate effect.--A statement of-- (A) the projected effect of electric service to the covered facility, for each of the 10 calendar years following the calendar year in which the statement is filed, on-- (i) the rates and charges paid by, and the average monthly bill of, each class of electric consumers served by each serving electric utility, stated separately for generation, transmission, and distribution service; (ii) the rates and charges for generation service, including any default service or standard offer service, paid by residential electric consumers in the service territory of each serving electric utility; and (iii) if the covered facility is interconnected to a transmission system operated by a Transmission Organization, the costs allocated by the Transmission Organization among electric utilities or electric consumers in its region, including the costs of transmission facilities, and the clearing prices in any capacity market administered by the Transmission Organization; (B) the assumptions and methodology on which such projected effect relies; and (C) the effect described in subparagraph (A) during the preceding calendar year. (4) Generation.--A statement identifying each electric generating unit that is located on the site, or that is constructed, expanded, upgraded, or contracted to serve the covered facility, including, for each such unit-- (A) the nameplate capacity, the fuel or resource type, and whether the unit is a backup generating unit; (B) whether the unit is behind-the-meter generation or grid-connected generation; and (C) for the preceding calendar year, the net electricity generation of the unit, stated separately for electric energy consumed by the covered facility and electric energy delivered to the transmission or distribution system of an electric utility, and, for a backup generating unit, the number of hours the unit operated. (5) Water and cooling.--A statement of-- (A) whether all cooling of information technology equipment at the covered facility is or will be provided by an internal liquid cooling system and, if not, a description of each cooling method used; (B) the source of all water withdrawn by the covered facility, including the name of any public water system supplying that water; (C) the volume of water withdrawn by, consumed by, and discharged from the covered facility, projected for each year of the period described in paragraph (3)(A) and during the preceding calendar year; and (D) the destination of any water discharged from the covered facility, including the number of any permit issued for that discharge under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342). (6) Siting near protected areas.--A list of each protected area any portion of which is located within 1,000 feet of the boundary of the site, identifying for each such protected area the category of protected area under section 4(18) and the shortest distance, in feet, between the boundary of the site and the boundary of the protected area, except that, for real property described in section 4(18)(E), the list shall state only the number of such properties and the shortest distance to any such property, and may not identify any such property by address or owner. (7) Labor.--A statement on-- (A) whether construction of the covered facility is or will be performed under a project labor agreement or other collective bargaining agreement; (B) whether laborers and mechanics employed in such construction are or will be paid wages at rates not less than the rates determined by the Secretary of Labor for the locality and type of construction under section 3142 of title 40, United States Code; and (C) the projected or actual number and percentage of construction labor hours performed by workers covered by such an agreement. (8) Nondisclosure agreements.--A statement of whether the sponsor, or any person acting on behalf of the sponsor, has entered into a nondisclosure agreement relating to the covered facility with any officer, employee, or agent of a Federal, State, Tribal, or local government. (9) Preceding calendar year.--Information required under this subsection with respect to a preceding calendar year is required only in a statement filed under subsection (a)(1)(C). (c) Public Availability.-- (1) In general.--Not later than 15 days after receiving a disclosure statement, the Secretary shall include the disclosure statement in the database established under section 3. (2) Redacted statements.--A disclosure statement from which any information required under subsection (b) is withheld, redacted, or designated as confidential shall not be considered a complete and accurate disclosure statement for purposes of this section. The Secretary shall make any such statement available under paragraph (1), identify it in the database established under section 3 as incomplete, and provide written notice of the deficiency to the sponsor. (d) Enforcement.-- (1) In general.--A disclosure statement required under this section shall be treated as a report required under section 13(b) of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 772(b)), and the failure to file a complete and accurate disclosure statement, or the filing of a materially misleading disclosure statement, shall be treated as a violation subject to section 12 of that Act (15 U.S.C. 797). (2) Amount.--Notwithstanding section 12 of that Act, the civil penalty for a violation described in paragraph (1) shall not exceed $1,000,000 for each day the violation continues. (e) Regulations.-- (1) In general.--Not later than 9 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue regulations to carry out this section, including regulations that-- (A) prescribe the form of a disclosure statement; (B) further define the terms ``backup generating unit'', ``behind-the-meter generation'', ``commence construction'', ``consume'', ``grid-connected generation'', ``information technology equipment'', ``internal liquid cooling system'', and ``withdraw'', and define the term ``residential electric consumer'' and other technical terms used in subsection (b) that are not defined in this Act; and (C) ensure that disclosure statements, and any terms defined or further defined under subparagraph (B), clearly present the effect of the covered facility on residential electric consumers, including on average monthly bills and on rates attributable to the cost of constructing, expanding, or upgrading transmission facilities, in a form that is readily understandable to the public. (2) Filing before issuance of regulations.--The requirements of this section apply whether or not regulations have been issued under paragraph (1). Any disclosure statement required to be filed before such regulations take effect shall be filed in writing, in any form, and shall contain the information required under subsection (b). (f) Rules of Construction.-- (1) No authority over construction or operation.--This Act shall not be construed to authorize the Secretary to approve, deny, condition, suspend, or delay the construction or operation of a covered facility, or require any change to a covered facility, and the filing of a disclosure statement under this Act shall not be considered an application for a permit or other authorization. (2) Other law unaffected.--Nothing in this Act limits or supersedes any requirement of Federal, State, Tribal, or local law, or the authority of a State or State commission over retail electric rates or retail electric service. SEC. 3. PUBLIC DATABASE. (a) Designation.--The Secretary shall carry out this Act acting through the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration. (b) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish and maintain a publicly accessible and searchable database on an internet website of the Department of Energy that contains-- (1) the complete text of each disclosure statement, in the form filed; and (2) the information included in each disclosure statement, presented as data fields that may be searched, sorted, and filtered by each data field, including State, county, sponsor, serving electric utility, and facility load. (c) Access.--The Secretary shall make the database available without charge and without any requirement that a user register or identify himself or herself, through a direct link from the homepage of the primary internet website of the Department of Energy, and in an open format that permits bulk download of its complete contents. (d) Aggregate Statistics.--The Secretary shall display on the principal page of the database, and update not less frequently than quarterly, aggregate statistics derived from disclosure statements, stated for the Nation as a whole, for each State, and for each county in which a covered facility is located, including-- (1) the number and total facility load of covered facilities; (2) the total actual or estimated cost described in section 2(b)(2)(A), and the portion of that cost not borne by sponsors; and (3) the total volume of water described in section 2(b)(5)(C) for the preceding calendar year. SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) Artificial intelligence.--The term ``artificial intelligence'' has the meaning given such term in section 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401). (2) Backup generating unit.--The term ``backup generating unit'' means an electric generating unit located on the site of a data center that is operated only during an interruption of electric service to the data center or for maintenance and testing. (3) Behind-the-meter generation.--The term ``behind-the- meter generation'' means an electric generating unit that serves the electric load of a covered facility and is located on the covered facility's side of the point of interconnection with the transmission or distribution system of an electric utility. (4) Commence construction.--The term ``commence construction'', with respect to a covered facility, means to begin physical construction of the covered facility on the site. (5) Commence operation.--The term ``commence operation'', with respect to a covered facility, means the first date on which the covered facility receives electric energy to operate information technology equipment. (6) Consume.--The term ``consume'', with respect to water, means to withdraw water that is not returned or discharged, including water evaporated for cooling. (7) Covered facility.--The term ``covered facility'' means a data center that has a facility load that equals or exceeds 20 megawatts. (8) Data center.-- (A) In general.--The term ``data center'' means a facility, or group of colocated facilities, the primary purpose of which is to house computing, networking, or data storage equipment used to process, store, or transmit digital data, including equipment used for-- (i) artificial intelligence training or inference; (ii) cloud computing or data hosting; or (iii) cryptocurrency mining or other distributed-ledger or digital-asset computation. (B) Exclusion.--The term ``data center'' does not include computing or data storage equipment that is ancillary to a facility the primary purpose of which is a commercial or industrial activity other than an activity described in subparagraph (A). (C) Treatment as single data center.--For purposes of this Act, all buildings, structures, and installations that are located on contiguous or adjacent real property, or that are served through the same substation, and that are under the ownership or control of the same person or of persons under common control with each other, shall be treated as a single data center, without regard to whether they-- (i) are served under separate agreements or at separate points of interconnection; (ii) are constructed, energized, or placed in service in phases; or (iii) are held, leased, or operated through separate legal entities. (9) Disclosure statement.--The term ``disclosure statement'' means a statement filed under section 2(a). (10) Electric consumer.--The term ``electric consumer'' has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2602). (11) Electric utility.--The term ``electric utility'' means any person, State agency, or Federal agency that sells, transmits, or distributes electric energy. (12) Facility load.--The term ``facility load'', with respect to a data center, means the greater of-- (A) the sum of-- (i) the maximum electric demand provided for under all agreements for electric service, including any contract demand, reserved demand, subscribed capacity, or interruptible or curtailable demand, whether or not that demand is actually taken; and (ii) the nameplate capacity of all electric generating units located on the site or dedicated to serving the data center, other than backup generating units; and (B) the maximum electric demand the data center is designed to take at full build-out, which shall be not less than the largest electric demand stated in any request for electric service or in any application for a Federal, State, Tribal, or local permit or approval. (13) Grid-connected generation.--The term ``grid-connected generation'' means an electric generating unit, other than behind-the-meter generation, that is interconnected to, and delivers electric energy to, the transmission or distribution system of an electric utility. (14) Information technology equipment.--The term ``information technology equipment'' means servers, storage devices, and network devices, and the power conversion equipment and enclosures serving such servers and devices. (15) Interconnection facility.--The term ``interconnection facility'' means a facility used exclusively to connect a covered facility to the transmission or distribution system of an electric utility. (16) Internal liquid cooling system.--The term ``internal liquid cooling system'' means a closed-loop system located on the site that removes heat from information technology equipment without evaporating, consuming, or discharging water, other than water added for commissioning, leakage, or scheduled maintenance. (17) Project labor agreement.--The term ``project labor agreement'' means a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement with one or more labor organizations that establishes the terms and conditions of employment for a specific construction project and is an agreement described in section 8(f) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(f)). (18) Protected area.--The term ``protected area'' means-- (A) real property comprising a public or private elementary, vocational, or secondary school, or a public or private college, junior college, or university; (B) a playground or youth center, as those terms are defined in section 419(e) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 860(e)); (C) a unit of the National Park System, as defined in section 100501 of title 54, United States Code; (D) publicly owned land of a public park, recreation area, or wildlife and waterfowl refuge of national, State, or local significance, as described in section 303(c) of title 49, United States Code; (E) real property, other than real property comprising the site, that under applicable State or local law is zoned or otherwise designated principally for residential use, or on which a dwelling (as defined in section 802 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3602)) is located; (F) a hospital (as defined in section 1861(e) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(e))); and (G) a child care facility licensed or regulated under State, Tribal, or local law. (19) Public water system.--The term ``public water system'' has the meaning given the term in section 1401 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f). (20) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Energy. (21) Serving electric utility.--The term ``serving electric utility'', with respect to a covered facility, means each electric utility that sells, transmits, or distributes, or will sell, transmit, or distribute, electric energy to the covered facility. (22) Site.--The term ``site'', with respect to a data center, means all real property on which the data center is located, including all contiguous or adjacent real property under the ownership or control of a person that owns or operates the data center or of a person under common control with such a person. (23) Sponsor.-- (A) In general.--The term ``sponsor'' means a person that owns, operates, or proposes to construct a covered facility. (B) Multiple sponsors.--If a covered facility has more than one sponsor, each sponsor is jointly and severally liable for compliance with section 2. A single disclosure statement filed on behalf of all sponsors satisfies section 2(a) with respect to each sponsor. (24) State commission.--The term ``State commission'' has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). (25) Transmission organization.--The term ``Transmission Organization'' has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). (26) Withdraw.--The term ``withdraw'', with respect to water, means to take water from a surface water source, a groundwater source, or a public water system, whether or not any portion of the water is returned or discharged. <all>