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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9019 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9019
To direct the Secretary of Energy to report to Congress on the use of
electric energy and water by certain data centers, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 22, 2026
Mr. Roy introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Energy to report to Congress on the use of
electric energy and water by certain data centers, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Public Oversight of Water and Energy
Reporting Act'' or the ``POWER Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that the construction and operation of data centers
should not come at the sacrifice of our nation's water resources or
valuable farm and ranchland, and the Federal Government should make
sure it is not subsidizing data centers that would not be viable
otherwise.
SEC. 3. REPORTS ON USE OF ELECTRIC ENERGY AND WATER BY CERTAIN DATA
CENTERS.
Not later than the date that is 2 years after the date of enactment
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of Energy shall, in
consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency, submit to Congress a report on the use of electric energy and
water by covered data centers during the applicable report period,
which shall include information on--
(1) the amount of water used by each covered data center
that is provided by a public water system during the applicable
report period, including--
(A) for a covered data center that recycles and
reuses the water provided by a public water system, the
amount of water so provided during the applicable
report period; and
(B) for a covered data center that is continuously
provided water by a public water system, the average
amount of water so provided each day during the
applicable report period;
(2) the number of covered data centers with respect to
which the covered data center generates all of the electric
energy used by that covered data center;
(3) the number of covered data centers that are electric
consumers; and
(4) the costs associated with the connection of any covered
data center to the bulk-power system during the applicable
report period and who paid such costs.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Bulk-power system.--The term ``bulk-power system'' has
the meaning given such term in section 215(a) of the Federal
Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824o(a)).
(2) Covered data center.--The term ``covered data
center''--
(A) means any qualifying project under Executive
Order 14318 (90 Fed. Reg. 35385; relating to
accelerating Federal permitting of data center
infrastructure); and
(B) does not include any such qualifying project
that is owned, operated, or maintained by a covered
agency (as such term is defined in section 834(a)(2) of
the Carl Levin and Howard P. `Buck' McKeon National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (44
U.S.C. 3601 note(a)(2))).
(3) Electric consumer.--The term ``electric consumer'' has
the meaning given such term in section 3 of the Public Utility
Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2602).
(4) Public water system.--The term ``public water system''
has the meaning given such term in section 1401(4)(A) of the
Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f(4)(A)).
(5) Report period.--The term ``report period'' means--
(A) for an initial report submitted under section
3, the period of time beginning on the date of
enactment of this Act and ending on the date (prior to
submission of the initial report) that the Secretary of
Energy determines to be appropriate; and
(B) for any subsequent report submitted under
section 3, a 365-day period ending on the date that the
Secretary of Energy determines to be appropriate.
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