As bills to address the energy impact of data centers proliferate and President Donald Trump encourages lawmakers to act, analysts are pointing to a legal minefield.
Analysts say lawmakers — who are looking to mollify constituents worried about electricity prices — face an untested question: Whether the federal government can claim unlimited authority to regulate data centers. Getting the answer wrong could mean complicated legal battles.
“Congress, of course, can’t think of every possible scenario, so as this gets implemented, I’m sure there will be some situation where states claim authority and [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] claims authority, and then that’ll have to go to the courts,” said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School.
Though the federal government has general authority over the electric grid, some data center legislation would shift the balance of power between the federal government and states when it comes to rates.
