00:00Let's start with the end goal here.
00:02What is it that you want to happen with this legislative initiative?
00:09Well, I want to put communities first, and I want to make sure that if we are going to potentially
00:14double the data capacity in our country,
00:16which is what some of the tech companies you were just talking about want to do,
00:20then we have to do that more strategically than we're doing right now.
00:23Right now, what I'm seeing is we have an ad hoc approach, community by community.
00:27Some states are doing moratoriums. Some states are ushering them in, but it's causing problems in the grid for surrounding
00:34states.
00:34What we need is a more national strategy, a more holistic strategy that balances the desire to protect communities
00:42with the feeling that we need to build a lot more data centers to usher in AI and more cloud.
00:50Congressman, there are four separate initiatives or acts that you've got on the table.
00:55I don't know that we have time to go through every single one in detail,
00:58but generally you're trying to establish an overall framework for how a data center's site gets selected,
01:05that it's put in the best place possible relative to its burden on local infrastructure, energy costs, etc.
01:13Just explain why this path is the best way forward.
01:17That's exactly right.
01:18Yeah, we're trying to put them in places where it makes sense.
01:21Right now, we're putting them in places where it doesn't always make sense.
01:25And I'll give you an example.
01:26We're building hundreds in my county in Virginia.
01:30And meanwhile, there's other parts of the country where it makes a lot more sense,
01:34where they have the power, they have the infrastructure to be able to bring in data centers,
01:38but they're not able to.
01:40And so we need to work together as a country, actually, to make sure that we're putting them in places
01:48where it makes sense.
01:48We also want to make sure that the power infrastructure is not built on the backs of utility bills that
01:55people are paying for.
01:56That's causing a lot of friction.
01:58That's why you see a lot of people against data centers now.
02:00And we want to be able to measure the impact more accurately, the power and water infrastructure impact.
02:05A lot of communities sign up for it and then realize that the impact is a lot more than they
02:09thought because of the way we measure it.
02:11And then there's pushback later on when it's too late for even the data center company.
02:16So we can do this a lot better, but we need to make sure we do it in a way
02:20that puts communities first.
02:21Part two, the Data Center Fair Share Act hopes to affect that data centers and other large electricity users pay
02:27the full cost of grid and generation upgrades,
02:30required to service them.
02:31On Friday, we got the perspective of industry.
02:33We spoke to the CEO of Crusoe, Chase Lockmill, one of the main developers, right, in this space.
02:39Let's just get his take.
02:41The data center industry has sort of a marketing issue.
02:44You know, we are seeing a lot of information that's just, you know, frankly not accurate.
02:49I think that the benefits that we provide the communities and the partnership that we take when we're building those
02:55communities is not always being properly communicated.
02:58So, you know, I think the water narrative, for instance, is a great example of this where, you know, there's
03:03this narrative out there that data centers are consuming and using tons and tons of water.
03:08And, you know, the way we've designed and engineered these next-gen purpose-built AI factories is really to not
03:15use any water, use hardly any water.
03:18I would add that over the weekend, NVIDIA CEO, Jensen Wong, said in an interview that the water issue is
03:24now a myth as well.
03:25My interest, Congressman, is how much you're going to talk about the benefits of data center build-out, job creation,
03:31the economic opportunity as part of what you want to do.
03:35Well, I would quibble with him that it's more than just a marketing issue.
03:39If someone built a business in your community and made you pay for their power infrastructure and your utility bill
03:46doubled like it has in many instances in my community, people would be upset, especially given that they're not –
03:53the same companies are saying that they're bringing tax benefits to the community, which they are.
03:58But they're also getting large tax cuts to come there.
04:03And, yes, they're giving up different proffers, different goodies to the local government, but it's not making up for the
04:09impact.
04:10And I can introduce that, gentlemen, to a lot of folks in my community who are seeing power lines built
04:15right through their schools, their neighborhoods.
04:17They're seeing the data centers right next to their home and the pollution from the backup generators actually causing respiratory
04:24issues.
04:25So, yes, there are benefits, but certainly the biggest benefit is the fact that we want to be a leader
04:31in technology in this country.
04:33It's not going to be able to happen, and we're not going to be able to build all the data
04:37centers that he and other people want to build if they take the approach they're taking right now, which is
04:42more than just a marketing issue.
04:44It's an issue of the way it's being handled at the local level and state level.
04:50In terms of what happens next, Representative Subramanian, it's the midterms.
04:54How do you think that's going to change the kind of congressional momentum that you're seeing in AI and data
05:00centers?
05:01Well, it's front and center now.
05:04I'm pleasantly surprised it is.
05:06Five or six years ago when I was starting to talk about this, people were not understanding the issue.
05:12And even last year, other members of Congress would ask me, how do I get more data centers in my
05:17district?
05:17And now the same ones are coming to me and saying, yeah, I understand now the concerns that you had.
05:21But it is a huge issue right now.
05:23And the fact that the president is brushing it off as not a concern is a little tone deaf, given
05:28the conversation I've had, not just in Virginia, but all across the country.
05:33What happens if Democrats retake the House?
05:36Do we see your legislation go through by the end of this year?
05:40What are you hopeful of?
05:42Yeah, it might not be my specific legislation, but I do think the Democratic leadership is taking this seriously.
05:48I also think this is a bipartisan issue, and I'm starting to see a lot of folks on the Republican
05:52side join me in some of these efforts.
05:56We had a bill passed with overwhelming support to voluntarily ask states to make sure data centers are paying large
06:03load tariffs so their fair share of the power bill, power infrastructure.
06:07I'd like to make that a little more mandatory than what that bill said, but it's great that we're having
06:13those bills come to the floor and having this discussion now.
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