The Fear Index
Rank 1 of 17
Power bills and data centers
Data centers raising electricity or water costs, straining the power grid, or harming the environment and communities.
91
on the Fear Index
Bills91
Lobbying filings430
News1,288
Wikipedia59.2K
The receipts
59,231Wikipedia views on this fear in the last 30 days
1,288news articles about it in the last 30 days
91bills, resolutions, rules and orders cite it since January 2025, in 28 states and Congress
63new government controls written into those bills
430federal lobbying filings name it, past year
$280Kspent lobbying on it by advocacy groups, past year
In their own words
The fear as each bill's official summary or text states it, and the controls the same bill would create.
“clean firm energy requirements, contract filing, commission review, disclosure requirements, backup generation standards, curtailment standards”
SB 1323, PennsylvaniaNot passedData center limitsMandatory reportingNew agency powersPennsylvania Public Utility Commission“shall ensure that residential, commercial and industrial customers are protected from paying unjust rates resulting directly from electric service to large load customers”
HB 2992, OklahomaPassedMandatory reportingNew agency powersOklahoma Corporation Commission“water usage and source impacts, air emissions, traffic and other construction-phase impacts, and other impacts of proximity to residential units and schools”
SB 552, VirginiaDid not passData center limitsMandatory reportingNew agency powers2 offices“designates the department of environmental conservation as the mandatory lead agency for environmental quality review of any action consuming over 20 megawatts”
A 10852, New YorkNot passedData center limitsNew agency powersNew York Department of Environmental Conservation“protect residents from increased utility costs and utility shortages caused by data centers”
SB 135, South DakotaPassedMandatory reportingNew agency powersSouth Dakota Board of Water Management
What it's buying
The government controls written into the bills that cite this fear.
Who's funding it
Advocacy groups and foundations lobbying on this fear, past year.
Who benefits
Agencies and officials these bills would hand new power, by number of bills.
- 1South Carolina Department of Environmental Services3bills
- 2South Carolina Public Service Commission3bills
- 3New York Department of Environmental Conservation2bills
- 4New York Public Service Commission2bills
- 5Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission1bill
Everyone else lobbying
Companies, trade groups, think tanks, unions and other groups whose lobbying filings name this fear, past year.
- 1CoreWeave12 filings
- 2Oracle9 filings
- 3Edison Electric Institute9 filings
- 4Microsoft8 filings
- 5Switch8 filings
- 6Portland General Electric7 filings
Money, bills and attention
Money on filings naming it
Bills citing it
Wikipedia views
Each dot is 9 bills. Sources: lobbying filings on LDA.gov that name this fear, the bills that cite it, and Wikipedia readership of its articles.
Latest on this fear
- Lobbying filing2026-11-02Electricity Customer Network (Formerly Reported As Electricity Customer Alliance filed a lobbying report that mentions AI, $30K for the quarter across all its issues, naming H.R. 6529, H.R. 6633, H.R. 9332, H.R. 9335, H.R. 9339, H.R. 9340
- Bill2026-10-29New Jersey A 3966: Requires DEP to conduct study of short and long term effects of water use by large-scale data centers. (Passed by the Assembly (76-0-1))
- Lobbying filing2026-10-23Business Software Alliance filed a lobbying report that mentions AI, $430K for the quarter across all its issues, naming H.R. 1000, H.R. 2385, H.R. 2417, H.R. 2765, H.R. 3220, H.R. 3788, H.R. 3838, H.R. 3961, H.R. 4142, H.R. 4942, H.R. 633, H.R. 6875, H.R. 7604, H.R. 8189, H.R. 8413, H.R. 8516, H.R. 9442, H.R. 9915, H.R. 9925, S. 1337, S. 1344, S. 1362, S. 146, S. 1746, S. 1748, S. 1792, S. 2081, S. 2558, S. 2750, S. 3150, S. 3597, S. 4570, S. 5368, S. 836
- Lobbying filing2026-10-22AI Supply Chain Alliance (Informal Coalition) filed a lobbying report that mentions AI, $30K for the quarter across all its issues, naming H.R. 6529, H.R. 6633, H.R. 9332, H.R. 9335, H.R. 9339, H.R. 9340
- Lobbying filing2026-10-21Microsoft filed a lobbying report that mentions AI, $20K for the quarter across all its issues
- Lobbying filing2026-10-21Open Space Institute filed a lobbying report that mentions AI, $110K for the quarter across all its issues, naming H.R. 10102, H.R. 105, H.R. 1261, H.R. 1957, H.R. 2786, H.R. 5036, H.R. 5134, H.R. 6492, H.R. 7567, H.R. 7618, H.R. 841, H.R. 9250, H.R. 9602, S. 1050, S. 1547, S. 2566, S. 2708, S. 3524, S. 5526, S.Res. 798
The bills
The ones carrying the most controls, first.
- SB 1323, PennsylvaniaNot passedData center limitsMandatory reportingNew agency powersRead it on palegis.us
- S 867, South CarolinaNot passedData center limitsMandatory reportingNew agency powersRead it on scstatehouse.gov
- SB 552, VirginiaDid not passData center limitsMandatory reportingNew agency powersRead it on lis.virginia.gov
- HB 2515, PennsylvaniaNot passedMandatory reportingNew agency powersRead it on palegis.us
- A 10852, New YorkNot passedData center limitsNew agency powersRead it on nyassembly.gov
- S. 4214, CongressNot passedData center limitsExport controlsRead it on congress.gov
- S 9182, New YorkNot passedData center limitsNew agency powersRead it on nyassembly.gov
- SB 102, ColoradoDid not passData center limitsMandatory reportingRead it on leg.colorado.gov
- S 902, South CarolinaNot passedData center limitsMandatory reportingRead it on scstatehouse.gov
- HB 2992, OklahomaPassedMandatory reportingNew agency powersRead it on oklegislature.gov