Data Centers and the Environment
“Private companies and states can innovate the grid further with market-driven solutions like consumer-regulated electricity (CRE) to address immediate infrastructure challenges and insulate existing ratepayers from possible impacts from new, large-scale loads. CRE would create off-grid utilities that “generate, transmit, and sell electricity directly to customers under voluntary contracts, without interconnecting to the existing regulated grid or seeking permission from economic regulators at the state or federal level.” Proponents argue CRE will lower energy costs, relieve existing grid constraints, and help meet rising electricity demand without bypassing permitting, safety, and environmental standards applied to existing grids.
CRE utilities are likely to be powered by reliable, abundant, and cheap energy sources and technologies—including advanced natural gas turbines, SMRs, and next-generation geothermal—that produce fewer emissions, waste less water, and occupy less land. This reform is gaining traction federally and in the states. New Hampshire became the first state to adopt this reform last summer, while Senator Tom Cotton introduced a federal companion bill, the DATA Act, in early 2026.”
