US Senate advances major bill boosting energy infrastructure

Rare bipartisan bill requires data centres to pay for infrastructure, but environmental groups say it falls short.

The United States Senate has voted to move forward on a bipartisan bill that would speed up the process to build new data centres and energy infrastructure in the country.

Nearly all of the chamber’s Republicans, as well as more than a dozen Democrats, voted ۷۳-۲۵ on Monday to take up the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, which supporters, including US President Donald Trump, have said is necessary to meet the nation’s growing demand for electricity.

“This Bill is a BIG WIN for U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENCE and DOMINANCE”, Trump posted on social media Monday as he encouraged lawmakers to support it.

The legislation would overhaul the permitting process for major energy projects – both clean energy and fossil fuel-run – across the US, reduce deadlines for environmental reviews and impose restrictions on when projects can be challenged in the country’s courts. It would also force owners of energy-hungry data centres to pay for the infrastructure that is needed to power them.

Growing anger in the US over those facilities’ use in powering artificial intelligence (AI), which has resulted in rising electricity bills for customers across the country, helped fuel last week’s takeover of the US Congress by Democrats.

“The people sent us a very clear message on Tuesday that they expect us to lower the costs in their daily lives,” Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich, the ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said on Monday. “We don’t have to wait for the new Congress to start lowering costs. We can do that today.”

Authors of the bill claim it will provide $۱۹bn in savings on residential electricity bills through ۲۰۴۰. The number of solar and wind projects connecting to the US electric grid would be doubled, with data centres paying $۵۵bn over the next ۱۰ years to cover their power usage.

But despite the bill’s claims of increasing clean energy projects, environmental organisations are opposed to the legislation. They argue it would also lock in development of fossil fuels, weaken environmental laws and make it harder for US residents to challenge projects in their communities.

Earlier this year, a coalition of national groups – including the Climate Justice Alliance, Indigenous Environmental Network and Western Environmental Law Center – issued a joint statement opposing the bill.

“We cannot allow the lies to continue, as the facts are clear: If this backroom permitting reform deal is pushed through, it will enable a no-guardrails buildout of dangerous projects that will harm our health and environment, drive up energy costs, and violate our rights,” they said in September.

“This will be especially harmful for communities of color and lower income neighborhoods already overburdened by pollution and climate impacts.”

While the legislation received rare overwhelming support from both major political parties, the Democrats’ midterm win could complicate its final passage.

Some in the party argue that the legislation should be shelved until new Democratic majorities in the US House and Senate are sworn in early next year.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is on track to become the body’s new speaker in January, criticised the bill last week, warning it “falls short” in several areas.

“We must once again support the clean energy economy and combat the climate crisis with the fierce urgency of now,” a Jeffries spokesperson said in a statement released to the Associated Press.

Jeffries’s office added: “Leader Jeffries will not rubber-stamp legislation that emerges from the Senate without more constructive involvement with our Caucus as we fight to make life more affordable for the American people.”