Bill needed to control data centers

I view the current power struggle happening between Artificial Intelligence (AI) data center developers and our state’s residents through the eyes of a parent, healthcare professional, and environmentalist. I’m in agreement with the 70% of Illinoisans recently polled who support regulation of AI data centers’ impact on climate, utility bills, and water.

Grayslake’s T5 data center is slated to be built four miles from my family’s home. Regional residents are concerned the approval for this impactful project remained under the radar from them. It’s important to hold local officials accountable for data center development and understand how we can support bills regulating these data centers.

Gov. Pritzker provided $983 million in tax breaks between 2019-24 to incentivize at least 27 AI-data center projects developed in Illinois. To Pritzker’s credit, he just placed a two-year pause on these tax breaks, after a report estimated data centers will account for more than 70% of electricity demand by Illinois by 2030, driving electricity system costs by up to 24%. These costs underscore the importance of passing a stalled bill called The POWER Act (Protecting Our Water, Energy, and Ratepayers, SB4016/HB5513).

The POWER Act would hold data centers accountable for their energy use. It ensures local energy prices aren’t increased by data centers. Data centers would need to show how they’ll use clean energy through “Bring Your Own New Clean Capacity and Energy” (BYONCCE). The POWER act will also require data centers to report water usage and not gain special rates from energy providers without public knowledge. 4 Please follow my action of contacting Gov. Pritzker and asking him to finally pass the POWER Act. Our actions as a collective community are necessary for harnessing our power before AI developers harness it on our behalf.

Leslie Ann Kalvass

Libertyville