BY BENJAMIN J. HULAC
NJ Spotlight
Before the House broke for the campaign trail, the chamber voted overwhelmingly 417 to 3 to pass a bill that may lead to state-level regulation of artificial-intelligence data centers.
The bill, authored by Colorado Republican Gabe Evans, who is in a tight reelection race in a drought-plagued district, would require state utility regulators to consider a drafting rules to require large data centers — defined as 100 megawatts in capacity or more — to pay for the transmission and power for their operation.
“I promise that this bill is not the end of our focus on these issues,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th), said during debate. “It’s only the beginning.”
Pallone is the highest-ranked Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over digital technology. In June, he called for a nationwide moratorium on data center construction, jump-starting the now-growing national petitions for intervention in an industry that’s become a flashpoint in elections at all levels of government.
All 12 House members from New Jersey voted for the bill, now pending in the Senate.Minor step
The legislation is a minor step from Congress to regulate an industry that has become widespread in American life — and one that poses grave security lists, according to many lawmakers of both parties, including Reps. Donald Norcross (D-1st) and Josh Gottheimer (D-5th).
Both men hold spots on military and national security-focused panels — Norcross on the House Armed Services Committee, Gottheimer on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
“Without revealing any classified information,” Norcross said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News, “there’s great cause for concern. There’s more than just the United States who are playing in this game. China, Russia. Non-state actors, who might be in our own systems.
“There’s not a day that goes by that somebody doesn’t ask me about AI. There’s truly fear out there,” Norcross said. People are worried about losing their jobs, or that their expensive college degrees could be fruitless due to AI technology, he said.
Legislation introduced by Gottheimer last week would create national standards for AI “agents” — software programs — operating in the U.S. Gottheimer likened the bill, one of several he filed on the topic, to automobile safety.
“You can’t drive a car in this country without a license plate, without insurance, without some way for a cop — or the person you just rear-ended — to know who’s behind the wheel and who’s responsible,” Gottheimer said in a statement. “AI agents right now don’t have any of that. Our bill puts a driver’s license on every AI agent operating in this country — so organizations can find every agent on their network, verify who built it, watch it in real time, and cut off its access the second something looks wrong.”
“The reasonable concerns of local residents must no longer be steamrolled by tech companies seeking profit over Americans’ quality of life — not on my watch.” — Rep. Chris Smith
Compared with a computer program that goes rogue, data centers worry Gottheimer less.
“Of all the things, they’re solvable because we can set all these rules,” he said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “The out-of-control agent is much more difficult.”
At least 80 data centers exist in New Jersey, according to a tally maintained by South Jersey Climate News. That total was updated most recently in June.Environmental trouble
Many of the sites run on fossil fuels and consume significant volumes of water to keep their computers from overheating. The state Department of Environmental Protection on Sept. 22 fined DataOne $1.07 million over its Vineland site, accusing the company of operating natural-gas engines without permits. DataOne says the generators were temporary.
In mid-September, more than 5,000 gallons of diesel leaked into a tributary of the Hackensack River in Secaucus, according to the DEP.
“You have to have very strong guardrails in place,” said Gottheimer, adding that he opposes any tax breaks for data centers and that they should not pass on electrical or water costs to the public. “You can’t not have data centers. There’s a lot of places that want data centers,” he said. “But that’s up to the community to decide.”
The desire for regulation crosses both parties. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th) said he supports an Ocean County resolution, adopted at an August county commission meeting, to scrutinize data centers for environmental damages before approval.
“The reasonable concerns of local residents must no longer be steamrolled by tech companies seeking profit over Americans’ quality of life — not on my watch,” Smith said in an email sent in August to his constituents.
Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) told NJ Spotlight News that two AI-centric bills of his are attached to the annual defense policy bill in the Senate, a piece of legislation that stands a good chance of becoming law.
One, he said, would ban and enact export controls on chip manufacturing for technology hardware that goes to China, while the other involves theft of U.S. data by Chinese interests.
“We should not be giving China the tools to make their own chips indigenously,” Kim said. “Every time China has been able to make something at home, they have been able to it bigger and cheaper than pretty much everyone in the world.”
It irks Kim that many data center companies have erected their plants without significant public input or communication.
“What I hate so much is just a lack of any transparency to the local communities.” “When I was down in Vineland, the local leaders were saying we’re building a golf course, and then all of a sudden this gigantic, gigantic data center’s going up.”
“People feel like they don’t have any choice, or any say in what’s going on in their communities,” he said.Chinese president
During his state visit to Washington, D.C., Chinese President Xi Jinping noted the race between global superpowers on artificial intelligence.
“Both China and the United States are major powers in artificial intelligence. We have the capability and the responsibility to develop and manage AI effectively, ensuring that its development remains under human control and benefits the people,” Xi said through an interpreter.
President Trump has lauded data center growth.
“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” Trump wrote online Aug. 31. “If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame.”
Passage of the House bill followed the public statement this month about a 10% chance that technology “could kill all humans” from Evan Hubinger, a worker at AI company Anthropic.
“It’s clear that AI requires guardrails, that we need to slow down to better understand the impact that it could have, if you listen to the Anthrophic guys, on humanity, or just if you listen to everyone else, the quality and nature of our life,” Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-11th) said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News.
Closer to home, local pollution could be a harbinger, she said.
“We need to develop and expand our economy and new industries without the wholesale destruction of our environment, of our water systems, without fair energy usage,” Mejia said. “The spill in Secaucus is a warning that we need to be more cautious.”
