U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, calls it “terrific” – it being President Trump’s “ratepayer protection pledge” negotiated with tech companies announced during Tuesday’s State of the Union Address.
“I’m glad the President is pushing them on this, and I think we ought to write it into law,” Hawley told Missourinet. “I think we ought to say in the law that the data centers have to pay for their own electricity, the data centers have to pay for their own water supply.”
Hawley is sponsoring legislation that would shield utility customers from being billed for electricity and water used by data centers.
“I don’t want to see anybody’s rates go up. They’re already too high. Electricity bills are too high in Missouri and everywhere else,” he said. “I don’t want to see them go higher because some corporation came in and sucked up all the power.”
Similar bills have been filed in the Missouri House. Several data centers are being proposed in Missouri, including a massive center along I-70 in eastern Missouri’s Montgomery County. A group of residents, farmers, and businesses in Montgomery County, called Preserve Montgomery County LLC, has filed a lawsuit to try and block the data center from being built.
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