Energy Department must publish data center building guidance.
H.R. 10321 — Responsible Data Center Siting Act of 2026 · Filed by Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) · 6 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 8, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill tells the Secretary of Energy to write best practices for data center sites. The Secretary must think about power grids, water use, nature, towns, safety, jobs, and local money. The Secretary must publish guidance within one year. Then update it every two years.
Who it affects
People in towns where data centers might be built gain public facts about how they affect their area. States and towns can use this guidance when they decide whether to allow data centers. The bill does not give towns power to stop data centers or make firms follow the guidance.
One thing to notice
The bill creates guidance but does not require anyone to follow it. States and towns still make the final choices about where data centers get built.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
6 cosponsors: 6 Democrats.
- Sep 8, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 8, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- data centers — Large buildings that hold computers and gear that store and process facts.
- best practices — Ways of doing something that experts say work well.
- Secretary of Energy — The head of the U.S. Energy Department who runs energy policy.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,406 characters) on Sep 10, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-22.
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