The U.S. Data Center Policy Explorer offers the public, policymakers, and researchers an accessible overview of data center development and the evolving policy landscape surrounding data centers in the United States.
As artificial intelligence companies build increasingly advanced models, the U.S. has experienced growing demand for data processing and storage facilities. From North Carolina’s sprawling Research Triangle to a county in Utah where cattle outnumber residents, data centers have become one of the major policy debates surrounding AI development. Across the country, policymakers are grappling with how to regulate this quickly growing industry to promote commerce and protect water and energy resources and public health. However, until now, there has been no comprehensive dataset of U.S. data center construction or of policies state lawmakers have implemented shaping data center growth. In September, the Data-Driven EnviroLab published the U.S. Data Center Policy Explorer to better inform policy debates and develop understanding of the potential environmental threats posed by data centers.
“Our goal was to provide all parties with sound information about state and national trends so they can come to this policy debate more informed and ready to find solutions,” said Yuetong Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher at the Data-Driven EnviroLab.
Yuetong led a team in developing a comprehensive data center database, finding siting records for data center upstarts, investigating construction status across a 10-year period using satellite images, and locating and summarizing state legislation nationwide. The website displays over 1,500 data center campuses across 47 states and 1,200 state policies across all 50 states.
“We’re witnessing extremely fast development of data centers forcing policymakers to make decisions with limited information,” said Dr. Angel Hsu, Principal Investigator for the Data-Driven EnviroLab. “What Yuetong and the team have built is immediately applicable. I believe it will improve decisionmaking and help advance protections for human health and the environment as we race into the AI age.”
In the future, Yuetong and the DDL team plan to expand the dataset to provide more detailed facility-level information within each campus, including environmental and air permits, on-site energy generation, grid connections, and the intended use of data center facilities. The policy explorer will also include real-time local bill tracking and analysis of bill stringency and intent to understand how different policies may be affecting datacenter development. Finally, Yuetong hopes to incorporate public opinion data such as local news coverage, public records, and publicly available social media to provide a broader picture of how data center expansion affects and is perceived by local communities.
