1. United States
2. Ind.
3. Letter

I am writing as a constituent to urge immediate federal oversight of the rapidly expanding AI data center industry, which is increasingly consuming public resources without transparency, accountability, or demonstrated public benefit. Large-scale data centers are being approved and built at extraordinary speed through opaque arrangements involving non-disclosure agreements, preferential energy pricing, and fragmented environmental review. These practices obscure who bears long-term costs while preventing meaningful public scrutiny. At the federal level, the absence of clear standards has allowed data centers—facilities with industrial-scale energy and water demands—to avoid consistent classification, cumulative impact review, and public-interest obligations. As a result, public infrastructure is being expanded to support private corporate operations, while risks and costs are distributed across ratepayers and communities. Of particular concern: • Utility and transmission infrastructure built primarily to serve private data centers is increasingly justified as a public necessity, despite limited public benefit. • Federal environmental review thresholds are often avoided through project segmentation and jurisdictional gaps. • There is no national framework requiring transparency around energy use, water consumption, tax incentives, or long-term grid impacts. • Communities are left without recourse once federal funding, permits, or interstate infrastructure commitments are in place. AI data centers provide few permanent local jobs and no measurable benefit to average Americans in terms of energy affordability, service reliability, or community resilience. The primary beneficiaries are large corporations and government users, while the public absorbs the long-term consequences. I urge Congress to establish clear federal standards that: 1. Require transparency for agreements affecting public infrastructure and resources. 2. Mandate cumulative environmental and grid-impact assessments for large-scale data centers. 3. Prevent ratepayers from subsidizing private energy infrastructure built primarily for corporate use. 4. Tie federal support to demonstrable public benefit and community consent. This is not a partisan issue. It is a matter of responsible governance, infrastructure integrity, and public trust.