立法者们正在考虑强制数据中心承担新的成本与限制措施，同时加快建设为人工智能产业发展提供动力的能源基础设施。
Lawmakers are considering forcing data centers to shoulder new costs and restrictions while speeding up the energy infrastructure needed to power the AI boom. Why it matters:
为何此事至关重要：上周公布的这项跨党派法案，是华盛顿方面针对数据中心所作出的迄今为止最为强硬的回应。当前，数据中心对能源的巨大消耗及其对环境造成的影响引发了广泛争议。
The bipartisan legislation, unveiled last week, represents the most aggressive response yet from Washington to data centers amid growing backlash over their energy and environmental impacts. Driving the news: The provisions are part of broader Senate legislation aimed at speeding up permitting for energy — but make no mistake: The data-center measures are significant and would go far beyond Washington's largely voluntary efforts to date.
事件背景：这些条款属于参议院正在审议的一揽子立法计划的一部分，旨在简化能源项目的审批流程。但必须明确的是：针对数据中心的相关规定意义重大，其影响范围也远超华盛顿此前主要依靠自愿方式推行的各项举措。
• The bill's sponsors say it would accelerate energy development while ensuring data centers pay their share of grid upgrades. "I don't think we've seen it before,"
- 该法案的发起者称，此举既能加速能源开发进程，又能确保数据中心承担自身应负的电网升级费用。
said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School, about the proposed additional costs and restrictions.
“我认为此前从未出现过类似情况，”哈佛大学法学院电力法倡议项目主任阿里·佩斯科说道，“不过，目前也尚未出现过像数据中心这样发展迅猛的行业；更没有任何一个行业的用电情况能像数据中心这样引发如此多的政治关注。”
• "But I don't think we've seen growth that's comparable to data centers today, and I certainly don't know any industry whose electricity usage has captured so much political attention."
深层影响：对科技企业而言，这项法案有利有弊。一方面，国会将简化相关能源基础设施的建设审批流程，满足企业的需求；另一方面，法案还设立了严格的监管框架，防止其他用电用户被迫承担额外费用。
Between the lines: For tech companies, the bill cuts both ways. Congress would make it easier to build the energy infrastructure they need while erecting a sweeping framework aimed at keeping other electricity customers from footing the bill. "Just to be candid,
“坦率地说，明确数据中心的责任义务并切实保护普通用电者的权益，是促成相关协议达成的基本前提，”曾任拜登政府白宫官员、现任职于非营利机构Searchlight Institute的高级研究员简·弗格尔利克说道。
having some teeth on data center accountability and ratepayer protection is just table stakes to getting a deal done," said Jane Flegal, a former White House official under President Biden and now a senior fellow at the nonprofit Searchlight Institute.
整体影响：多年来，国会一直在探讨如何改革能源项目审批机制。人工智能产业的蓬勃发展则为立法者提供了必须迅速采取行动的迫切理由：美国急需快速建设大量新的电力基础设施。
The big picture: Congress has been talking about overhauling permitting for years. The AI boom has given lawmakers an urgent reason to finally act: America suddenly needs enormous amounts of new power infrastructure, fast.
- 加快发电厂和输电线路的审批速度，将直接惠及那些难以获得足够电力以供扩张的数据中心。运作方式：该法案几乎触及了大型数据中心与电网之间关系的方方面面。
• Faster approvals for power plants and transmission lines could directly benefit data centers struggling to secure enough electricity for their expansion. How it works: The bill reaches into virtually every part of the relationship between large data centers and the electric grid.
- 数据中心将被要求同时支付其应承担的现有输电网络份额，以及为满足其需求而产生的增量输电成本。这将推翻一项实施了数十年的联邦定价政策，该政策此前通常禁止同时收取这两项费用。这是最关键的一点，但影响远不止于此。
• Data centers would be required to pay both their share of the existing transmission network and the incremental transmission costs needed to serve them, reversing a decades-old federal pricing policy that generally prevents charging both. This is the biggie, but it doesn't stop there.
- 规模至少为20兆瓦的新建数据中心，必须承担其给整个电力系统带来的增量成本，包括发电、储能、输电和配电成本。
• New data centers of at least 20 megawatts would have to bear the incremental costs they impose across the power system, including generation, storage, transmission and distribution.
- 联邦和州一级的监管机构甚至可以向大型数据中心收取高于上述增量成本的费用，并将多出的部分用于降低其他用户的电费。
• Regulators at both the federal and state levels could charge large data centers even more than those incremental costs — and use the excess to reduce other customers' bills.
- 即使数据中心在基础设施成本收回之前停止购电，它们仍需承担相关费用。公用事业公司在建设服务于数据中心的基础设施之前，也必须获得财务担保，以防项目未能落实从而保护纳税人的利益。聚焦：各州已经在积极采取行动保护纳税人，超过半数的州已经出台或正在审议数十项政策，旨在让数据中心承担更多为其提供服务的成本。
• Data centers would remain on the hook for infrastructure costs even if they stop buying electricity before those costs have been recovered. Utilities would also have to secure financial guarantees before building infrastructure to serve them, protecting ratepayers if projects don't materialize. Zoom in: States are already moving aggressively to protect ratepayers, with dozens of policies pending or in place across more than half the states aimed at making data centers shoulder more of the costs of serving them.
- 该法案将明确赋予各州广泛的自主权以采取进一步措施，包括在对待数据中心时给予其不如其他大型工业客户的待遇、竞争性地分配电力接入权，以及要求它们确保获得新的电力供应或接受用电限制。各方反应：目前公开表态尚不多。代表整个行业多家公司的数据中心联盟（Data Center Coalition）表示，目前仍在审议该法案。
• The bill would explicitly give states wide latitude to go further, including treating data centers less favorably than other large industrial customers, competitively allocating access to electricity and requiring them to secure new power supplies or accept limits on electricity use. What they're saying: Not much publicly, yet. The Data Center Coalition, which represents companies across the industry, said it is still reviewing the legislation.
关键信息：
- 微软（Microsoft）、谷歌（Google）和英伟达（Nvidia）均拒绝置评；Meta公司也未回应相关评论请求。
• Microsoft, Google and Nvidia declined to comment, while Meta didn't respond to a request for comment.
- 亚马逊（Amazon）能源政策总监克雷格·桑德斯特罗姆（Craig Sundstrom）指出，老旧的电网系统以及繁琐的审批流程正在推高电力成本，并表示该法案“有望促进对新一代电力基础设施及输电系统的投资”。
• Amazon energy policy director Craig Sundstrom said the aging grid and slow permitting are putting pressure on electricity costs, adding that the bill "could unlock the investment needed to build new generation and transmission faster." The intrigue:
争议焦点：一位科技行业官员称，该法案中对特定行业存在“前所未有的歧视性待遇”。
One tech industry official called some provisions an "unprecedented level of discriminatory treatment" for a single industry.
这位匿名官员表示，更严格的电网连接要求可能会促使一些开发商选择建设完全脱离电网的电力系统，从而违背该法案的初衷。
• The official, who spoke anonymously to discuss industry deliberations, said tougher grid-connected requirements could encourage some developers to build more power systems completely off-grid instead — potentially undermining the overarching purpose of the bill. The other side:
另一方观点：特拉维斯·费舍尔（Travis Fisher）曾是特朗普政府时期的能源官员，现任自由主义智库卡托研究所（Cato Institute）成员。他表示，尽管担心该法案可能开创歧视性先例，但他仍对该法案持“轻微支持”态度。
他强调，这些规定在联邦能源监管委员会（Federal Energy Regulatory Commission）的立法中属于“创新之举”，同时也符合许多大型数据中心公司此前签署的关于保护消费者权益的承诺。
Travis Fisher, a former Trump White House energy official now at the libertarian Cato Institute, said he has "mild support" for the approach despite concerns about setting a discriminatory precedent. • He said the provisions "break new ground" at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission but are consistent with the White House's ratepayer-protection pledge many of the largest data center companies have already signed. Flegal said she would be "incredibly surprised" if tech companies ultimately oppose the broader package.
后续进展：由于参议院成员在中期选举前外出休假，立法者及相关利益方有充足时间在可能的“跛脚鸭会议”（lame-duck meeting，指任期即将结束的政府会议）之前推动对该法案的修改。
What's next: With the Senate out of town ahead of the midterm elections, lawmakers and stakeholders have plenty of time to push for changes before a possible lame-duck debate.