By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Two new bills proposed in the West Virginia State Legislature are aimed at Data Centers. House Bill 4509 aims to revise HB 2019 and House Bill 4683 sets its sight on banning the use of groundwater for data centers.
HB 4509 was introduced January 19th by Delegates Hansen, Pushkin, Hornbuckle, Fluharty, Williams, Hamilton, Garcia and Lewis and referred to the Committee on Energy and Public Works then the Judiciary. The bill aims to return control to local governments for data center projects and strikes out much of the original text of HB 2014, eliminated pages of the original text.
So far no action has been made on the Bill.
HB 4683 was introduced January 21st by Delegates Anders, Kimble, Kump and Dillon and referred to the Committee on Energy and Public Works then the Judiciary. The bill aims to keep data centers from using groundwater with the goal of preventing the depletion of groundwater and aquifers.
The Bill states that:
(a) The Legislature finds that:
(1) Groundwater, aquifers, and private wells are finite public resources essential to life, agriculture, and property rights;
(2) Data centers are water-intensive industrial facilities capable of depleting groundwater if not properly regulated;
(3) Proven technologies exist that allow data centers to operate without withdrawing groundwater; and (4) The protection of private property, drinking water, and aquifers is a core responsibility of the State.
Under the Bill, no data center may withdraw groundwater or aquifer water for cooling purposes, drill or utilize private or industrial wells, use groundwater as a primary or backup cooling source, transport groundwater by tanker or other means for cooling or access groundwater under emergency, temporary or conditional permits and no permit, variance, waiver or rule may authorize groundwater use by a data center.
Under the Bill, provided no groundwater is used, the following cooling methods may be utilized: closed-loop cooling systems, air-cooled or dry cooling systems, reclaimed or greywater systems, sourced from municipal or industrial wastewater, hybrid systems, or heat recovery or heat reuse systems the reduce cooling demand.
Water source restrictions include the stipulation that cooling water must be sourced from municipal reclaimed water systems or non-potable surface water sources expressly approved for industrial use. Potable drinking water systems may not be used unless the facility can demonstrate that there is zero alternative availability and the use will not reduce residential or agricultural supply. There is a stipulation that under no circumstances may groundwater be substituted.
There is also water use meter requirement, monthly water-use reporting, unannounced inspections and water use data shall be public records. Prior to construction the Bill also requires a hydrogeologic impact study, cumulative impact study, drought condition modeling and in the case of any potential aquifer impact, the permit would be denied.
There has been no action taken on the Bill.