00:00Your reaction, I suppose, to that initiative, and we can then talk about the scale of footprint of data centers
00:05in your state.
00:07Yeah, it's important to understand where it's coming from.
00:09I don't support a full data center moratorium at all, but I do think there's a lot of frustration in
00:15communities like mine
00:16when it comes to data centers steamrolling communities and having siting issues where they create power problems in those communities.
00:23And so if we did a comprehensive look at where we should be siting data centers across the country,
00:27what would be best for industry, what would be best for the communities,
00:30I think you would actually allay a lot of the concerns that people who are supporting data center moratoriums have
00:35about these data centers.
00:37You represent a region that you cannot understate the footprint there.
00:4270% of the world's internet traffic flowing through servers inside what are essentially tin cans.
00:49If my district were a country, it would be one of the top five countries in terms of number of
00:53data centers
00:53and the amount of internet running through it.
00:55What, therefore, is your position and how you represent your constituents?
01:01Because there is a split, right?
01:03NIMBY is one pocket.
01:05There is job creation.
01:06There is economic value created from the build-out that we're seeing.
01:10Well, the data centers don't create a lot of jobs, but the local government likes it
01:13because they create a lot of revenue for local government and state government.
01:16They also don't create a lot of jobs, which means less traffic through those communities,
01:21less schools you have to build, less roads you have to build.
01:23So the local government loves it, which is why they keep approving them.
01:26But it's short-sighted because then you start to create energy problems.
01:30You start to have to build energy infrastructure through communities that weren't expecting it,
01:33didn't sign up for it, you lower home values, and people get angry about it, and rightfully so.
01:37It's more than just NIMBYism.
01:39I think people have legitimate concerns.
01:40But we can do this as a country.
01:42We can build out the data centers that we need to build out in this country.
01:45We don't need to do a moratorium, but we have to do it with the buy-in of communities across
01:48the country
01:49because I know there's communities that want data centers that are coming to ours right now.
01:52If we had all our data centers, it takes up more power than the city of D.C.,
01:56and we're doubling the number of data centers.
01:58So we have too many in one spot.
01:59That's a national security concern as well.
02:01What we really need to do is just start spreading out the data centers across the country
02:05and getting it in places where community buy-in is there.
02:08How can we hear from communities simultaneously?
02:12Clearly, we're hearing from leadership of big tech.
02:15Look, today, yet another technology council, the president, is creating one at the moment
02:19where we understand Jensen Huang is going to be part of it, Mark Zuckerberg is going to be part of
02:23it,
02:23Larry Ellison, people very committed to data center build-out, to compute build-out.
02:28So how do you ensure that at the same time the voices of constituents are heard
02:33about these anxieties, about jobs, about what's happening in terms of energy prices?
02:37We need to give them a voice in Congress, at the state level, at the local level.
02:40Every level of government needs to give their constituents a voice,
02:43and we don't have to be adversarial all the time to tech.
02:46We can work together, and we can solve this together.
02:48But certainly, we have to make sure the constituents' voices do have a say,
02:52do have a seat in the table, because otherwise,
02:54there's going to be a huge backlash towards data centers.
02:57You're starting to see it more prominently now, right?
02:59Now you've got members of Congress introducing these moratoriums.
03:01You're going to see it even more prominently if they continue to steamroll these communities.
03:05We have the N-Scale CEO on to start this week, which already feels a very long time ago.
03:09It was on Monday, talking about how they're thinking vertical integration,
03:12and they're bringing electricity and infrastructure to the bear.
03:14We had Crusoe, the CEO, on earlier yesterday,
03:17talking about how they're also thinking about infrastructure and building it out.
03:21Are there innovative ways in which you can still have data centers being built near you
03:26without suddenly a price push, without a national security risk,
03:29without any detriment to your property prices?
03:32Yes and no.
03:33I'd like to see exactly what they mean by that,
03:35because a lot of times people talk about SMRs, small modular nuclear reactors.
03:42Essentially, you need three or four of them for each data center.
03:44And who wants those nuclear reactors next to their homes, for instance?
03:47And still using gas provisions via catapult.
03:51I don't know how innovative that is.
03:53What it comes down to, Congressman, on the industry side,
03:56they would argue they take on the capital burden of grid modernization.
03:59They buy electricity in bulk,
04:01and that they would argue there's a deflationary impact for everyday people's energy prices.
04:07There's also a lot of Bloomberg reporting and investigation
04:10that shows in zip codes where there's a high concentration of data center,
04:15electricity prices have gone up and energy prices have gone up.
04:18What do you see, the real on-the-ground view?
04:21My home in Ashburn, Virginia, our electricity prices have gone up.
04:24And it's because we had to pay for that infrastructure.
04:27They're not taking that cost into account.
04:29So, yes, you bring more energy infrastructure at a long-term, lower costs.
04:34But when we have to pay up front for that energy infrastructure,
04:37it raises our utility prices.
04:38So that needs to change.
04:39We need to make sure that communities aren't subsidizing the data center's energies.
04:43And, again, we can do this.
04:44A lot of companies are actually volunteering to do this,
04:47to be able to pay for their own energy infrastructure.
04:49I like that idea.
04:50That's going to help a lot.
04:51And that's the type of thing we need to be doing
04:52when it comes to getting community buy-in.
04:54What is your view of your constituents
04:57and the American people's relationship with AI?
05:00I think Caroline and I have had a lot of conversations
05:02in the last 24 hours where AI doesn't have very much good PR at the moment
05:07with everyday Americans.
05:09One thing that Shom Sankar, he's the CTO at Palantir,
05:12put to us is that there's a distinction between what is AI slop,
05:16what people see in their social media feeds,
05:18and how they actually might benefit from it in their working and at-home lives.
05:22You know, I worked at the White House as a tech advisor.
05:25Ten years ago, AI was exciting to people.
05:28They couldn't wait to use it.
05:30They couldn't wait to adopt it.
05:31But they've seen the job displacement.
05:33It's hard to love AI when companies are putting out announcements saying,
05:37because of AI, we're laying off jobs.
05:39Congratulations to us, right?
05:40People don't like to hear that.
05:42They don't like to hear about data centers coming to their community
05:44and making them pay for the energy costs and energy infrastructure.
05:47So AI has a PR problem, but they've earned it
05:49because of the way they've talked to communities about AI.
05:53And so what we need to do is work collaboratively with government.
05:56I think Congress needs to get more involved than it has already
05:58when it comes to safety and national security and communities.
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