Steven Potter:
What's driving the urgency to get these data centers built? It seems like they're really getting pushed fast and hard.

State Rep. Angela Stroud:
I don't know. I think, you know, I follow the news on data centers and the concerns that this is a bubble. In our economy and in technology generally, there's a tendency to push hard and fast to try to beat your competitors. I mean, that's true of our economy broadly. In this sector, I think we're, I don't know if we're moving toward a bubble, but that is a concern that I think we all should have, any of us looking at putting up guardrails. And so I think you'd have to talk to the data center people about why they're pushing so hard and so fast.

Steven Potter:
You mentioned this being a possible bubble. Are you worried that we'll build a bunch of these and then they'll sit dormant with no tenants and no users?

State Rep. Angela Stroud:
Yeah, I am worried. What worries me most about that is the energy implications. If we don't get energy right with data centers — broadly, if we don't get energy right — we could be sticking customers with the consequences of our inadequate regulation. So, for example, if data centers build out gas plants and then those data centers go bust, the ratepayers of that area would still be on the hook for paying for the cost of that gas plant whether it ever produces a unit of energy or not, and that's just wrong. When we think about the implications of these things, we need to realize how they're integrated and how we expose ratepayers if we don't do the work of structuring strong regulation to protect them.

Steven Potter:
There is a lot of opposition to data centers. Many local residents oppose them. Why is there so much opposition?

State Rep. Angela Stroud:
I think people are worried about how it's going to affect them, and for good reason. We don't have enough transparency. One of the key features of our bill is that there has to be transparency on energy and water use. They don't know what the implications will be for their own household bills, for the environment broadly, you know? And I think that — I understand the industry wants to move fast. You know, Facebook's motto famously is "move fast and break things." The public is not interested in having their livelihoods, their lifestyles, their monthly bills broken.