The permitting environment for data centers is turning, and fast. Federal regulators ordered the nation’s largest grid operator to rewrite how it connects giant computing loads, states are weighing construction pauses, and a growing stack of bills would force operators to disclose how much power and water they use. The build-anywhere era is ending.
Grid rules catch up
FERC directed PJM, which runs the grid for 65 million people across 13 states, to establish transparent rules for data-center interconnection and large-load management. The existing queue is backlogged with years of applications and wasn’t built for gigawatt requests, which is part of why hyperscalers keep pairing campuses with dedicated generation like the Microsoft Pecos project. Texas is running its own rulemaking under SB 6.
States and towns push back
Maine is on track to become the first state to pause new data-center construction, into late 2027, while moratorium bills have surfaced in nearly a dozen states. Water is the other flashpoint: direct-cooled AI halls can drink hundreds of thousands of gallons a day, and disclosure bills are moving in Virginia, Maryland, and Congress. As Utility Dive reported, much of the real friction is now local.
None of this stops the buildout. It does add conditions, timelines, and disclosure that developers didn’t face two years ago.