The US Senate has proposed imposing emission fees on high-energy data centers, which could affect bitcoin mining companies

According to Bloomberg, Democrats in the U.S. Senate have proposed a draft Clean Cloud Act that would impose fees on data centers that support blockchain networks and artificial intelligence models that exceed federal emissions targets. The bill would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set emissions standards for data centers and crypto mining facilities that install IT nameplates with more than 100 KW of power, with the goal of reducing emissions by 11% annually. Emissions exceeding the limit would be subject to a fine of $20 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent, which would increase by $10 annually with inflation. Notably, bitcoin miners including Galaxy, CoreScientific, and Terawulf are gradually turning to high-performance computing (HPC) for artificial intelligence models. The bill has not yet passed the Senate.