A draft bill dubbed the “Clean Cloud Act of 2025” introduced to the U.S. Senate by Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and John Fetterman seeks to curb emissions from crypto mining facilities and AI data centers, with the eventual goal of fining any facility using non-renewable energy sources by 2035.
The draft bill would amend the Clean Air Act to require data centers with more than 100 kW of energy capacity to meet emissions caps that vary by region, as laid out in the Department of Energy’s National Transmission Needs Study.
Each of the above regions would have a different emissions cap, according to the draft bill.
The caps would be set by the end of 2025, and would lower by 11% each year until reaching zero in 2035. Facilities that exceed the emissions caps would pay inflation-adjusted fees based on how much their emissions exceeded the caps, and are forbidden from passing the costs off to customers. The collected funds would be used to alleviate potential residential electricity cost increases through grants to local municipalities and also to fund clean energy deployment.
“Crypto & AI data centers can support clean energy, but they’re burning more fossil fuels & driving up families’ energy prices instead,” the X account representing the Democrats of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works wrote. “We can lead on AI & climate safety with [Whitehouse]’s Clean Cloud Act, which ensures that the industries profiting also pay their own way.”
The facilities would also be required to make detailed annual reports about their electricity consumption and sourcing, allowing the EPA to calculate the greenhouse gas emission intensity of each facility, and evaluate any possible fines based on the regional caps. The responsibility for paying the fines would be assigned to the tenants leasing the facilities, not the landlords, which could loop in startups renting server space to the reporting requirements and fines.
The bill will likely face opposition from Republicans in Congress. President Trump has expressed a desire for the United States to become the world’s most significant Bitcoin mining power. President Trump’s eldest sons are also planning to take their own Bitcoin mining company public, The Block previously reported.
© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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