A new draft bill introduced in the US Senate proposes emissions-based fees on data centers that support blockchain networks and artificial intelligence.
The legislation aims to curb the environmental impact of rising power consumption across these high-energy sectors while protecting households from energy cost spikes.
Senate Democrats Sheldon Whitehouse and John Fetterman are leading the proposal. The Clean Cloud Act would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to set emissions performance standards for facilities with over 100 kilowatts of installed computing power.
Clean Cloud Act proposes new emissions framework
Under the bill, standards would be based on regional electricity grid emissions intensity to reduce emissions by 11% each year. Data centers exceeding the set thresholds would face fines starting at $20 per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent. These penalties would rise annually by inflation, plus an additional $10.
The legislation highlights concerns over rising energy demand from data centers and crypto mining operations. A Senate Environment and Public Works Committee blog post noted that electricity use from these industries could reach 12% of total U.S. power demand by 2028. Research from Morgan Stanley suggests data centers may generate around 2.5 billion metric tons of CO2 globally by the decade’s end.
Industry reaction and political context
Critics say the bill unfairly targets Bitcoin miners and cloud service providers. Matthew Sigel, head of research at VanEck, referred to it as a “blame the server racks” approach in a recent post on X. The bill could also face political resistance, as it may conflict with current policies under President Donald Trump.
Trump reversed a 2023 executive order from the Biden administration related to AI safety and has pushed to make the U.S. a global leader in cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. This political shift could reduce Senate support for the Clean Cloud Act.
Bitcoin miners shift to AI computing services
Bitcoin mining operations enter this proposal because miners transform their operation toward high-performance computing services that sustain AI models. The cryptocurrency revenue decline has led Galaxy together with CoreScientific and Terawulf to convert their operations into performing high-performance computing services. The shift according to Coin Metrics produced a supportive impact on miner earnings in the beginning of 2025. However, trade wars and shifting global policies continue to threaten blockchain infrastructure. Nicholas Roberts-Huntley of Concrete & Glow Finance warned that geopolitical tension could create new obstacles for crypto and AI node operators.