In grappling with the ongoing and growing demand for more data center construction, members of the Colorado State Legislature are wondering about how much those centers can bring to the table.
While no one is questioning the need for such facilities, several Centennial State lawmakers say they want to pass a bill requiring that such projects be required to employ renewable sources when it comes to their energy usage.
Mixed in with that thinking is also a push for data centers to pay for all infrastructure work needed for their operations.
According to published sources, Democrat State Senator Cathy Kipp has said she wants to see passage of legislation requiring data centers to supply the energy they use with wind and solar sources.
“These are big companies like Meta and Amazon,” Kipp said in an interview with radio station KUNC, adding that they can afford to “pay their own way.”
Kipp’s bill would also require the data centers to produce an annual report on the exact amount of water and electricity their facilities use.
Opponents of the proposed legislation say it is animated by a desire to eventually ban data center construction altogether, an assertion that Kipp has denied.
“It’s not that we’re trying to ban them,” the lawmaker was quoted in the publication Sum & Substance. “We think that we are proposing something that is very reasonable.”
Kipp additionally noted that other states are currently exploring the possibility of reducing incentives to data centers due to the issue of power usage.
Earlier this month in her state of the state address, Arizona Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs, formerly an advocate of offering tax incentives for data center construction, said that she no longer wanted the state to offer such incentives, remarking instead that it was now time for “data centers to pay their fair share for the water they use.”
According to information compiled by the site StateNet, around 30 bills were introduced in state legislatures across the country last year addressing data center water consumption issues. While most of those bills failed to see passage, Minnesota now requires that water use be strictly monitored in such facilities, while Kansas allows for incentives only if data centers “conserve, reuse and replace water.”
January 27, 2026
By Garry Boulard
