S. 1475 · Where this bill is now
In committee
Introduced in the Senate, Apr 10, 2025
What this bill does
In plain words · AI-written from the official summaryClean Cloud Act of 2025
This bill sets up a system where large data centers and cryptomining facilities pay fees based on the carbon emissions from their electricity use. The EPA and another government agency would measure how much greenhouse gas pollution comes from the power these facilities use each year, and compare it to a baseline that gets cleaner over time. Fees would be charged on the utilities serving these facilities, or directly on the facilities themselves if they generate their own power, when emissions exceed the regional standard. The money collected would fund clean electricity projects and help lower electricity costs for regular households.
How it affects you
If you own or operate a large data center or cryptomining facility, you could face fees if your electricity use creates more emissions than the baseline in your region. If you're a regular electricity customer, this doesn't directly affect your rates—utilities can't pass these fees on to non-covered customers. The collected fees are meant to eventually help lower residential electricity bills and invest in cleaner energy generation.
Read the official summary (Introduced in Senate, Apr 10, 2025)
Clean Cloud Act of 2025
This bill establishes an emissions standard and fee system regarding the electricity used by data centers or cryptomining facilities that exceed a specified size. Additionally, the bill appropriates collected fees for various purposes, including to fund zero-carbon electricity generation, long-duration energy storage, and grants to lower residential electricity consumer costs.
The bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Energy Information Administration to annually determine the greenhouse gas emission intensity of the total annual electricity consumed by (1) covered facilities from the electric grid, and (2) covered facilities from electricity generation assets located behind the power meter of the facilities.
The EPA must determine and publish the greenhouse gas emissions intensities of the electric grid of each region to establish a baseline for the assessment of fees. Each calendar year from 2027 through 2034, the baseline for each region is reduced by 11% of the original baseline. For 2035 and after, the baseline is set to zero emissions.
The EPA must assess a fee on (1) owners of any electric utility providing power to a covered facility that exceeds the baseline emissions in that region for that year, and (2) covered facilities with respect to the greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation assets located behind the power meter of the facility above the baseline of the region for that year. The electric utilities may not recoup the cost of the fee by raising rates or assessing fees on customers that are not covered facilities.
Written by AI (Claude) using only the official summary by the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress’s nonpartisan research staff. It can miss nuance, so check the official summary and the bill text for details.
1st SessionS. 1475
A BILL
Clean Cloud Act of 2025
Sponsor: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) · Introduced Apr 10, 2025 · Environmental Protection · 1 version of the text
Sources: Congress.gov actions and votes · bill text from GovInfo · latest official action Apr 10, 2025: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.”