Water groups warn H.727 must address large withdrawals and thermal discharge from data centers
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Summary
The Lake Champlain Committee and the Vermont Natural Resources Council told the committee that data centers cooling can require hundreds of thousands of gallons per day, create thermal discharges regulated under the Clean Water Act, and trigger gaps in state permitting that the bill should close. They offered precedents and asked to submit draft language.
Jared Carpenter (Lake Champlain Committee) and John Grumman (policy and water program director, Vermont Natural Resources Council) told the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on Feb. 26 that H.727 must address water withdrawals, thermal discharge and permitting gaps before Vermont approves large data-center projects.
Carpenter and Grumman said even relatively small commercial data centers can require on the order of 300,000 gallons per day for cooling; they said roughly 80% of that intake may be lost to evaporation in an open-loop cooling system with the balance discharged as heated wastewater. "You would need a fairly decent sized water source," Carpenter said, and witnesses warned many Vermont rivers and lakes could not sustain repeated large withdrawals without impacts.
Regulatory gaps and existing tools: Witnesses pointed to multiple relevant regulatory authorities and tools:
- Clean Water Act: thermal discharges are addressed through federal discharge permitting (and state water-quality standards), which regulate temperature and create a pathway for detailed review of thermal impacts.
- Act 250 and Section 248 experience: Grumman said the PUC can consider ANR permits and Act 250/section 248 criteria as evidence and the PUC could require a broader review beyond those permits when appropriate.
- Groundwater withdrawal permitting: Vermont law requires permitting for groundwater withdrawals above roughly 50,000 gallons per day; witnesses said that threshold would be triggered well below many data-center cooling needs and that those permits are not easy to obtain.
- Act 1135 (surface-water withdrawals and interbasin transfers): testimony noted rulemaking to implement registration and assessment requirements is underway, with proposed rules and a target effective date of July 1, 2026; the rules would require alternatives analysis and consideration of cumulative effects and low-flow thresholds (7Q10 metrics).
Suggested approach: The witnesses urged the committee to build into H.727 a mechanism to require a holistic water-quality review (similar to a Clean Water Act §401 water-quality certificate) or comparable standards for large surface-water or groundwater withdrawals, even when a project might not otherwise trigger a certificate. They also recommended encouraging or requiring closed-loop cooling where feasible while noting closed-loop systems reduce water needs but increase on-site energy for condensers.
Why it matters: Witnesses cited historical lessons from Vermont Yankee and biomass facilities where thermal discharge and large withdrawals had measurable impacts on fisheries and water quality and argued that early statutory clarity would prevent protracted litigation and environmental harm. They offered to provide reports, technical studies and draft statutory language to the committee.
Committee response and next steps: Committee members asked for written testimony and placeholders; witnesses said they would provide draft language and supporting reports promptly to guide bill drafting.