A proposed federal moratorium on data center construction sounds like responsible AI policy. Nic Bustamante, Chief Data Center Officer at Exowatt, says it's anything but. In this op-ed, he breaks down why a blanket construction freeze would hand America's AI future to global competitors — and what smart, targeted regulation should look like instead.
The AI Data Center Moratorium Act introduced by Senator Sanders (VT) and Representative Ocasio-Cortez (NY) asks a reasonable question — “how do we develop AI responsibly?” — and delivers precisely the wrong answer. A blanket freeze on data center construction would not protect American workers, communities, or the environment. It would surrender American leadership in the most consequential technology of our lifetime to competitors who will not pause alongside us.
As an energy company building next-generation, American-made, renewable power systems for data centers, and as professionals who have spent careers developing and operating this critical infrastructure, we see the moratorium for what it is: a policy that conflates legitimate concerns with a blunt instrument incapable of addressing any of them.
AI infrastructure is the foundation on which the next generation of American industries, jobs, and national security capabilities will be built. China, the Gulf States, and others are investing aggressively to capture more ground. Every month of frozen construction is a month our global competitors use to close the gap — or pull ahead. Senator Fetterman (PA) was right to call a moratorium "China First." The nations that build AI infrastructure will set the rules, capture the economic value, and employ the workers. A construction freeze doesn't buy time for deliberation. It cedes territory.
Data centers are not just server rooms. They are anchors of regional economic development with the potential to create thousands of construction and operations jobs, generating tax revenue, and catalyzing entire ecosystems of supporting industries from electrical contracting to fiber optics to facilities management. Freezing construction doesn't protect workers, it eliminates opportunities.
The bill's sponsors are right – data center energy demand is growing rapidly and communities deserve protection from rising utility rates. But they are wrong in assuming the industry is indifferent to or incapable of addressing these challenges.
A variety of exciting new companies exist precisely because the market recognizes the problem and is aggressively pursuing solutions. Built in the United States with domestically sourced materials, dispatchable solar technology delivers up to 24 hours of clean, renewable power per day and can be deployed behind the meter without burdening local grids or ratepayers. Across the industry, small modular nuclear, geothermal, advanced solar, fuel cells, and battery storage solutions are being deployed at unprecedented speed, increasingly colocated and behind the meter to mitigate ratepayer impact. Innovation is advancing due to market demands, not government mandates. A moratorium would freeze the very demand signal sent by the customers driving investments in clean energy infrastructure.
We share the goal of sustainable, responsible AI development. But speed, efficiency, and economic discipline — the qualities this moment demands — are not hallmarks of indefinite government construction freezes. The bill's own structure reveals the problem: the moratorium lifts only after Congress passes comprehensive AI legislation addressing safety, labor, civil rights, and the environment. Congress has yet to pass any meaningful AI legislation despite years of discussion, making it much likelier this is an indefinite ban with no realistic off-ramp.
The better path is a targeted, collaborative regulatory framework that channels the industry's momentum:
These approaches address every concern raised by the bill's sponsors — energy costs, environmental impact, community welfare, worker protection — without forfeiting American competitiveness or killing the innovation pipeline that is already delivering solutions.
Over 100 communities have enacted local moratoriums on data centers. That grassroots energy reflects real concerns that deserve real answers — not the false comfort of a nationwide freeze. Communities raising their hands are asking for partnership, accountability, and a fair share of the value this industry creates. Those are demands the industry can and should meet.
What they are not asking for is to be cut off from the economic opportunity of a generation. A moratorium does not protect communities. It guarantees that the jobs, investment, and innovation go somewhere else — likely overseas, to nations with far fewer environmental protections and no democratic accountability at all.
The AI revolution is not a future event. It is happening now. The question is not whether this infrastructure gets built — it is whether it gets built here, by American workers, powered by American energy innovation, under American oversight. We urge Congress to reject this moratorium and instead work with industry to build the regulatory frameworks that make responsible growth possible — quickly, efficiently, and at the pace this moment demands. We vigorously urge the industry to work on meaningful, common sense solutions to this challenge together with communities they serve.
Nic Bustamante is Chief Data Center Officer and GM of ExoRise. Nic has more than 25 years of global hyperscale data center development experience in over 100 markets. He's responsible for all aspects of development, operations, and business globally. Nic's background includes leadership positions at Corscale Data Centers, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Rackspace. He holds numerous industry certifications and has co-authored an array of industry standards.
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