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CLEAN CLOUD ACT’ DRAFT BILL REQUIRES CRYPTO MINERS TO CUT EMISSIONS OR FACE FINES
▪️Senate Democrats introduced a bill Thursday that would set regional limits on the emissions from crypto mining facilities and AI data centers, imposing fines on facilities that surpass the cap.
▪️The regional caps would be reduced by 11% annually until reaching zero by 2035, requiring facilities to operate on 100% renewable energy, or face fines.
▪️The draft bill would also require facilities to submit detailed annual reports on electricity usage and sourcing to allow the EPA to calculate each facility’s emission intensity.
A draft bill dubbed the “Clean Cloud Act of 2025″ introduced to the U.S. Senate by Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and John Fetterman seeks to curb emissions from crypto mining facilities and AI data centers, with the eventual goal of fining any facility using non-renewable energy sources by 2035.
The draft bill would amend the Clean Air Act to require data centers with more than 100 kW of energy capacity to meet emissions caps that vary by region, as laid out in the Department of Energy’s National Transmission Needs Study.
The caps would be set by the end of 2025, and would lower by 11% each year until reaching zero in 2035. Facilities that exceed the emissions caps would pay inflation-adjusted fees based on how much their emissions exceeded the caps, and are forbidden from passing the costs off to customers.
The collected funds would be used to alleviate potential residential electricity cost increases through grants to local municipalities and also to fund clean energy deployment.
“Crypto & AI data centers can support clean energy, but they’re burning more fossil fuels & driving up families’ energy prices instead,” the X account representing the Democrats of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works wrote. “We can lead on AI & climate safety with [Whitehouse]’s Clean Cloud Act, which ensures that the industries profiting also pay their own way.”
The facilities would also be required to make detailed annual reports about their electricity consumption and sourcing, allowing the EPA to calculate the greenhouse gas emission intensity of each facility, and evaluate any possible fines based on the regional caps.
The responsibility for paying the fines would be assigned to the tenants leasing the facilities, not the landlords, which could loop in startups renting server space to the reporting requirements and fines.
The bill will likely face opposition from Republicans in Congress. President Trump has expressed a desire for the United States to become the world’s most significant Bitcoin mining power. President Trump’s eldest sons are also planning to take their own Bitcoin mining company public, The Block previously reported.
@ Newshounds News™
Source: The Block
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SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN LAUNCHES FRESH OFFENSIVE ON CRYPTO
▪️Senators Elizabeth Warren, Mazie K. Hirono, and Dick Durbin want the DoJ’s decision to terminate crypto investigations reversed.
▪️The Senators raise concerns over the DoJ’s shift in priorities, terming it a “grave mistake.”
▪️The lawmakers point out possible conflicts of interest, highlighting President Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures as potential beneficiaries.
Senators Elizabeth Warren (ranking member of the United States (US) Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs) alongside Mazie K. Hirono (senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee) and Dick Durbin (ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee) led a team of six senators calling on the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to recall and reverse the decision taken by the Department of Justice (DoJ) to terminate cryptocurrency investigations and prosecutions.
The decision reported by FXStreet was communicated to the agency’s staff in a memo and included information on the disbandment of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), which was established to investigate and prosecute people charged with the criminal misuse of digital assets.
Senators protest the DoJ decision to terminate cryptocurrency investigations
The Senators addressed their concerns in a letter sent to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, raising concerns about a conflict of interest between the DoJ’s decisions and US President Donald Trump and his family’s cryptocurrency ventures.
According to the lawmakers, the memo gives “a free pass to cryptocurrency money launderers,” referring to the actions as “grave mistakes that will support sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams and child sexual exploitation.”
The DoJ memo outlined that the agency will no longer act on several federal laws targeting entities and institutions that deal with cryptocurrencies.
The list included mixing and tumbling services often utilized as conduits for hiding illegal assets and laundered money — proceeds from illegal activities like scams, drug trafficking, child sexual abuse and theft.
“Drug traffickers, terrorists, fraudsters, and adversaries will exploit this vulnerability on a large scale,” the Senators wrote, adding that “further increasing the risks posed by bad actors is your decision to disband NCET, which has coordinated a Department-wide effort to prosecute illicit activity involving cryptocurrency.”
Blanche’s memo indicated that the resolution to disband NCET would ensure that the DoJ “focus on other priorities, such as immigration and procurement frauds.”
The letter also stipulated that the shift in the DoJ’s priorities hints at the conflict of interest with President Trump and his family potentially selling cryptocurrency and avoiding “law enforcement scrutiny.”
The Senators concluded their letter by requesting Blanche to reconsider the decisions communicated in last week’s memo.
President Trump’s administration has implemented several major actions aimed at creating a crypto-friendly environment in the US. On January 23, an executive order was signed to foster regulatory clarity and ban central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). On March 6, the President signed an executive order establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve and digital assets stockpile.
Other actions taken by President Trump include establishing a crypto task force and spearheading a policy shift at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On January 23, the SEC canceled Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (SAB 121), which made it difficult for institutions to hold and custody digital assets.
At the time of writing on Monday, Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies remain relatively elevated from early last week’s levels, which had been battered by President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. The President suspended the tariffs for 90 days on Wednesday, triggering relief rallies in global markets, including crypto.
@ Newshounds News™
Source: FX Street
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