The Pentagon wants to build data centers. Congress would like a word.

The Department of Defense’s leasing of land to private companies for artificial intelligence server farms is drawing bipartisan scrutiny from lawmakers worried about the impact on military installations and surrounding communities. The Pentagon is building data centers to supercharge its war tactics with drone swarms and other technologies powered by AI. Members of Congress — including a senior Republican appropriator — are trying to check that effort before it accelerates any further. “As we enter the period of AI, which requires very serious data centers, data facilities, that are extraordinary consumers of both energy and water, the question arises as to whether they should be on military bases,” Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) said last month after proposing a sweeping amendment to the House’s version of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. “The answer to this may be yes, may be no,” said Garamendi, ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness. DOD officials and some congressional conservatives are pushing back, saying the military has already accounted for the impact of data centers. They also warn restriction would create a drag for military innovation at a time when the Pentagon is scrambling to stay competitive in the AI arms race. But despite the administration’s resistance, some proposals are advancing and could become law as part of broader legislative battles over how to regulate the data center boom. In many cases, lawmaker proposals addressing DOD data centers don’t seek to shut down the build-out. Most of them would simply require studies, evaluations or additional planning that would force the Pentagon to take into account — and be transparent about — proposed data centers’ consumption of energy and water, as well as the impacts they could have on local communities and the environment. “Members … understandably want to ensure there is careful consideration of impacts to local residents with regards to potential strain on the power grid and water supplies,” Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), chair of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said in a statement. The military’s data center drive gained momentum last year with President Donald Trump’s executive order directing the agency to identify suitable sites on military installations for AI infrastructure. The order required EPA and the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality to take steps to support data center construction. Since then, the Air Force has offered up unused land on five installations for private companies to build data centers. The Army has already entered into two conditional agreements with private companies to build “commercial hyperscaled data centers” on its installations, the branch said in a news release. The investment firm Carlyle Group will build a data facility on 1,384 acres on Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, by 2027. Data center developer CyrusOne will build a facility on 1,201 acres on Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground by 2029, according to an Army fact sheet. The Army has stated that the projects will come at “no upfront cost to taxpayers,” and that they will include “comprehensive behind-the-meter power and water solutions.” But some lawmakers — mostly Democrats — are skeptical that can be done. El Paso Matters reported earlier this year that the Fort Bliss data center alone could require more power than all of El Paso’s 460,000 electricity customers combined. Lawmakers say they have been left in the dark with regard to how these contracts will be enforced and what steps the Pentagon is taking, if any, to ensure the data centers do not create problems for military readiness, base infrastructure and nearby residents. “Just like any other data center, we have to be very cognizant of water and of electricity,” said Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), whose district is home to a major Marine Corps base. “A bigger concern is that we haven’t received the appropriate brief from [Defense Secretary Pete] He