Apparently the law says you can't build a data center unless you tell a government committee what you plan to do there. Then they approve or deny your plan. I'm a little surprised this isn't already a thing. I didn't think you can start a business in the USA without a business license, which sounds similar to what Norway is doing.

I happen to be in Dallas Texas at the moment so I checked the local laws. Everyone who wants to start a business here has to visit the secretary of state to get a "certificate of formation" of their business, and there is a list of 300 business types that have to go through an additional approval process.

Data centers and server farms don't seem to be on that additional list, at least not from what I could see by skimming it, so in a sense I guess Norway's new law is just adding data centers to their equivalent list of "businesses that need extra scrutiny." That sucks. More red tape, and an opportunity to "just say no" to bitcoin.