But they also have to dispose of the heated water. An ordinance preventing that would cause complications.

And if electricity supplies are withheld, they then have to spend more money installing generator plant and ( vetted ) personnel to operate that.

> the NSA could still have giant data centers in this country by the simple expedient of building them on ships.

Ships require victuals, fuel and connectivity. Ships are subject to inspection by maritime authorities, unless stationed in international waters - which an intelligence agency would never risk.

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All of this would require a request for expansion of the budget, or alternatively eat into the operational aspects of the current budget.

In the absence of any high-level political will to address the underlying issue, making routine operations difficult and expensive would seem to be the only practical approach.