Energy secretary criticizes New York’s data center ban amid AI race
New York Gov.Kathy Hochul’s temporary ban on new large data centers in her state draws sharp criticism from Energy Secretary Chris Wright.He argues the policy, influenced by ‘green energy mandates,’ will drive up utility costs and put the U.S.behind China in the artificial intelligence race.
President Donald Trump is set to make a major announcement Thursday about safeguarding Americans from a common concern with burgeoningdata centersnationwide.
The 47th president is expected to announce at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters inWashington, D.C.
The coalition is called the Ratepayer Protection Protection Pledge.
The coalition includes 23 governors, all Republicans.Four of them will be present Thursday.
Some Americans are skeptical of data centers for a variety of different reasons.
One of those is the potential for skyrocketingenergy costsfrom the massive centers, which are largely being built by major tech companies to power the growing artificial intelligence sector.
Data centers house computer servers, data storage systems and networking equipment like routers and switches.They require large amounts of electricity and water, especially to power their own cooling systems.
Former Rep.Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, speaks during his Senate Environment and Public Works confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill Jan.16, 2025, in Washington, D.C.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
THE REAL REASON YOUR ELECTRIC BILL IS SOARING THIS SUMMER WILL SURPRISE YOU
But on the energy cost front, Trump in February promised that rising prices would not be passed along to consumers.
Trump signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge alongside those tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, OpenAI, xAI and Oracle in March.
Since then, demand to join the coalition has exploded among governors, utility CEOs and data center development companies, who will also sign onto the president’s pledge.A White House official said 200 stakeholders have signed the pledge.
On what was recently farmland, Amazon data centers have been built as close as 50 feet from houses in the Loudoun Meadows neighborhood Jan.20, 2023, in Aldie, Va.(Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“President Trump is expanding the Ratepayer Protection Pledge to governors, legislators, developers and power providers to ensure everyone involved in building and powering data centers covers their own costs instead of passing them on to American families,�
“The President’s bold action is turning data centers into engines of growth for local communities, while cementing America’s dominance in the global AI race.”
THE HIDDEN LEFT-WING NETWORK POWERING A ‘CONSERVATIVE’ REBELLION AGAINST A MAJOR TRUMP PRIORITY
The rollout of data centers is a criticalTrump administration economic priority, but rollouts of new centers have been subject to protests nationwide.
com/politics/hidden-left-wing-network-powering-conservative-rebellion-against-major-trump-priority" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently reportedthat a group masquerading as a conservative grassroots organization has been teaming up with far-left activists to counter Trump’s push.
In Virginia, a well-known Marxist leader from the Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL) hasbecome the faceof the anti-data center movement.
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