Trump's anti-DEI order sparks new federal funding guidance in Washington County
One of several established that entities with DEI practices would no longer be eligible for funding from the U.S. government. After several months of talks centered on how to preserve federal grants and other financial support, the Washington County Board of Commissioners voted to approve guiding principles during a meeting on Tuesday.
CDC delves into bubonic plague case detected in Oregon in early 2024
The new guidance states that leaders will continue to operate 'in a transparent and open manner' while complying with federal, state and local regulations, among .
Earlier in June, the its February 2020 commitment to DEI practices in response to the executive order. following pushback from several residents who argued leaders of the diverse county shouldn't adhere to the Trump administration's demands.
However, County Administrator Tanya Ange noted that officials rely on $135 million in federal funding annually — and July through August is typically the period in which grants and contracts are renewed. Senior Medicare services administered through the Oregon Department of Human Services and overdose prevention programs managed by the Oregon Health Authority are among the resources that are currently 'at risk' as local officials wait to learn whether funding has been secured, according to Ange's .
Despite uncertainty surrounding which resources will remain accessible in the county, some community members are arguing the new guidelines are too vague to ensure the protection of all residents.
'Simply changing the wording may not be enough to get the federal funds that we need, or maybe the wording is enough, but the resolution you pass is ambiguous enough to open the door for these funds to be made available for purposes they were not intended for — for not serving the under-resourced members of our community,' one testifier said.
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District 1 Commissioner Nafisa Fai proposed an amendment that would have changed the guidelines to include language about Oregon's sanctuary state status, and to affirm that all Washington County residents would still have the right to access resources despite discrimination.
When no other leaders voted to second the proposal, a decision that was met with 'boos' from attendees of the public hearing, District 4 Commissioner Jason Willey said legal counsel had already advised the county against changing the resolution.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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'Power generation companies, in order to secure turbine supplies, are engaging in aggressive procurement strategies such as making order requests years in advance, diversifying their supplier network, and coming up with different project designs and configurations to avoid any grid reliability shortfalls,' Vyakaranam notes. These considerations threaten Texas' new gas turbine plans as they 'cannot be resolved quickly, if at all', warns Wamsted, adding that engineering, procurement and construction companies have 'limited capability to meet the rapid proposed buildout'. 'Both of these capacity problems are raising the cost of gas-fired generation, which could put a brake on planned additions,' he continues. 'New gas pipelines will be needed for many of the planned expansion efforts, which will take time and have significant capital costs.' Are Malaysia and Texas part of a bigger picture? Vyakaranam believes that renewables alone cannot yet power the world through its AI revolution – instead, gas power has to be part of the mix. 'Although there will be a continued push towards renewables and battery storage innovations, which will eventually help meet data centres' demand,' he says, 'gas and nuclear will have to do some of the heavy lifting in the meantime.' Wamsted takes a different view: 'I would say it is renewables that can quickly and affordably meet the US' rising electricity needs, not gas, which may be sold out through 2030, or nuclear, which is unlikely to add significant new capacity before 2035 at earliest.' He also cautions against relying on gas alone. 'All generation systems require maintenance and have unforced outages during the year […] Relying on one resource – or worse, one facility – would be highly risky,' he says. However, the same could be said about renewables, particularly given their reliance on weather conditions and without the support of energy storage. With data centres – and everything they enable – now part of our world, it seems energy transition hopes are destined to do battle with our thirst for technology. With strong support and opposition for both renewables and gas power to support the AI boom, the reality is likely somewhere in between. Therefore, perhaps Texas and Malaysia have got it right, in spite of the raised eyebrows their approaches elicit. With battery storage still lacking, new gas turbines backlogged and nuclear, at best, a long-term investment, the best way to meet the exponentially increasing demand from data centres may be for renewables and gas power to work together. Of course, even this peculiar collaboration is not enough. To ensure a reliable and sustainable AI future, power capacity additions – regardless of energy source – will need to be paired with efforts to upgrade ageing grids, expand energy storage and decentralise energy systems as a whole, while tailoring energy solutions for each data centre to its local surroundings. "Gas versus renewables: how will the power demand of data centres be met?" was originally created and published by Power Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. 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