Trump's AI plan meets ‘energy dominance'
The AI Action Plan will include cutting back environmental requirements and streamlining permitting policies to make it easier to build data centers and power infrastructure, Mohar Chatterjee reports.
Previous White House AI plans in the Biden administration and Trump's first term have focused on the technology's use and issues such as intellectual property. The new inclusion of permitting policy reflects both the tech industry's reality that the greatest barrier to AI deployment is access to reliable power — and Trump's enthusiasm for boosting fossil fuel production.
'Remaining the world's leader in AI will require an enormous increase in energy production,' Trump told attendees at a summit last week in Pittsburgh.
The tech-energy intersection is evident in how some of AI's biggest players pitched the White House on the AI Action Plan during an open comment period this spring.
Google, for example, wrote that U.S. energy and permitting rules 'appear inadequate' to meet the sector's needs. Meta called for a 'comprehensive national strategy to support domestic data center investment and deployment,' including 'timely access to reliable electricity and speed to market and permitting efficiency.' OpenAI recommended streamlining transmission line development and using the Defense Production Act to accelerate gas turbine construction.
Anthropic, the company behind AI model Claude, even offered a specific energy target: 50 gigawatts of power — the equivalent of 25 Hoover Dams — dedicated to data centers by 2027.
The White House has leaned on AI's needs to advance its fossil fuel agenda. The Pittsburgh summit last week was accompanied by more than $90 billion in data center and energy investments, coming on the heels of billions in announced investments during Trump's Middle East trip. A controversial report this month warning that fossil fuel plants are needed to prevent blackouts was couched in language promoting the AI race.
Even as he revoked Biden-era AI and energy policies early in his term, Trump kept one that opened federal lands to data centers. He also recently launched an initiative to pair data centers with federal labs — the groundwork for a potential executive order this week.
The order, which may be announced on the same day as the AI plan, is expected to direct the Energy Department to kick-start data center construction on federal sites, two people familiar with the plan told Mohar.
Trump is scheduled to deliver an AI speech Wednesday at an event hosted by the All-In podcast and the Hill & Valley Forum.
Green groups — which have long been concerned about data centers' potential to undermine grid reliability and increase greenhouse gas emissions — are on alert.
'Trump's AI scheme sounds like a climate bomb clothed in tech bro skin,' Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said Monday.
It's Monday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Jason Plautz. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to jplautz@eenews.net.
Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Josh Siegel speaks with Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, about the state of renewable energy under Trump.
Power Centers
Could geothermal get a boost from fossil fuels?Researchers and the geothermal industry are looking at ways fossil fuels can be used to generate the energy source, Shelby Webb writes.
Geothermal energy has bipartisan support and the backing of federal incentives — and, crucially, the Trump administration.
Trump in an executive order called for removing 'all illegitimate impediments' to geothermal projects. And Energy Secretary Chris Wright has spoken favorably about geothermal.
Regulators in North Dakota approved a feasibility study in June to see whether geothermal could be paired with active oil well sites or if captured carbon dioxide could be used to feed geothermal production.
Permitting gets its momentBoth Republican and Democratic lawmakers are hoping to reopen talks on permitting legislation, writes Kelsey Brugger.
Committees in both the House and Senate will hold hearings this week focused on accelerating environmental reviews and addressing increased demand for electricity.
'I am hearing, believe it or not, some interest among Democrats in doing something on permitting reform. Because not only is it slowing down and grinding to a halt a lot of conventional energy projects, but there are also renewable projects, things that Democrats support,' Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said during an interview Sunday on Fox News.
While lawmakers in both parties want to streamline the permitting process, Democrats are wary of the GOP's intentions and the administration's unilateral actions.
Need a satellite? NASA might have one for saleThe Trump administration is considering selling or leasing some NASA satellites, including ones already in orbit, Scott Waldman writes.
It's in line with the administration's other efforts to slash federal spending. But NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens stressed that no decisions have been made yet.
The satellites are primarily used to gather scientific data, including carbon dioxide levels. NASA has about 50 spacecraft in orbit, and the Trump administration hasn't disclosed which ones may be up for grabs.
In Other News
Next stop, South America: China is building electric vehicle factories in Brazil, aiming to capitalize on one of the world's biggest markets after other automakers retreated.
The little guy: There is surging interest globally in small modular reactors as nuclear energy gains steam because of soaring electricity demand.
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The phase-out of federal renewable energy tax credits has created more uncertainty for states like New York and New Jersey that have ambitious clean energy plans.
Trump dismissed all but one of the members of a federal board that oversees the storage of nuclear waste.
The EPA officials who oversee the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will move into the newly created Office of Finance and Administration.
That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
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