President Donald Trump will announce during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night that his administration has struck agreements with major tech companies to make them shoulder a greater share of the energy cost burden associated with data centers.
The remarks come as the infrastructure build-out for artificial intelligence threatens to further tax the electric grid and raise electricity prices, an increasingly powerful talking point ahead of the midterm elections.
The new "rate payer protection pledges,” confirmed by a White House official ahead of the president’s address, represent one of the administration’s boldest actions yet related to AI and energy.
Trump is expected to announce that top tech companies have pledged to pay more for electricity in areas where they are building new data centers, which use enormous amounts of energy and sometimes water.
The companies, which have not been named, have committed to “pay their own way” to keep consumers’ electricity costs from surging, a White House official confirmed.
POLITICO first reported that the White House was eyeing data center agreements with tech companies earlier this month. The Wall Street Journal was first to report that Trump will announce the pacts during his State of The Union address.
“The President will proudly tout his Administration’s many record-breaking accomplishments, and also [lay out] an ambitious agenda to continue bringing the American Dream back for working people,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Trump’s State of the Union speech comes as his administration faces blowback from voters on immigration enforcement, trade, the economy and affordability.
Large tech companies in particular have come under fire from environmentalists and some congressional Democrats, who have expressed concern and introduced legislation to mitigate the impacts of data centers on electricity bills.
Trump is expected to tout his administration’s work to boost American “energy dominance” during his speech Tuesday, including moves to lower gasoline prices.
He could also mention efforts to expand domestic mining and oil and gas drilling, roll back major climate regulations, and extract and sell Venezuelan oil.
Democrats and environmental groups argue the country would be better off if the administration were promoting rather than restricting renewable energy production.
This week, the Democratic-aligned environmental group Climate Power announced a six-figure ad buy blasting Trump over high prices, including rising utility bills in many parts of the country.
“Just like his pledge to cut utility bills in half before they spiked 13% on his watch, Trump’s data center announcement is a toothless, empty promise based on backroom deals with his own billionaire donors," Jesse Lee, a senior adviser for Climate Power, said in a statement.
from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/lZiEBe6
https://ift.tt/VqPvfye
0 Comments