How Trump’s clean energy war makes Amnesty International larger

At AI and Fossil Fuel Lovefest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania last week, President Donald Trump surrounds – Members of the Council of Ministers and CEO Among the Great Technology and Energy Giants such as Google and Exxonmobil – he said that “the most important man of the day” was the head of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeladen. “He will get a permit for the largest electricity production factory in the world about a week, do you say?” Trump told the laugh in the audience. Later that week, the Trump administration Exempt Coal power plants, and facilities that make chemicals to manufacture semiconductors, and Some other industrial sites from Air pollution regulations during the Biden era.

If Trump is a way, the next generation of data centers will work more dirt than the latter. It is not enough to kill renewable energy sources and pave the way for more coal and gas factories to operate the intelligence intelligence centers. Trump is also obsessed with ejaculation of environmental protection.

“It costs a lot to do things clean environmentally,” Trump claimed in interview With Joe Rogan in October 2024. When appointed To head the Environmental Protection Agency (or, rather, Run it on the groundZeldin said that it will focus on “unleashing (ing) American energy dominance” and “Mak (ing) America, the world of artificial intelligence in the world.” The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thousands of workers’ demobilization on July 18Overcoming it Research and development arm.

At the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, Trump tried to get the credit for private investments The total of about 36 billion dollars for data center and $ 56 million for new energy infrastructure. The same ceremony was mostly more beautiful and circumstances, but he says that the Trump administration says it wants to make Pennsylvania a new center for artificial intelligence data centers. It is a state that the Republicans are eager to move to their pillar, but it is also a Main coal and gas product. Sitting on the top of a major gas reserve, the cracking in Pennsylvania (as well as Texas) helped enter it into “”Oily rock revolution“In the first decade of the twentieth century that made the United States a leading gas producer in the world.

This was supposed to begin to change under the supervision of former President Joe Biden. He appointed a goal In order for the United States to obtain all electricity from sources free of carbon pollution by 2035. In 2022, it signed on The law to reduce inflation, Which was full of tax incentives to make it cheaper in building solar energy farms and new winds, as well as carbon -free energy sources. If it remains intact, the law was expected To reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by about 40 percent of this contract.

The law came in a decisive time for technology companies, which had been expanding data centers while picking up the artificial intelligence arms race. The demand for electricity in the United States is increasing for the first time in more than a decade, due to a large extent Energy -thirsty data centers. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and other technology giants have their climatic goals, pledging to reduce the effects of their carbon feet by supporting renewable energy projects.

But Trump makes it difficult to build these projects in the United States. Republicans Voice to vote the tax incentives in the Biden era For solar energy and wind in Great spending bill They passed this month. The draft law is likely to reduce the capacity of electricity in 2035 by 340 GB, according to One analysisWith the vast majority of losses coming from solar energy farms and wind that will not be built anymore.

All new data centers still need to obtain electricity from a place. “They will not be operated on the wind,” Trump said, “They will not be operated by wind,” with a repeated conversation points about the renewable energy that became The cornerstone of the new climate denial. he An executive order signed in Apriland directing Commercial, energy and interior departments to study “where coal -powered infrastructure is available and is suitable for supporting artificial intelligence data centers.” Trump, Supported by fossil fuel donorsHe carried a promise to “drill, child, drilling” – a slogan that doubled again in this event. He also referred to the birth station of Homer, Ancient charcoal factory that reopens it as a gas factory that will operate a new data center.

the Deals Among the summit, Enbridge includes investing one billion dollars to expand gas pipelines to Pennsylvania and spending $ 1.6 billion to “increase natural gas production in Pennsylvania in Equinor and explore opportunities to connect gas to the flexible energy generation of data centers.”

Data centers are a “main driver” of a boom in new gas pipelines and power plants in the southeast, according to January a report From the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEFA). The southeast is home to “”Data center“A center in Virginia through which about 70 percent of the Internet traffic in the world flows. Even if Amnesty International models are Become more efficient Over time, the amount of electricity that is currently expected to be requested can be locks societies throughout the United States to the long dependence on fossil fuels where the facilities build a new gas infrastructure.

Zeldin function now is mainly the removal of any organizational obstacles that may slow down this growth. From his first day in his position, “It was clear that the Environmental Protection Agency will have a major hand in allowing reform to reduce barriers that serve as a road barrier so that we could enhance the growth of artificial intelligence,” such as Zeladeen. Books on A Fox News OP-Ed last week. He added: “The company that looks forward to building an industrial facility or the power plant must be able to build what is in its power before obtaining an emissions permit.” After Moving to the decline in pollution regulations to the power plantsIt is said that the Trump administration is now working on a base that would retract 2009 “discovery of exposure” The Environmental Protection Agency is allowed to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the clean air law.

Zeldin also writes that when it comes to the permits of the clean air law of the pollutants, it is considered “simple motives”, the Environmental Protection Agency will not only fulfill the “minimum requirements for public participation.” and Artificial Intelligence Action Plan On July 23, the White House proposes the creation of new factional exceptions for projects related to the Data Center from the National Environmental Policy Law (NEPA), a sunlight law imposes on inputs from local communities in major federal projects. The plan is directed to the determination of the federal lands for the “wide -ranging development” of data centers and power generation.

There are other factors in play that can be hindered by the Trump agenda that Al -Ahfar is fueled, including Accumulation of gas turbine in high demand. Solar and wind farms are still generally faster for construction A new electricity source at affordable prices of charcoal or gasAnd we can see some developers pushing to complete projects before tax credits in the Biden era completely disappear. One of the early bright points of renewable energy sources was the fact that the data centers used to train artificial intelligence are easier in theory in theory. The distant wind And solar projects. Unlike other data centers, you do not need to build near the population centers to reduce cumin. In theory, they can also comply with the decline and flow of electricity generation when the sun and wind shine.

But so far, things are formed differently in the real world. “It is just a race to call as quickly as possible,” says Natalie Leendiphera, a chief colleague of the United States in Bloombergne.

The Data Center developers also feel anxious that if they constructs installations specifically to train artificial intelligence near renewable energy, they can be left with their roads on the road. They prefer to maintain the construction of data centers close to population centers where they can reset the facility for other uses if necessary. They also get more uproar that operates it around the clock throughout the week, so the data centers tend to generate electricity around the clock of the gas and Nuclear energy (Nuclear energy has more support than two parties from other carbon -free energy sources).

“There is now no doubt that artificial intelligence leads more use of fossil fuels in the United States and really brings us back in terms of climate change,” says IEFA. Tech Giants Google and Amazon have released ads coinciding with the Pennsylvania Summit, which is committed to purchase Electrical energy and Nuclear energyrespectively. But the most recent of them Sustainability Reports It turns out that greenhouse gas pollution is still growing, taking them away from their climatic goals of reaching net zero emissions.

“If (technology companies) want to achieve sustainability goals, they can do this,” says Conkel. “They get a free permit, from the Trump administration.”