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“The belief (of data center operators) is that the value that servers provide is far greater than the cost of running these inefficient power plants all the time,” Comey says.
Gas projects developed as part of the Stargate project, a massive multi-company AI effort originally started to build the infrastructure for OpenAI, also represent a potential emissions bomb on WIRED’s list. Stargate campuses are being built in multiple states, including Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Permitting documents for just three Stargate natural gas projects — one to operate a data center campus near the project’s headquarters in Abilene, Texas, and two to operate the Jupiter Project, a campus in New Mexico — show they have a combined potential to emit more than 24 million tons of greenhouse gases each year.
“We are committed to protecting taxpayers while building the infrastructure needed to drive AI in the United States,” Aaron McClair, a spokesman for OpenAI, said in a statement. “When natural gas is needed in the near term to ensure reliable power, we work with partners to use modern, efficient generation while helping accelerate clean energy and grid modernization.”
Julia Allen Fishel, an Oracle spokeswoman, told WIRED that a “tweak” to Project Jupiter is currently underway, “which is expected to meaningfully reduce emissions.” The company did not provide new emissions estimates, which the New Mexico Department of Environment has not yet announced.
“Oracle is committed to paying our own way for energy while implementing the best energy solution for each community so that taxpayer bills and the reliability of the electric grid are not impacted by our AI data centers,” Fishel said in a statement.
A fourth gas plant on Stargate’s main campus in Abilene, according to application documents, has the capacity to release more than 7.8 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent each year. This power station was built by Crusoe for use by Microsoft. Companies Announce In late March, Crusoe will construct new buildings on the Abilene campus, including a power plant, to support Microsoft’s artificial intelligence infrastructure. (Microsoft declined to comment.)
There are projects with a potentially larger carbon footprint than Stargate. Outside Amarillo, Texas, Fermi, the darling of the White House, is building what it calls the “President Donald J. Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Complex,” a data center campus that aims to produce 17 gigawatts. Fermi continually emphasizes its use of what it calls “clean” natural gas. But the documents show that the maximum emissions for the two gas projects combined could reach more than 40.3 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent each year, more than the annual emissions of all of Connecticut’s energy sources.
About five hours south of Amarillo, near the city of Fort Stockton, Pacifico Energy is developing what is Claims It is the country’s largest single energy project: a 7.2 gigawatt data center complex, backed by a gas project that allows it to emit more than 33 million tons of greenhouse gases each year. (Pacifico did not respond to a request for comment.)