Daily on Energy: Data center bill sponsor Gabe Evans responds to leftwing calls for a ban

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Wednesday, readers! If you’re looking for an escape from the busy news cycle this fall, Season 35 of Dancing with the Stars kicked off last night. 💃🪩🕺 This season features millennial heartthrob Taylor Hanson, celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis, Paralympic athlete Ezra Frech, and several experienced dancers. The second episode of the two-night premiere airs tonight. We’ll be tuning in! Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list. Colorado Republican Rep. Gabe Evans says that the U.S. has to “strike the right balance” when it comes to addressing data centers, and brushed off calls from Democrats to enact a ban by saying that the infrastructure for AI must be built in order to stay ahead of China. Evans’ data center energy bill, the Ratepayer Protection Act, is up for a floor vote this evening. The bill has bipartisan backing with Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor as the co-sponsor. It also passed unanimously out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee over the summer. However, some Democrats have expressed opposition to the legislation because it does not go far enough. Rep. Rashida Tlaib wrote on X on Tuesday that she would vote no on the bill because it “fails to meaningfully protect our communities.” She, instead, called for a national moratorium on data centers and for Congress to enact a data center prohibition on federal lands.Lawmakers such as Democratic Reps. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont have called for a ban on data centers. But Evans dismissed that approach during a sit-down interview with Maydeen, arguing that bans could push data center construction offshore.“Just because something doesn’t get built in the United States doesn’t mean it doesn’t get built at all,” he said. “We have to strike the right balance,” Evans said. He added there need to be “common sense” federal guardrails on power and water usage. State and local communities also need a seat at the table when it comes to zoning. But he added that we also need “the digital infrastructure in the United States.” In regards to a data center moratorium, Evans said: “tell me how that helps us stay course or beat China.” “Unless China is going to do a moratorium as well, all that does is that makes us take second place to China,” he said. Evans argued that his bill would ensure that data centers continue to get built while also ensuring they cover their own energy costs. Specifically, the bill would require state regulators to create standards for new data centers and hyperscalers that consume over 100 megawatts of electricity to cover the costs of new generation, transmission, and infrastructure upgrades.Evans said the bill would allow states to set their own criteria when it comes to addressing data center energy costs. He said states are “constitutionally allowed to have a seat at the table in determining how they want to chart their own future.” Meanwhile, Big Tech to tackle data center power crunch: Tech giants launched an alliance to manage data center power demand. Google and Nvidia are partnering with Emerald AI to launch the AI Energy Management Alliance (AEMA), which will focus on making data centers more flexible with respect to electricity demand. The alliance includes 17 other companies and organizations, such as Anthropic and Analog Devices. Also among them are utility and power leaders, such as National Grid, AES, RWE, Constellation, and NRG. AEMA said it would support data centers using demand management technologies like colocated generation, storage, and computational flexibility. “It’s really a win-win-win solution,” Nvidia head of sustainability Josh Parker told reporters on a call earlier this week. “This is more sustainable energy because it’s utilizing existing infrastructure. It’s good for communities because it supports energy affordability, leads to economic growth, allows us to continue to build out the AI that’s benefiting society,” he added. Technically, the alliance was first launched in 2014 as the Advanced Energy Management Alliance.A new survey: New polling has found that roughly 84% of people are concerned about how data centers will affect their local electricity prices, according to a survey released this morning by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and the Associated Press-NORC.The survey also found that 53% of Americans are extremely or very concerned about the environmental impacts of AI, a more than 10 percentage point increase from the 41% who said they were concerned last year. Plus, it found that most people are skeptical that data center construction will create jobs.The survey found that only 20% of those polled view data centers as beneficial for job creation. About 29% said data centers were somewhat beneficial, while 34% said the facilities were not very beneficial for job creation or not at all.Plus – a major data center hub pursues a pause: Loudoun County, which has the highest concentration of data centers in the country, is moving to pause new builds for one year. Yesterday, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors approved its staff to draft a resolution to pause all new data center applications for the next 12 months. Once the resolution is written, it will go to a final vote in October. It is not meant to be a full ban or moratorium in data centers, but instead will give the county time to move forward on laws managing the rapid development of the facilities. Officials have said it will not cause any application to become inactive. All the rest: TWO YEARS AFTER HURRICANE HELENE: It’s been nearly two years since Hurricane Helene brought catastrophic flooding, tornadoes, and extreme winds to the southeastern U.S. and southern Appalachia.Helene, which was immediately followed by several other heavy storms, is considered to be the deadliest hurricane in the contiguous U.S. since Katrina, killing at least 250 people. Particularly in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, the storm wreaked havoc in mountainous areas, with landslides and debris destroying electrical infrastructure, homes, roads, and bridges.For Duke Energy, it left 3.5 million customers without power. CEO and president Harry Sideris, who grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, recounted the devastation when speaking with Callie this week, saying he hopes the storm was a “once in a lifetime experience.”“That storm hit all six of our states at Duke Energy,” he said. “We had 3.5 million customers without power. Eighteen feet of water coming down the mountain in Asheville, North Carolina, taking out everything in its path.” Sideris said the storm came in the middle of the company’s multi-year grid investment project, which began in 2017. He explained that, in the last five years alone, Duke Energy has invested $35 billion to strengthen grid infrastructure and make it more resilient to extreme weather. In Florida, for example, the company replaced many wooden poles along the coast with concrete and steel poles. He said some of this work was done before Helene made landfall in Florida. “We never dreamed that we would have to do some of the work that we’re now looking at doing in Western North Carolina because we never would have expected this type of damage up there,” he said. In addition to replacing infrastructure, Sideris said Duke Energy is using what he calls “self-healing technology,” or “GPS for the grid.” This technology automatically reroutes power to areas where outages are occurring to minimize the number of people without power. So far, 75% of Duke Energy’s customers are covered by this technology, and it saved over 5 million hours of outages last year, he said. Click this link to read more from Callie’s interview with Sideris, and you can find the full interview here. DIESEL AND FUEL PRICES KEEP RISING, WITH LITTLE RELIEF IN SIGHT: GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan is warning that gas and diesel prices could spike over the next 48 hours, reaching new all-time highs. “We may set a new 2026 high for average gas prices by the weekend,” he wrote on X. “Currently $4.371/gal and climbing, previous high $4.566/gal. diesel average at $6.315/gal and climbing, could hit $6.50/gal in the next 48 hours.” Currently, California is paying the highest prices for gas and diesel in the country. The average price of gas is $6.04 per gallon, while diesel prices are at $8.26 a gallon. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox News this morning that he expects diesel and gas prices will be coming down. When asked for a timeline, Wright said “I certainly can’t predict Iranian behavior.” “We’ve risen the flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf to record highs right now. About 18 million barrels flowed out yesterday. Basically, pre-conflict levels,” he said. Wright noted that a bigger problem is refining, which he said has been impacted by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “We are still reeling from the Democrat-driven closure of refiners all-across the United States,” Wright said. “We will fix that problem. But we can’t unwind the Democrat damage immediately.” HAROLD HAMM GETTING IN ON VENEZUELAN OIL: Oil tycoon and close ally of Trump Harold Hamm is answering the president’s call to invest in Venezuela. While at the G20 energy ministers summit in Houston today, Hamm said his company Continental Resources signed a memorandum of understanding to develop an oilfield in the country’s Orinoco Belt, according to the Financial Times. The deal is in partnership with state-owned oil company PdVSA. “I think this can also be the energy renaissance that is necessary in Venezuela,” Hamm said. “We see this becoming the key to really turning it around and perhaps, not only get [back to] where production peaked before, but actually extend that further.”Hamm did not reveal how much Continental Resources would be investing as part of the deal. Some background: Continental’s investment marks the latest deal signed by a western energy company committed to developing Venezuelan oil resources. Earlier this month, Wright traveled to Caracas to oversee the signing of similar agreements with Chevron, Eni, GE Vernova, Primavera, and Aspect Holdings. NUCLEAR STARTUP SUBMITS APPLICATION FOR TEXAS PROJECT: Nuclear startup company Blue Energy has officially submitted the first part of its application with federal regulators to build a small reactor at a Texas power plant that will first run on natural gas before switching over to nuclear power. Blue Energy revealed this morning that it started its construction permit application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, making it the fifth company to do so amid the current nuclear energy revival. The company is developing what it has described as the “world’s first gas-to-nuclear conversion,” a power plant that will use natural gas as a bridge to advanced nuclear energy. Blue Energy plans to first install gas turbines at the site, where it will provide power to a Crusoe data center as early as 2028. By 2031, the company aims to transition to nuclear power with as many as five small modular reactors. The first part of the construction application was formally submitted late yesterday and includes a request to begin limited construction activities, a request to approve the company’s gas-to-nuclear plant model, features a nearly 300-page environmental report, and provides information on how Blue Energy will finance the project. The second half of the application is expected to be submitted to regulators in the second half of next year. Earlier this year, the NRC gave its approval for Blue Energy’s licensing topical report, which supports the company’s natural gas to nuclear power model. RELATED – OVERHAUL OF NRC RULES WILL RUN WELL INTO NEXT YEAR: Blue Energy’s application comes as the NRC undertakes a massive overhaul of regulations and guidance documents, as ordered by Trump in an executive order issued last year. Through the wholesale review of the NRC rules, federal regulators are aiming to hit a Trump-prescribed deadline of making decisions on reactor licenses within 18 months. The EO ordered the NRC to issue notices of any proposed rulemaking within nine months of when the EO was issued, and finish the total overhaul within 18 months. As the EO was issued in May of last year, that would give regulators until November of this year to complete the review. However, NRC chairman Ho K. Nieh said this week that it will take longer than that, as the agency is narrowing the scope of environmental rules, changing rules on radiation protection, and creating new regulations for small advanced reactors. During an interview with Reuters, Nieh said the overhaul would continue “well into next year.” “You’re going to see some final rules be published in the Federal Register toward the end of this year, into early next year, and deeper into next calendar year,” he said. As a reminder: Nieh sat down with Callie earlier this summer and explained that many of the rule changes being made have been years in the making. In fact, he said there is a provision in one of the updated licensing rules that Nieh had been working on in 2004 and 2005. You can read more from Callie’s interview with the NRC chairman here. RUNDOWN The Associated Press Satellites show Earth lost more than 12 trillion tons of ice from Greenland, Antarctica in 47 yearsCanary Media Illinois revamps clean energy jobs training for a shifting economyWashington Examiner Ground broken on a Rust Belt powerhouse: Shippingport’s data hub rises in the Age of AI AnxietyPolitico The vulnerable Republican being squeezed on data centers