Steve Everley
5.3K posts
@saeverley
Energy communications and public affairs, @FTIConsulting. @newtgingrich and @AEI alum. Jayhawk. Opinions are my own. Retweets are not endorsements.
Power prices on the largest US grid jumped 76% in the first quarter as data center demand surged, increasing pressure on the operator to ease consumer strain bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
This is a great example of how we quickly pin blame on the new bogeyman ("Big Rich Tech Corporations!") instead of focusing on the root problem. Two years ago, the same grid monitor wrote: "One of the key challenges facing the PJM markets is the potentially high level of expected thermal resource retirements between now and 2030 with no clear source of replacement capacity." What created that situation? Policy choices that pretended we could eliminate baseload power and still meet pie-in-the-sky environmental targets without hurting reliability or affordability. There were plenty of warnings, but they were ignored. Some even dismissed those concerns because abstract things like "the fate of the planet" were too important. But now that the bill has quite literally come due, the blame is simply recast. You see, it's now the fault of those who are trying to make a historic economic opportunity a reality. Major opportunities don't happen without electricity. There are no high growth, low energy countries. The fact that years of policies pushed the grid to a point where there was limited room for economic growth should be a giant flashing referendum on those policies. Blaming data centers is a great way to get headlines and make people think we could have been okay but for those big bad tech bros. But that doesn't get at the root of the problem, and is effectively a diversion from a series of decisions that set the stage. And isn't it convenient that in many cases, it's the same decisionmakers who are now the loudest in pinning the blame on data centers?
Buried deep in a story about how data centers are linked to higher electricity prices, we find this gem: "Nationally, there has not always been a link between higher prices and more data centers." subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews…
@saeverley @ShanuMathew93 This is one of the worst ones of bad science/math. The local heat impact increase study is as bad if not worse. We must be better as industry of being transparent about the facts. It starts with us.
"While large-scale data center demand would seem to strain the grid, these developments can reduce residential rates by spreading fixed utility costs across a larger consumer base" @ts_fisher @NiconomistLoris @NTU ntu.org/publications/d…
Washington Post carefully explains that many of the loudest claims against data centers are "badly overstated" washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/…
In today’s episode of “The More You Know” we address the hyperventilating over @kevinolearytv 's data center project. You know the one. The "THIS DATA CENTER WILL SET OFF 23 ATOM BOMBS A DAY!!! " clickbait outrage. (see post below) Here are some actual facts about Phase 1 that 99.9% of people whose teats in a wringer over now, but last week, couldn't have found Box Elder County on a map if it were highlighted and had fire ants crawling all over it. GET THIS: The source of energy behind Phase 1 is an old friend of ours - natural gas - that arrives via the Ruby Pipeline. Ruby runs 680 miles from the Opal Hub in Wyoming to Malin, Oregon crossing northern Utah into Nevada and Oregon. The 42-inch-diameter pipeline is operated by Tallgrass Energy. It has a capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet per day and has been in service since 2011. While utilization has historically been around 50% leaving room for additional capacity. The Stratos project can fill up that pipeline up to capacity with Phase 1. AND GET THIS - Ruby runs directly through the project site, which was deliberately chosen for this reason. Stratos will generate 100% of its own electricity on-site, behind-the-meter from a direct tap into the Ruby Pipeline using natural gas produced in Utah and Wyoming. BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE: The first phase will likely use VoltaGrid’s Jenbacher-powered systems for Stratos Phase 1 These are portable, scalable engines that use Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology which cuts NOx by 85–97% and delivers CO₂e emissions that are 30 to 40% lower than typical. AND GET THIS: Closed-loop cooling systems minimize waste heat. The combination of these two technologies provide clean, low-heat, efficient power cleaner than regional grid power itself. No its not 23 atom bombs going off day after day. Yes it is the same source of energy that people will use to cook dinner tonight and then will log into an Instagram data center to post about how bad data centers are. There you have it. The more you know….
🇺🇸 Tucker is sounding the alarm on the largest AI data center ever proposed in the U.S. 40,000 acres, 62 square miles, all in Utah. Power consumption: 9 gigawatts, double what the entire state of Utah currently uses. One building… using more electricity than every home, business, and factory in the state combined, and it's being built in one of the most water-stressed regions in the country. Nobody's asking if the grid can handle it, nobody's asking what happens to the water, the elites just want it built. @tuckercarlson
Sanders and AOC introduced a bill to pause ALL AI data center construction. 300+ local bills filed. Half of planned 2026 data centers facing delays or cancellation. Each one brings billions to local economies. The people who say they want American jobs are trying to block the biggest job creation engine since the interstate highway system.
Data centers come with risks and impacts that have to be acknowledged and managed. That includes water use. But given the enormous economic opportunity, it's also vital to call out when headline-grabbing claims are debunked. From the Washington Post:
