President Joe Biden signed an executive order today opening federal land to data centers, setting up a key test on energy policy for the next administration. As I write this morning, the order directs the departments of Energy and Defense in consultation with Interior to lease federal sites to the private sector for a massive build-out of data centers. Developers would be required to bring clean energy online to match the facilities’ electricity needs. The move aims to fortify two parts of Biden’s legacy: boosting low-carbon energy and made-in-the-USA technology. But by not emphasizing natural gas or drilling, the order could be scuttled by President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to unleash fossil fuel “liquid gold.” The power problem: Tech companies are rushing to build data centers to support a boom in artificial intelligence. That will require a lot of power: The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates data centers could account for 12 percent of the country’s electricity use by 2028. The Data Center Coalition, which represents some of the nation's largest technology companies, welcomed Biden’s order, saying it recognizes the role of the industry "in advancing America's national security and global economic competitiveness." The order would boost data center development but also set some guardrails on how that build-out is powered. Data centers on federal land would effectively need to match their electricity usage with new generation from renewables, nuclear or fossil fuels with carbon capture. Trump, however, has pushed for more oil and gas drilling to power data centers. At a press conference last week, Trump called data center technology a “hot item” and said he would seek expedited environmental reviews for business leaders like Hussain Sajwani, a real estate developer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, who plans to invest $20 billion to build data centers in eight states. Biden’s order directs Energy and Defense to identify three sites for data centers by the end of February, creating an early test for the next administration. The Interior Department is directed to identify additional locations by mid-March that may be suitable for artificial intelligence infrastructure. The order was panned by some environmental groups. Camden Weber, a climate and energy policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity, called a provision allowing “categorical exclusions” under the National Environmental Policy Act to expedite data centers “infuriating.” Biden is using “the last gasps of his presidency to sweep aside environmental laws so rich tech corporations can crank up more thirsty, energy-ravenous data centers that will increase electricity rates and destroy public land,” said Weber. But other greens said they were encouraged by the clean energy definitions and the exclusion of an idea that had been floated to allow data centers to exceed pollution limits.
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