Energy secretary criticizes New York’s data center ban amid AI race
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s temporary ban on new large data centers in her state draws sharp criticism from Energy Secretary Chris Wright. He argues the policy, influenced by ‘green energy mandates,’ will drive up utility costs and put the U.S. behind China in the artificial intelligence race. Wright highlights how similar past policies have negatively impacted New York’s energy landscape.
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President Donald Trump is set to make a major Thursday announcement about safeguarding Americans from a common concern that stems from burgeoning data centers nationwide.
The 47th president is expected to announce at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington, D.C. a coalition of legislators, tech leaders and utility CEOs who together have pledged not to pass along utility costs to customers as data centers continue to be erected nationwide, Digital has confirmed. The coalition is called the Ratepayer Protection Protection Pledge.
The coalition includes 23 governors — all Republicans. Four of them will be present Thursday.
U.S. President Donald Trump makes a speech on the aircraft carrier USS George Washington during his visit to the U.S. Navy’s Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, Japan, October 28, 2025. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon)
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry are scheduled to attend the event with the president. Trump is expected to make the announcement alongside Energy Secretary Chris Wright and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
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Some Americans are skeptical of data centers, and for a variety of different reasons.
One of those being the potential for skyrocketing energy costs stemming from the massive facilities, which are largely being built by major tech companies to power the growing artificial intelligence sector.
Data centers house computer servers, data storage systems and networking equipment like routers and switches. They require large amounts of electricity and water, especially to power their own cooling systems.
Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, speaks during his Senate Environment and Public Works confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on January 16, 2025 in Washington, DC (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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But on the energy cost front, Trump in February promised that rising prices would not be passed along to consumers.
Trump signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge alongside those tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, OpenAI, xAI and Oracle, in March.
Since then, demand to join the coalition has exploded among governors, utility CEOs and data center development companies, who will also sign onto the president’s pledge. A White House official said 200 stakeholders have signed the pledge.
On what was recently farmland, Amazon data centers have been built as close as 50 feet from residential houses in the Loudoun Meadows neighborhood on January 20, 2023, in Aldie, VA. A Microsoft data center is under construction in at top right. As the data center industry expands its footprint in Northern Virginia, often building massive commercial structures near residential neighborhoods, communities push back with their concerns. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“President Trump is expanding the Ratepayer Protection Pledge to governors, legislators, developers, and power providers to ensure everyone involved in building and powering data centers covers their own costs instead of passing them on to American families,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Digital.
“The President’s bold action is turning data centers into engines of growth for local communities, while cementing America’s dominance in the global AI race.”
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The rollout of data centers is a critical Trump administration economic priority, but rollouts of new centers have been subject to protests nationwide.
The program offers paid training, travel support, lodging and a job offer for qualified graduates entering AI infrastructure work. (Meta)
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Digital recently reported that a group masquerading as a conservative grassroots organization has been teaming up with far-left activists to counter Trump’s push.
In Virginia, a well-known Marxist leader from the Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL) has become the face of the anti-data center movement.
