Lena Moffitt, executive director of climate advocacy organization Evergreen Action, called Trump’s announcement a “photo op with big tech” that “won’t lower a single family’s electric bill.”
“Trump promised again and again to cut Americans’ energy costs, but instead he’s letting the same corporations driving up demand write their own rules—a voluntary pledge with no teeth and no consequences if they break it,” she said...
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/cubans-seek-relief-from-crippling-blackouts-and-summer-heat
K Street lobbyists are bracing for an onslaught of oversight investigations if Democrats capture one or both chambers of Congress in November. And the party winning back committee gavels — and the subpoena power that comes with them — will make the Trump administration’s dealings with the oil and gas industry a top target.
Democrats are honing their affordability message with the 2028 presidential election looming. Any links they can uncover, real or perceived, between the Trump administration’s policies and rising electricity and gas prices could be fodder for that message, according to lobbyists who are already beginning to prepare clients for their turn under the spotlight…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/13/utah-approves-datacenter-backlash
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/02/solar-midwest-energy-crisis
Utah Republicans celebrated last week when PacifiCorp, one of the largest utilities in the West, announced it would stop serving customers in Washington state. PacifiCorp mainly operates in Utah, but also in Wyoming and Idaho—and, to the chagrin of some Utah legislators, blue states like California and Oregon. Utah legislators had previously pressured to break their utility's ties with states with more aggressive climate policies. …
"We want a divorce from the three states that don't look like Utah," said Mike Schultz, Utah's Republican House Speaker. "This is the first step forward."
"Pay for your own power, so it's not saddling local businesses or homeowners with higher costs," Shapiro said in an interview with POLITICO earlier this month from a union hall in Philadelphia…https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/19/shapiro-tests-democrats-data-center-strategy-00767682
The governors of Pennsylvania, Virginia and other states in that market have long feuded with the grid operator, called PJM Interconnection, over its handling of power supply and demand mismatches that have spiked prices across the region. Others in the market include all or part of Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia...
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/16/trump-tame-electricity-prices-00733422
Win for Memphis activists who say 'Colossus' facilities add extra pollution to already overburdened communities…
Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Van Hollen demand answers from tech firms including Google and Amazon…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/16/data-centers-consumer-prices
"I think people have very legitimate concerns, and that is: Who is going to pay the bill for the additional energy that's demanded from this?" said Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.). "They go, 'My power bill's gone up because somebody down the road is building a data center.'"…
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/14/data-center-boom-creates-political-conundrum-gop-00680635
Cox signed a pair of bills passed this year that will make it more difficult and expensive to develop and produce solar energy in Utah by ending solar development tax credits and imposing a hefty new tax on solar generation. A third bill aimed at limiting solar development on farmland narrowly missed the deadline for passage but is expected to return next year...
https://www.propublica.org/article/utah-solar-energy-operation-gigawatt-spencer-cox
"From the beginning of its time in office, the Trump administration put a halt to the wind energy projects that are needed to keep utility bills in check and the grid reliable," Kennedy said.
The wind order "has been a devastating blow to workers, electricity customers, and the reliability of the power grid", she said, adding that the Trump administration "should use this [ruling] as a wake-up call, stop its illegal actions and get out of the way of the expansion of renewable energy"...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/09/judge-blocks-trump-order-wind-energy
Exclusive: Congress urged to act against energy-hungry facilities blamed for increasing bills and worsening climate crisis…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/08/us-data-centers
The president denied the state's request for federal aid to rebuild power lines after a fierce ice storm last March, a move that could force thousands of rural electricity customers to pay the entire tab...
Rapid increases in the deployment of solar and wind power generation – which grew by 46% and 11% respectively in the third quarter of this year – meant the country's energy sector emissions remained flat, even as the demand for electricity increased…
"In effect, you have created a massive cut in energy supply," the senators say...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/31/us-electricity-bills-increased-trump
