Energy Secretary Chris Wright says AI data centers can curb rising electricity prices

newsJul 15, 2026311,231

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Gov. Kathy Hochul has it “exactly backwards” and called AI and data centers “the greatest tool we have right now to stop the rise of electricity prices,” criticizing New York’s recent move. New York Gov. Hochul signed an executive order pausing construction of new large-scale data centers that use 50 megawatts or more for up to one year, the first state action of that kind. The comment landed amid rising local and state pushback: a Quinnipiac Pennsylvania poll from July 13, 2026 found 16 percent support and 74 percent oppose building AI data centers in their communities. Opponents and some local officials cite rising electricity bills, water withdrawals, and limited long-term jobs as reasons for moratoria; at least one Florida county has imposed an 18-month ban. Supporters and some industry commentators argue data centers can be operated sustainably and are needed for AI infrastructure, while critics say the projects concentrate economic benefits and strain local resources. The clash sets up a policy fight between federal energy officials who emphasize grid and price benefits and state and local authorities prioritizing environmental, water, and community impacts, with public opposition already affecting political calculations in places like Pennsylvania.

Aaron Rupar

@atrupar.com

Energy Secretary Chris Wright: "Gov. Hochul has it exactly backwards. Data centers are the greatest tool we have right now to stop the rise of electricity prices."

67445d ago

asturianfarmer.bsky.social73

I think Hochul made the smartest move, and all those MAGA voters in Upstate NY will be happy not to have data centers. The Adminstration is on the wrong side of this and they don't know it.

staceycurrygunn.bsky.social39

Up is down and down is up

Middlerage24

OMG. DO YOU KNOW HOW ELECTRICITY WORKS? Of course not, Trump appointed you. 🙄

Alex Marten 🇧🇷🇺🇸🇺🇦🇸🇾🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️21

Household consumption of electricity has been trending down since 2010. But this month Virginia's Dominion Electric raised rates by 25%. It's the hyperscaler data centers.

Edgeoforever🗽17

So, EVERY ONE of 🍊’s cabinet members are idiots?😱

Good Trouble15

That lie might fly in Texas but not in NY. STFU!

Quoting this

Rhuta Bhayga9

Every day I marvel at how some people are able to talk without their mouth attached to their brain.

calizaybak.bsky.social5

They have so much fun with their stupid lies, MAGA will be nodding along of course and when they get their higher electric bills they'll grind their teeth and growl "Fucking Biden.".

That Jeff Guy 🐾5

The average intelligence in America has hit a new low.

L. M. Davis4

Man, a real live Ministry of Truth is both trippy and very stupid.

Ryan Godfrey4

He does not actually explain what he means. Does he believe throwing more resources at AI will solve any problem we give it (including the one where throwing more resources at AI drives up the price of those resources)?

Melanie Mallon3

Their lies aren't remotely believable. Lazy even in their deception.

SirNYC2

MORON ALERT! Luv what Hochul has done! I'd like to see Dara Centers banned in NY Green energy is the solution. Crazy is sticking with fossil fuel. Energy prices are high due to oil & gas industry greed. Energy is not sparse in NY - that's a lie. Data Centers do not lower energy prices.

Just Kevin2

Bad Democratic climate policies of encouraging cheap renewable electricity generation rather than expensive fossil fuel power plants is why electricity prices are skyrocketing according to Republicans. Vote accordingly.

web_rant2

Exactly backwards from common sense and social good is where fascist plans for their control at our expense come from. bsky.app/profile/atru...

Nolan Zugernat2

Energy Secretary Chris Wright: "Fucking is the greatest tool we have right now to preserve virginity"

Josh Marshall

@joshtpm.bsky.social

Trump Demands an AI Data Center in Every Pot talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump...

7245d ago

Nicholas Grossman

@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social

Around 70% of Americans oppose AI data center construction. Nearly half of Americans oppose it strongly. Whatever one's personal opinion about AI or data centers themselves, note that the "popularists" aren't making a big push for Democrats to oppose data center construction. I wonder why.

6745d ago

Centrist Sisyphus4

IMO a data center would be innocuous, even beneficial, if it were supplied by clean power and adequate water. That's where effective policy would focus in placing them.

His Grace, the Duke of Ankh, CDR Sir Samuel Vimes1

The “popularists” want to be popular with the worst people

Quoting this

Dave Infante29

when you studiously ignore popular opinions unfavorable to the interests of beltway think-tanks and their tech bro abundance backers, that's willful ygnorance

ResistingDaily

@clearlyfoggy.bsky.social

Data centers are needed for AI. AI is needed to manipulate information on the internet. Manipulation of information is needed to sway public perception. Swaying public perception is needed to keep people from realizing who the real enemy is. Oligarchs are the enemy. Data centers are a weapon.

7245d ago

💙🏳️‍🌈 Goldie (aka Kh’ymm) 🏳️‍🌈💙

@thegoldfishmind.bsky.social

This is how you do data centers. This is why we need regulation at the federal level. All data centers CAN be sustainable and benefit communities. It costs money to do so & there's too many cheap tech companies out there. "14.2 million of water, replenishing more than we withdrew." #Pinks

3245d ago

💙🏳️‍🌈 Goldie (aka Kh’ymm) 🏳️‍🌈💙6

Build schools, invest in PEOPLE, benefit communities, don't build next to homes. Be GOOD! Be Better Tech companies, you can do it, you're just greedy. Because if this company can do it, all can! #Pinks

✌️Bob ☮ (Old Man Hippy)💙4

Except while Microsoft is one of the more responsible companies out there, they still have significant problems that need to be addressed before they are allowed to build more data centers. They are even considering abandoning their stated goals, or at least delaying them...

occupystephanie1

They do NOT benefit communities! Most communities do not want them. They contaminate ground water in NE Oregon. People in conservative regions do not want them like: www.opb.org/article/2026...

Connie L🇨🇦🇺🇦🍁🐝🐦‍⬛🌲🌏🌈Living with COPD1

Didn't Warren Buffet just stop supporting Gates? Call me suspicious but is this propaganda to make him look good? How much is true? I don't believe everything they write. They spin it to make them look good.

The Watchdog Coalition

@thewatchdogco.bsky.social

AI data centers are driving up energy bills and hitting families hardest when healthcare and housing costs are already crushing. Call on Congress to pass the moratorium. #FundHealthcareNotWars

5245d ago

Ed Zitron

@edzitron.com

Hyperscalers were initially the only ones with the ability to create the infrastructure the OpenAI (and later Anthropic) needed. That's why we have no other viable AI labs - nobody else has the infra, and nobody else could afford to burn hundreds of billions. www.wheresyoured.at/the-openai-bubble/

The grim truth is that you can’t venture fund an AI lab. While OpenAI and Anthropic have raised nearly $300 billion in the last few years, their actual infrastructure costs — the GPUs and the data centers to power their services — were entirely funded by hyperscalers, likely costing another $250 billion in the process, given that Microsoft has said it spent $100 billion on its OpenAI relationship as of early 2026.

Yet the real cost wasn’t just financial, but the experience and industrial know-how to actually execute on a massive infrastructure bailout. Other than Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, nobody else has the scale or experience to build the kind of AI clusters that OpenAI (and eventually Anthropic) needed.

We know that for a couple of reasons. First, because prior to 2023, there were few — if any — companies actually building AI computing clusters at the kind of scale demanded by OpenAI or Anthropic. The closest thing that one could point to were crypto-mining firms, and it’s telling that many of the neoclouds today (most famously Coreweave) started life running warehouses full of ASICs to mine Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Second, because, based on conversations with people in the data center industry, the whole Overton window of what is considered to be a “big” facility has shifted. Previously, a 50MW data center would have been considered a significant (even noteworthy) development. These were the exception, and not the rule, with most data centers being vastly more modest affairs. The only companies which had any experience building at that scale were, for the most part, hyperscalers.

By treating OpenAI as a “venture backed startup,” hyperscalers created the illusion that this was the next type of big company that would in turn create the next great demand center in cloud computing, except the only reason that these companies existed was because of the hyperscalers themselves willing them into existence, funding them with incredible sums, and allowing them …

3545d ago

Mickey Kuhns

@mickeykuhns.bsky.social

What does Elon Musk’s AI chatbot think of data centers?

1744d ago

Polling USA

@usapolling.bsky.social

Pennsylvania - Support For Building AI Data Centers In Their Community: Oppose: 74% Support: 16% Quinnipiac / July 13, 2026

2445d ago

Quoting this

ashley 🌹10

good thing Senator Fetterman is in tune with his constituents on the issue

Bill DiFilippo8

please @amyactonoh.bsky.social i am begging you @amyactonoh.bsky.social

Rob Hanna6

A reminder that Shapiro was more that happy about this a year ago. Joint announcement w/ McCormick.

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they)

@doctorvive.bsky.social

9 times out of 10 the people shaking their pompoms for AI development, gas-powered data centers be damned, are the same people who are bullish on solar geoengineering by private companies for profit. But it's all good because it's all growth and innovation — our heaven and earth forever amen.

2344d ago

Paris Marx

@parismarx.com

Read my new piece for @thenation.com, then preorder my new book on data centers and AI!

2545d ago

Craig Pittman

@craigtimes.bsky.social

#Florida county bans AI data centers for 18 months. www.tallahassee.com/story/news/l...

1444d ago

Nick Field

@nickfield.bsky.social

Quinnipiac Pennsylvania Poll: Would you support or oppose building an AI data center in your community? 16% Support 74% Oppose Shapiro's approval on data centers is -10 (24/34) in contrast to his overall +22 (56/34) approval. AI itself is -25 (22/47) poll.qu.edu/poll-release...

745d ago

Numbcat9

@numbcat9.bsky.social

Wait no hahaha Chris Wright drank fracking fluid on camera in 2019 to prove it was safe and ever since then he’s been living out the Green Goblin’s origin story. He even has degrees from MIT kind of like the Green Goblin’s high education. “You know, Governor, I’m something of a scientist myself.”

1045d ago

Marialana Kinter for Congress

@marialanakinter.bsky.social

Young Floridians have spoken. We want a future where every drop of water isn't siphoned off to AI data centers. Where Florida's natural beauty isn't bulldozed for another data center or detention facility. A job economy where hard work leads to a future, not automation and dead-end wages.

845d ago

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Energy Secretary Chris Wright says AI data centers can curb rising electricity prices

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