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

newsJul 15, 2026102815

Energy Secretary Chris Wright publicly praised AI and data centers as "the greatest tool we have right now to stop the rise of electricity prices," and said "Gov. Hochul has it exactly backwards" in criticizing New York's decision to restrict data center construction. New York became the first U.S. state to impose an AI data center ban, a move Wright opposed from his federal post. Polling cited in commentary indicates around 70 percent of Americans oppose new AI data center construction, with nearly half opposing it strongly. Critics pointed to Wright's past as the former CEO of a large fracking company and to his Massachusetts Institute of Technology master’s degree while accusing him of representing industry interests and downplaying electricity and water impacts. Supporters in sampled posts argued modern data centers reuse water, create high-paying jobs, and help U.S. competitiveness, while opponents said centers increase local electricity costs and strain resources. The exchange has sharpened scrutiny of Wright's ties and statements and crystallized a clash between state-level restrictions and the federal energy secretary's public defense of rapid AI infrastructure buildout.

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."

6176h ago

asturianfarmer.bsky.social64

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.

Candidus 🌻39

“Drinking more is our greatest tool to combat alcohol abuse.”

staceycurrygunn.bsky.social35

Up is down and down is up

Middlerage21

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

Edgeoforever🗽16

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

Alex Marten 🇧🇷🇺🇸🇺🇦🇸🇾🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️14

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.

Quoting this

Melissa Jo Peltier10

Do they really believe this? Or is it all about their stock portfolios & kickbacks from big tech?

Rhuta Bhayga8

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)?

creamcityjw3

that's it. concrete proof. they live in an alternate reality where everything is the reverse of this reality's truth.

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...

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.

613h ago

Quoting this

Dave Infante28

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

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

16Just now

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.”

102h 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 …

151h 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.

72h ago

Polling USA

@usapolling.bsky.social

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

11Just now

Quoting this

Bill DiFilippo6

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

ashley 🌹5

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

Ryan P. Madden

@rpmadmsu.bsky.social

My theory is the rush to build data centers and other AI infrastructure is to present themselves as "too big to fail" and look for government bailouts when that day comes.

113h ago

Bob

@definitelyjustbob.bsky.social

Your regular reminder that Chris Wright has a Master's in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He isn't stupid when he says something this demonstrably false, he's evil.

95h ago

PKs Powerfromspace1 🚀 Twitter ‘X’ refugee thank you 'Elon' 🙄

@powerfromspace1.bsky.social

@kars_nels Nobody opposed chip factories. Micron just starting pouring concrete on NY state chip fab. But the AI data centers offer few long term jobs after construction and the AI tech leaders said for years they were gonna wipe out all white collar jobs. What did they expect?

53h ago

Carmen Ito

@beemon.symbolicon.net

Trading life for data centers. How AI tech bros murder the earth and unshamedfully proud of it. Shame on you.

43h ago

@billspaced

@billspaced.com

New York becomes first U.S. state to impose AI data center ban

23h ago

demosthenes1959.bsky.social

@demosthenes1959.bsky.social

This is a lie. AI data centers hog electricity and increase costs to everyone else.

33h ago

joe a wilkins

@joeonhere.bsky.social

While Hochul's executive order is technically progressive, comparing it to a parallel data center bill in the state senate reveals a governor who would rather negotiate with the tech industry than regulate it.

33h ago

Nolan Zugernat

@zugernat.bsky.social

Energy Secretary Chris Wright: War is peace, freedom is slavery

23h ago

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

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