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Energy Policy

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A Massive, Trump-Backed Power Plant May Be Too Big to Succeed
Inside Climate News10 hr agoL

A Massive, Trump-Backed Power Plant May Be Too Big to Succeed

PIKETON, Ohio—At the edge of Appalachia, on a site where crews have worked for decades on nuclear waste remediation, the Trump administration aims to build the largest power plant and data center in the country. It would be a logistical feat, and energy analysts warn that the whole plan could fall apart. But there was little hint of the challenges when U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick took the stage here in March to announce the project, with AC/DC’s “Back in Black” as his walk-on music. In five words, Lutnick explained how negotiations for such a large endeavor came together in a few months. “We’re operating in Trump time,” he told the crowd ahead of a ceremonial groundbreaking. The numbers were staggering: SoftBank of Japan would work with the U.S. government to build a 9.2-gigawatt, $33 billion power plant to serve a proposed 10-gigawatt AI data center on the same Piketon-area campus. It would be the start of something even larger, with a potential investment over several decades of up to $1.5 trillion, according to SoftBank. The project, called PORTS Technology Campus, is unusual in its size and financing method, and political leaders want to put it on a fast track

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A Massive, Trump-Backed Power Plant May Be Too Big to Succeed

energy policy·via Inside Climate News10 hr ago

PIKETON, Ohio—At the edge of Appalachia, on a site where crews have worked for decades on nuclear waste remediation, the Trump administration aims to build the largest power plant and data center in the country. It would be a logistical feat, and energy analysts warn that the whole plan could fall apart. But there was little hint of the challenges when U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick took the stage here in March to announce the project, with AC/DC’s “Back in Black” as his walk-on music. In five words, Lutnick explained how negotiations for such a large endeavor came together in a few months. “We’re operating in Trump time,” he told the crowd ahead of a ceremonial groundbreaking. The numbers were staggering: SoftBank of Japan would work with the U.S. government to build a 9.2-gigawatt, $33 billion power plant to serve a proposed 10-gigawatt AI data center on the same Piketon-area campus. It would be the start of something even larger, with a potential investment over several decades of up to $1.5 trillion, according to SoftBank. The project, called PORTS Technology Campus, is unusual in its size and financing method, and political leaders want to put it on a fast track

Keystone XL not the only option, says Canada’s energy minister

energy policy·via Global News9 hr ago

Posted May 1, 2026 11:54 pm 2 min read 2:01 Federal government continues looking at ways to support Canadian energy producers Canada's minister of energy and natural resources, Tim Hodgson, was in Calgary on Friday speaking to the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors. Hogson says Canada needs to continue to look to new markets, even after the U.S. approval to revive Keystone XL. Drew Stremick reports. Canada’s minister for energy and resource development, Tim Hodgson, was in Calgary on Friday speaking to members of the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors about his government’s commitment to the future of Canadian energy. “This government and Canadians now understand that energy is the engine of Canada’s economy,” said Hodgson.At a sold-out luncheon, the minister cited an abundance of natural resources — from oil and gas to critical minerals and potash — as why Canada can continue to be where the world gets its energy.“We have some incredible cards,” Hodgson noted. “We need to play those cards well. We need to make sure we play them in a coordinated way so Canada gets the best outcome.”On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump approved the Canada-Wyoming oil pipeline. More commonly known as Keystone XL, it has

Can a carbon price lower power bills? Virginia is betting yes.

energy policy·via Grist11 hr ago

Abigail Spanberger won a landslide victory in the Virginia governor’s race last November with a platform that focused on reining in rising electricity costs. Virginia is home to the world’s largest concentration of artificial-intelligence data centers, and the state’s biggest utility is straining to meet an expected surge in power demand. Spanberger, a Democrat, promised on the campaign trail to “make Virginians’ bills more affordable.” It might seem surprising, then, that the new governor signed a bill last month that would return Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, a carbon pricing program that covers electrical utilities in states across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. Spanberger’s Republican predecessor, Glenn Youngkin, pulled out of the program in 2022. “Cap-and-trade” programs like RGGI put a ceiling on the amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide that utilities are allowed to emit when they generate electricity, and they require utilities to pay for every ton of carbon they emit below that cap. These programs can help drive utilities toward cleaner fuels, but they also increase costs, and those costs get passed on to consumers. As a result, cap-and-trade programs have come under scrutiny as Democrats pivot to a focus on lowering costs for voters

How Oil Fuels Conflict and War—and Who Profits

energy policy·via Inside Climate News10 hr ago

From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with Michael Klare, an emeritus professor of peace and security studies at Hampshire College. The U.S.-Israel joint war against Iran has shaken global energy markets, closed the Strait of Hormuz and restricted the flow of oil and natural gas worldwide. It’s the latest conflict over Iranian oil, but the growing emergence of fossil-free energy sources is prompting visions of ending our decades of dependence on oil, with its pollution and inevitable wars. Michael Klare is an emeritus professor of peace and security studies at Hampshire College and the defense correspondent for The Nation magazine. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. STEVE CURWOOD: For years, you’ve written about the problems of war and the environment and such. What’s new about this one? MICHAEL KLARE: Ten or 15 years ago, I would have said by now we would be weaned off oil, or we would have been on a slide downwards from oil. We were talking that by 2025 we would have reached peak oil, meaning peak world oil demand, and be in decline, and renewables would be the dominant fuel.