Don(ald) Quixote Continues to Battle Windmills

The energy crisis in the United States is building to a fever pitch, with the attacks on Iran threatening access to fossil fuels (if only those in power had listened to our demand for no new fossil fuel infrastructure) and AI data centers guzzling resources. According to the Georgia Institute of Technology, "modern AI data centers can use as much electricity as a small city." A single 5-second AI video generation can use roughly 110,000 watt-hours, enough to power a typical U.S. home for 3.5 days. Training one generative AI model can use as much energy as thousands of households consume in a year. As a result, power bills across the country are skyrocketing.

Surely this would be a logical time to invest in clean sustainable energy, but the current administration has swung hard in the other direction. In particular, Trump hates wind farms to the level of financial irresponsibility. As reported by NPR last week, "Burgam's Interior Department announced it will pay a French energy company, TotalEnergies, nearly $1 billion to stop plans to build two wind farms off the coasts of New York and North Carolina. Instead, TotalEnergies will take the money it had paid during the Biden administration for federal offshore land leases and reinvest some of it into a liquefied natural gas plant in Texas. TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné described the agreement to forfeit its leases for U.S. offshore wind farms as "innovative."

This represents a nearly cartoonish backslide in energy resource allocation, but is it better for our fragile economy? Also no. Kit Kennedy, managing director of the power unit at the Natural Resources Defense Council, responded, "These are projects that are creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs. They represent billions and billions of dollars of investment and were near completion when these stop-work orders come down."

Don't despair yet; the companies building the wind farms sued, and judges rejected the Trump administration's arguments. With preliminary injunctions in place, construction has resumed, and one project is already delivering power to consumers. However, the administration has proven once again their commitment to regression at any cost.

It's time to show our government that we can't afford to move slowly anymore. If you're ready to take to the streets and protest this injustice, email outreach@xrboston.org for more information on taking direct action today!