Trump’s plan for rising energy costs: Pump oil, make data centers pay
Energy affordability was at the forefront during President Trump’s lengthy and at times rambling State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, when he vowed to lower electricity prices to address voters’ concerns about rising costs.
The president announced a new “ratepayer protection pledge” to protect residents from high electricity costs in areas where energy-hungry AI data centers are being built. Trump said big tech companies “will be obligated to meet their own energy needs” under the plan, but details of what the commitment actually entails remain unclear.
“We have an old grid; it can never handle the amount and numbers of electricity needed, so I tell them they can build their own plants,” the president said. “They will produce their own electricity… while also lowering electricity prices for you.”
The announcement comes like this voting It shows that Americans are dissatisfied with the economy and concerned about the cost of living. Experts on both sides of the political spectrum said the energy affordability issue could lead to bad results for Republicans in this November midterm elections, as it did in several key races in New Jersey, Virginia and Georgia last year.
While Trump is focused is accelerating Residential electricity bills are rising rapidly due to domestic oil, gas and coal production; It rose from an average of 15.9 cents per kilowatt-hour in January 2025 to 17.2 cents by the end of December. US Energy Information Administration.
A year into his second term as president, Trump has drastically changed the federal landscape when it comes to energy and the environment, reversing many of the Biden administration’s efforts to prioritize electrification initiatives and renewable energy investments through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.
Among various changes, the Trump administration cut funding for solar programs, ended federal tax credits for electric vehicles, and canceled grants for offshore wind energy; he even went so far as to try to stop some such projects nearing completion on the East Coast.
Trump has also defended fossil fuel production and doubled down on his “drill baby drill” agenda on Tuesday, touting lower gasoline prices, increasing American oil production and new oil imports from Venezuela.
Many of the president’s efforts are aimed at loosening Biden-era regulations. burdensomeis ideologically motivated and expensive for taxpayers.
Trump took direct aim at California, long a leader on environmental issues. Last year, the president moved to block California’s long-held authority to set tailpipe emissions standards more stringent than the federal government; It was a capability that helped the state address historic air quality problems and also supported its ambitious 2035 ban on the sale of new gas-powered cars.
Trump also cut $1.2 billion in federal funding for California’s clean hydrogen energy development efforts, while leaving intact funding for similar projects in states that voted for him. In November, the administration announced it would open the Pacific Rim to oil drilling for the first time in nearly four decades; this was a move that the state vowed to fight.
But perhaps we haven’t encountered any problems on voters’ kitchen tables other than energy affordability.
During that period, Trump canceled or delayed enough projects to power more than 14 million homes, according to one report. scout from the nonprofit Climate Power. Jesse Lee, a senior adviser to the group, called the president’s data center announcement “a toothless, empty promise based on collusion with his own billionaire donors.”
“Worse still, Trump continues to block clean energy production across the board, the only source that can keep up with demand, keep electricity bills from skyrocketing, and prevent massive new pollution,” Lee said in a statement.
Earlier this month, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency repealed the finding of danger, the U.S. government’s 2009 declaration that greenhouse gases are harmful to human health and the environment; this was what officials described as the largest act of deregulation in U.S. history. The finding formed the basis for much of US climate policy. The EPA also relaxed guidelines on emissions from coal plants, including mercury and other hazardous pollutants.
The president’s environmental record so far “has been written with comebacks that put the interests of some corporate polluters above the health of ordinary Americans,” said Marc Boom, senior director of the Environmental Protection Network, a group of more than 750 former EPA staffers and appointees.
Moreover, Trump has sought to undermine climate science in general, often describing global warming as a “hoax” or “hoax.” In his first year in office, He fired hundreds of scientists Among many other efforts, he is working to prepare the National Climate Assessment, laying off staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and disbanding the National Center for Atmospheric Research, one of the world’s leading climate and weather research institutions.
Generally, management has received or offered More than 430 actions Things that threaten the environment, public health and the ability to combat climate change, according to a tracker from the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.
The opposition’s choice of a rebuttal speaker shows how seriously it takes the issue of energy affordability: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger focused heavily on energy affordability during her campaign against Republican Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears last year, including pledging to expand solar projects and technologies like fusion, geothermal and hydrogen. Virginia is home to more than one-third of the world’s data centers.
