Doug Burgum, Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Interior, has warned that the United States will lose the “AI race” to China unless it increases electricity generation from fossil fuels and stabilizes the US power grid. country .
During a Senate hearing, Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, highlighted that the US faces an “electricity crisis” due to grid weaknesses and obstacles preventing the construction of fossil fuel plants.
Burgum proposed that the Trump administration set aside more public lands for oil drilling and eliminate tax incentives that favor renewable energy companies, which he said produce “intermittent and unreliable” energy.
He emphasized that sole reliance on renewable sources could compromise the ability to provide stable energy, stating that “the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow.”
Demand for electricity in the US is growing at an unprecedented pace, driven by the increased need for data centers for artificial intelligence processing, which the Department of Energy says is expected to triple over the next three years.
Burgum stated that, without a solid energy generation base, the US risks losing its leadership in artificial intelligence technology, which would have direct impacts on national security.
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The former governor also mentioned that new technologies, such as carbon storage, could mitigate emissions generated by fossil fuels, although there are doubts about the commercial and technical viability of this technology.
He argued that restricting fossil fuel production in the US would not bring environmental benefits, as demand would just shift to countries with less stringent environmental standards.
In contrast, President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order to open federal lands to artificial intelligence infrastructure, conditioned on the use of clean electricity sources, part of his efforts to reduce emissions and combat climate change.
