Latta last October. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee are looking to hold a hearing on AI's energy use in the coming weeks.
Why it matters: It's a central issue for the energy and tech industries, but there's little bipartisan consensus about how to address the climate impact and power grid strain from massive AI data centers.
Driving the news: Energy Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta told Axios he's hoping to hold a hearing in "the next month, month and a half."
- "The amount of power we're going to have to have — we're not even close right now," he said.
- Broadly, Republicans want to build more fossil fuel and nuclear power plants and scale back climate regulations to keep existing generation online.
- Latta said he also wants to tackle the transmission buildout and questions about tech companies that have proposed putting their data centers behind the meter.
Zoom in: Republicans have an opening bid with legislation from Rep. Troy Balderson that would seek to fast-track "dispatchable" power projects for connection to the grid.
- It would essentially let gas plants and other 24/7 sources of power bypass lengthy interconnection queues – to the exclusion of wind and solar projects that currently make up the vast majority of the backlog.
- Latta has also criticized a recent FERC order that blocked Amazon's bid to build a data center next to a Talen Energy nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.
- A possible hearing could shine some light on how Republicans might try to tackle data center colocation via legislation.
Reality check: Republicans need Democratic buy-in here, since they're unlikely to make big strides on this issue in a reconciliation bill.
- Balderson's bill and other proposals that prioritize fossil fuels won't get much support from Democrats who want to develop AI in a climate-friendly way.
- And Democrats aren't exactly eager to work with the GOP, as the Trump administration tries to halt the clean energy spending they passed in the IRA and IIJA.
- "There are energy projects across the spectrum right now about to go under because of the halt on funding, and I'm not hearing anything from Republicans," Energy Subcommittee Ranking Member Kathy Castor told Axios.
What we're watching: FERC is scheduled to weigh in further on data center issues at its open meeting this Thursday.
- It's unclear exactly what commissioners will do, but they've been considering in recent months how to respond to the wave of deals between nuclear plants and data centers.
- FERC is also slated to address a complaint from Constellation Energy on PJM's treatment of behind-the-meter generation to serve large customers.
- PJM's grid rules are "delaying (data center development) by several years and significantly increasing costs to serve data centers," the company argued.
The bottom line: "We're either going to win this war or not," full committee Chair Brett Guthrie told Axios. "It's imperative we win the war, and we have to do it through producing more energy."
