PA Environment Digest Blog: White House Unveils A.I. Action Plan To Remove Barriers For Building A.I. Infrastructure

On July 23, the White House released “Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan”, in accordance with President Trump’s January executive order on Removing Barriers to American Leadership in AI.

The Plan identifies over 90 Federal policy actions across three pillars – Accelerating Innovation, Building American AI Infrastructure, and Leading in International Diplomacy and Security – that the Administration will take in the coming weeks and months.

Key policies in the AI Action Plan include--

-- Revokes a Biden-era Executive Order that would have saddled AI data center development on Federal lands with pages of DEI [Diversity Equity Inclusion] and climate requirements.

-- Instructs agencies to streamline environmental reviews and permitting for data centers and related infrastructure by leveraging existing exemptions and creating new ones to expedite the construction of Qualifying Projects.

-- Promotes the use of Brownfield and Superfund sites for data center development, repurposing these lands for productive use.

-- Directs the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense to authorize data center construction on appropriate Federal lands.

Qualifying Projects include data centers that require greater than 100 megawatts of new load, infrastructure projects related to data center energy needs, semiconductor facilities, networking equipment, or other data center or related infrastructure projects selected by the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Commerce, or Secretary of Energy.

Reaction

Food & Water Watch Managing Director of Policy and Litigation, Mitch Jones, issued the following statement--

“At its core, President Trump’s AI agenda is nothing more than a thinly-veiled invitation for the fossil fuel and corporate water industries to ramp up their exploitation of our environment and natural resources — all at the expense of everyday people.

“In communities across the country we are already seeing precious water and energy supplies being diverted to massive data centers, while homes and small businesses are paying ballooning costs for their regular utility needs.

“The expanding data center industry is being leveraged as an excuse to prolong the life of filthy, climate-killing fossil fuel power and dangerous nuclear plants, and even build new ones.

“America’s technological advancements must not come at the expense of everyday families’ water, energy and economic security — plain and simple.”

Resource Links:

-- Overview Statement

-- Fact Sheet

-- Executive Order On A.I. Infrastructure

NewsClips - A.I. Plan:

-- AP: President’s New A.I. Plan Leans Heavily On Silicon Valley Industry Ideas

-- Time: President Unveils Plan To Win A.I. ‘Race’ By Stripping Away Regulations

-- Reuters: President To Supercharge A.I. Sales To Allies, Loosen Environmental Rules

-- NYT: President Plans To Give A.I. Developers A Free Hand

-- Politico: President’s A.I. Action Plan Slashes Regulation, Speeds Data Center Construction

-- WSJ: President Pledges To Stimulate A.I. Use, Data Centers, Exports