Fossil Fuels and Futility: Pennsylvania’s AI Dream Built on the Edge of Disaster

Good morning.

President Felonious Punk’s declaration of a “true golden age for America” in artificial intelligence and energy, celebrated amidst promises of over $90 billion in investments in Pennsylvania, is a vision tragically undermined by its own foundational flaws. While the strategic imperative to dominate the AI race against China is undeniably a sound national ambition, the administration’s insistence on fueling this technological revolution with an unyielding reliance on coal and natural gas transforms a potentially transformative vision into what portends to be an absolute disaster. It is a cynical maneuver that sacrifices long-term efficiency for short-term political victory, ensuring that the people and landscape of Pennsylvania will be paying a steep price for generations.

The very notion of forging an AI and energy hub in Pennsylvania carries immense, legitimate promise. This pivotal swing state boasts both the intellectual capital of institutions like Carnegie Mellon University and the rich, though environmentally sensitive, resources of the Marcellus Shale. The administration’s stated objective—to propel the U.S. ahead of China in AI for economic and national security, fostering “energy dominance” by manufacturing everything “within US borders”—is, at its core, strategically compelling. Private sector behemoths, including Google, Blackstone, Brookfield, CoreWeave, Amazon, Meta, Anthropic, and Constellation Energy, have indeed pledged tens of billions of dollars for data centers, power plants, and infrastructure. This monumental investment confirms the undeniable, almost insatiable, demand for energy; global data center electricity consumption is projected to double to nearly 1,000 terawatt-hours by 2030, underscoring the urgent need for robust power solutions.

Yet, where the President’s vision spectacularly implodes is in his catastrophic energy calculus—a strategic blunder of breathtaking proportions. To champion “clean, beautiful coal” and relentlessly expand natural gas infrastructure, including pipelines (like Enbridge’s $1 billion investment) and production (Equinor’s $1.6 billion), is to choose a path of profound futility. It is the height of absurdity, akin to meticulously preparing a magnificent feast and then, with a perfectly good, efficient oven inside, deliberately cooking it over a dirty, inefficient wood fire in the yard. The monumental opportunity to set a global example by leading with truly transformative, sustainable, renewable energies—solar, wind, and advanced nuclear power (despite the positive but singular step of restarting Three Mile Island Unit 1 for Microsoft’s data centers)—has been recklessly squandered. This insistence on fossil fuels comes at an undeniable and escalating cost: the very real prospect of tearing the living daylights out of the Pennsylvania countryside through expanded fracking and an exacerbation of environmental concerns. These range from increased greenhouse gas emissions and polluted air leading to respiratory illnesses, to the insidious threat of neurotoxins like mercury impacting children, and the alarming reality that living near fracking operations have been linked to severe health problems like asthma and leukemia.

Adding insult to this profound injury, the President’s apparent conviction that oil and natural gas alone can sufficiently and sustainably power the gargantuan and ever-growing energy needs of these vast AI data centers betrays a fundamental misreading—or a deliberate disregard—of the scientific and engineering realities. It begs the question of whether he is genuinely not reading the briefings on the sheer scale of the challenge. The problem extends far beyond mere electrical output; AI data centers generate immense heat, requiring colossal cooling infrastructure. While Pennsylvania is touted for its water resources, the prevalent reliance on water-cooled systems means these facilities will consume staggering volumes, potentially causing water problems for the community around them and creating severe local resource strains. Global data center demand is projected to consume up to 12% of total U.S. electricity by 2028, a demand that could indeed “upend power grids” and strain existing infrastructure. This choice to build a cutting-edge AI hub on a foundation of antiquated and unsustainable energy policies is nothing short of a recipe for disaster.

The frustration among those who see this profound missed opportunity is palpable. As Governor Gavin Newsom has unflinchingly called the President a “son of a bitch” and a “moron” for prioritizing short-term political victories over long-term efficiency, the sentiment of betrayal runs deep. This is not about progress; it is about political optics and fleeting gains at the expense of a sustainable future. The consequence is stark and unavoidable: those very data centers, touted as symbols of a new golden age, “will have to close within ten years of opening if the state can’t keep up with the energy and water demands.” Then what happens to the billions in investments, the promised jobs, and the now-scarred landscape?

The price Pennsylvania will pay for this politically motivated folly is steep and potentially irreversible. The promised “tens of thousands of jobs” arrive hand-in-hand with the inherent risk of devastating environmental degradation, compromised public health for generations, and a profound long-term economic vulnerability as the world inevitably transitions away from the very energy sources being so aggressively expanded. This is not a “golden age”; it is a reckless gamble, compelling a state and its people to embrace an “absolute disaster” in the name of a misguided vision, with the ultimate costs borne for generations to come.