Fuel of the Future

By Ayush Deshpande Sept. 24, 2025

On July 15, a group of politicians and businessmen gathered to shape the future of American energy. Held at Carnegie Mellon University, the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit marked the next step of President Donald Trump’s energy plan. The Trump administration is rapidly reversing the progress of the previous administration's green energy initiatives and has instead focused on expanding domestic fracking, reflecting their coined motto, “Drill baby drill.”

The summit focused on the country’s direction on energy policy and the expanding artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Notable attendees include Trump, Senator Dave McCormick (R-PA), Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin—politicians who share a history of receiving donations from oil and gas lobbyists, as per campaign finance nonprofit OpenSecrets. From the business world came ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and EQT Corporation CEO Toby Rice—magnates who control the top fossil fuel companies in the world. All parties involved are set to profit significantly from the proposed investments into natural gas and data centers.

Over $90 billion in investments were poured into Pennsylvania’s energy and AI sector, including $25 billion from Blackstone to build a new natural gas facility, $3 billion over the next 20 years from Brookfield and Google to build two hydropower plants and $3 billion over 10 years from Capital Power to expand a natural gas facility, as cited by McCormick’s website. The summit was also held to expand the AI industry in the state, as AI companies utilize large data centers to process the data needed to train their complex AI models, and encouraging the building of data centers in the state could improve the economy.

The summit received mixed reactions. Many, including Trump, touted it as a step towards energy independence, lower energy costs and job creation. However, the proposal also received much opposition. Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) professor Carrie McDonough emphasized its catastrophic environmental consequences. Hundreds of students gathered in protest around the building where the event was held; some spraypainted on a fence: “CMU Community says: Stop the Summit”. 

The CMU students are not the only ones with heavy concerns regarding rapid AI expansion. Across the nation, communities whose boards have been targeted for data center propositions are concerned with the negative impacts of AI data centers on the environment and people. As of Aug. 27, data centers already consume over four percent of U.S. electricity, with 56% coming from fossil fuels.

As long as data centers utilize unsustainable power sources, they will continue to worsen both air and water pollution while diverting critical resources away from everyday civilians. A tremendous amount of energy and water is required to power massive data centers and prevent them from overheating. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a single large data center consumes up to five million gallons of water and 1.3 gigawatts of energy per day. The news organization More Perfect Union predicts that this will result in more and more shortages and increased costs in water and electricity for communities across the country. 

Though the ever-expanding AI industry will result in environmental consequences, there is potential in AI as well. Emerging AI models have proved effective in diagnosing diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's, as per the National Institutes of Health. However, to most people, the expansion of the AI industry is not a priority.

“Improving AI would not be worth it for me and most common people, because increased water bills and  horrible air quality are much more pressing than advancements in AI which benefit nobody but the rich people in power,” Junior Riku Ito said.

Such concerns have driven these communities to unite with a shared purpose: shut down data centers. In Tucson, Arizona, civilians protested Project Blue—a proposed data center from Amazon. After months of sustained public pressure and organized protests, the city council unanimously blocked Project Blue. Another planned data center in St. Charles, Missouri, was similarly shut down. More data centers were blocked in Warrenton, Virginia; Cascade Locks, Oregon; and Palmetto, Georgia. Many residents worried that a large AI company was exploiting a more rural area of the country due to its relatively cheap land, energy and water. By voicing their concerns together, communities across the country are resisting billion-dollar projects. 

“When leaders call AI data centers ‘innovation,’ they are ignoring the bigger picture. Innovation should mean improving lives, not draining the resources we already struggle to conserve. If the cost of this so-called innovation is polluted air and water, that isn’t progress at all. In fact, it is the opposite,” Senior Advitha Patil said.

This leaves Pennsylvania at a crossroads; the data centers have been approved and are slated to begin construction in 2025 and be completed in 2028. Communities will either have to accept these data centers or protest in an attempt to cancel them.

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About the Contributor

Ayush Deshpande

Staff Writer

Ayush Deshpande is a junior at Leland High School, he is a staff writer for the charger account. He is very interested in Formula One, Legos, Star Wars, and when not at school or playing video games he is often found at K1 Speed or his friends houses.