Permanently Canceling RGGI Carbon Tax was Worth Late PA Budget
Sometimes politics is a game of “chicken” whereby you must keep fighting and wait out the other side when you *know* you are in the right. Such was the case with Pennsylvania Democrats’ insistence that the state join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme. RGGI aims to force coal- and gas-fired power plants to shut down by making them super expensive to operate. Tax them out of existence on the theory that unreliable renewables like wind and solar would replace them. But Republicans in the PA Senate kept fighting—for seven long years—and finally won (see VICTORY! PA Budget Deal Kills RGGI Carbon Tax for Good). Republicans played “chicken” with Democrats during this year’s budget negotiations and got the Dems to cave after almost five months with no budget in place. Read More “Permanently Canceling RGGI Carbon Tax was Worth Late PA Budget”
It’s always one step forward and two steps back here in the “Empire” State of New York. Recent actions by New York Governor Kathy Hochul regarding the energy sector have been encouraging. She horse-traded with President Trump to allow two natural gas pipelines to get built in the state (see 
Pennsylvania has a big problem. The state is retiring older coal- and gas-fired power plants faster than it can add new plants. Plus, the state needs to *grow* its electric generation capacity to meet new demand from AI data centers. PA State Senator Gene Yaw has a solution: modify the existing 1971 Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax credit program by adding a provision granting a tax credit for any $400+ million investment in “baseload power generation” (i.e., gas-fired power generation). Yaw wants to make it a no-brainer for power plant builders to make the Keystone State their destination for new projects. 
A new RBN article takes a stab at distinguishing between the hype of future data center power demand and the reality of current grid consumption. Despite projections of massive energy usage, verifying actual draw is difficult due to utility confidentiality and behind-the-meter generation. RBN’s analysis reveals that today’s largest consumers are long-established campuses rather than new builds; specifically, Google’s Council Bluffs and Microsoft’s Quincy facilities top the list with estimated loads of 500–600 MW. The article concludes that because substantial capacity takes over a decade to scale, the market should remain skeptical of new facilities claiming immediate, massive power consumption. 
The rapid expansion of data centers, driven by AI and cloud computing, is creating a surge in energy demand that exceeds renewable capabilities, forcing a shift toward natural gas. Good news for the Marcellus/Utica. However, building new pipelines to handle the extra gas needed is not an overnight process. Industry experts at the recent LDC Gas Forums’ Nat Gas to Power event proposed an ingenious solution that uses existing pipelines to move more gas to new data center customers. 
In January, Constellation Energy (a huge power-generating company) announced a deal to buy out and merge with Calpine (another huge power-generating company). Calpine owns 79 energy facilities across the country, generating some 27 gigawatts (GW) of electricity, with a significant number located in the eastern U.S. Many of Calpine’s facilities use natural gas to produce electricity. The two companies combined would own almost 60 GW of nuclear, natural gas, geothermal, hydro, wind, solar, cogeneration, and battery storage. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) signed off on the deal in July, with conditions (see 
There have been a number of new reports recently released predicting how new AI data center projects will affect (a) demand for electric power, and (b) demand for natural gas to generate that power. We spotted what at first glance appears to be contradictory predictions in two new reports issued this week. On Monday, BloombergNEF (the research arm of Bloomberg) issued a report predicting data center power demand will hit 106 gigawatts (GW) by 2035, a 36% jump from its previous outlook. Two days later, Enverus Intelligence® Research (EIR), a subsidiary of Enverus, issued a report that predicts 30 GW of new U.S. data center capacity will be needed over the next five years (by 2030)—significantly below the 50 GW forecasted by major grid operators. One report is wildly optimistic, the other pessimistic. What gives? 
Pennsylvania and Ohio should be looking over their shoulders regarding new data centers and their decisions on where to locate them. West Virginia is making serious efforts to be THE destination for new AI data centers to locate in the Marcellus/Utica region. The West Virginia Office of Energy’s recent summit highlighted the state’s unique position to power the booming AI and data center sectors through its vast natural gas reserves. Like PA and OH, WV’s homegrown natural gas offers a reliable, cost-effective, and flexible solution for necessary baseload power. What’s beginning to set WV apart from its neighbors is legislation that explicitly targets data centers. 
Today is data center day here at MDN, given that most of our main stories today revolve around the issue of data centers, facilities full of computers that need enormous amounts of electricity, most of which will be generated by gas-fired power plants. This past summer, Pennsylvania’s newest U.S. Senator, Dave McCormick, convened the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh. Together with the Trump administration, McCormick announced a mind-blowing $92 billion of promised new investment for PA mostly related to AI data centers (see 
Continuing on our data center theme, a new article by MDN friend Gordon Tomb, a senior fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, makes the case that Pennsylvania needs more energy and sensible regulation to lure data centers. There is a stark contrast to what PA legislators are offering. On the Republican side, legislators are offering a bill that would expedite permits for data center projects that meet or exceed federal standards (see 
We have to (immodestly) say that we spotted the environmental left’s opposition to AI data centers a mile away. We were the first to alert you to PA green groups lining up to oppose data centers based on an irrational hatred of the fossil energy that powers them (see 
More “noise” that will discourage data center development in Pennsylvania: PJM Interconnection’s market monitor, Monitoring Analytics, filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) urging that large data centers be barred from connecting to the grid unless they can be reliably served. The monitor argues that PJM’s consideration of allowing loads that might necessitate periodic blackouts violates its reliability obligations and is unjust. While Monitoring Analytics is independent of PJM, they are usually on the same “side.” Not this time. 
Two weeks ago, Pennsylvania finally passed a budget, four months late. As part of the deal struck between Democrats and Republicans, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme was permanently ash-canned (see