AI Is Keeping Coal on Life Support

The imaginary, futuristic dream of the AI ​​​​era has always been driven by the energy of the present. However, it looks like it’s also going to be powered by the energy of tomorrow, by which I mean coal, an energy source that has climate change externalities comparable to other combustible fuels, but has deadly impacts on the local environment.

Now, according to a report from Politico, which itself draws from a report by think tank Frontier Group, the utilities’ plan to retire 30 coal-burning units to supply energy to data centers has now been delayed.

As EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wrote in a Fox News op-ed (also cited by Politico), “To meet growing demand from domestic manufacturing and the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centers, America’s coal-fired power plants must remain operational.”

During much of the Obama era and Trump’s first two years – from 2010 to early 2019 – announcements from US energy companies heralded the upcoming shutdown of 546 coal generating units. That means 102 gigawatts, a decommissioning project ten times the size of New York City over the summer (according to my math).

As Grist reported back in 2012, it appears coal’s decline has nothing to do with environmental restrictions. This was “primarily due to changing market conditions, not environmental rule amendments, which have led to more lenient requirements and schedules.”

Similarly, market conditions today are bringing it back. Look out, lungs.

A report on the National Institutes of Health website (somehow it’s still up) states that “Between 1999 and 2020, 460,000 deaths would not have occurred in the absence of emissions from coal power plants.”

For the record, Obama ultimately imposed emissions limits on targeted coal, and the first Trump administration planned to phase them out during Trump’s first year in office. That effort succeeded in 2019. In his second administration, Trump has set out not only to increase the ubiquity of coal, but also to extend its potential shelf life, by further reducing safeguards. Politico says about 70 power plants are being given permission from the EPA not to comply with 2027 mercury-and-soot limits while the EPA prepares new, more lenient laws.

And as Gizmodo noted earlier this year, Trump has praised “beautiful, clean coal” while eliminating workplace protections for miners. Unions have sued the administration to block long-sought silica dust rules — something the Labor Department estimates would save 1,000 lives.

So, of course, Trump will credit himself as the savior of the coal industry. Trump didn’t invent AI demand, but you have to admit, he’s certainly sweetening market conditions for the shareholders who profit from coal — while workers and bystanders pay the price, sometimes with their lives.