A trio of Senate Democrats have opened an investigation into eight technology companies over 12 planned data center projects that will be powered by new natural gas plants.
The investigation — which includes artificial intelligence giants like Meta, OpenAI and xAI — comes as the Trump administration is pushing technology companies to pay for data centers’ electricity themselves, including through on-site power plants.
But Environment and Public Works ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), as well as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), say they are concerned about the health and climate impacts from the projects, which collectively would emit millions of tons of greenhouse gases annually, along with thousands of tons of pollutants that harm health.
Many of the gas plants the senators are questioning are “ten or more times the size of the average gas plant currently powering the U.S. electric grid,” according to a press release about the investigation.
-->
