The two candidates: Dr. Abdul el Sayed and Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens are the two Democratic candidates, with the winner set to face former Rep. Mike Rogers. 

In general, el Sayed is considered the left-wing candidate, as well as the favorite. He supports Medicare for all and is more critical of Israel. Stevens, who was elected to the House in 2018, is seen as the more centrist choice, and is relatively more pro-Israel. 

Now, where do these candidates stand on data centers? Both el Sayed and Stevens have opposed data centers hiking up utility rates for households, but with different approaches. 

El Sayed is affiliated with the wing of the party that has been more straightforwardly opposed to the build-out of data centers. For instance, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have endorsed el Sayed and campaigned with him. They are the authors of federal legislation that would place a moratorium on data center construction. 

Last week, el Sayed joined a protest of a data center under construction in Saline that has drawn significant backlash. 

He has stopped short, though, of calling for a ban on data centers and has instead proposed “Terms of Engagement.” The terms would require data centers to pay for their own energy, provide reliability guarantees, and more. 

As for Stevens: Stevens has been rhetorically softer on data centers. She dodged taking a stance on the Saline project, and has said that the construction of data centers is necessary to compete with China on AI. 

At the same time, though, she has said that any costs associated with the build-out of data centers should not be passed on to households. She has called for a “clear, responsible policy framework to ensure these technologies are developed safely and securely.” She told Michigan Public Radio that she would need to see any legislation relating to a ban. 

She also maintains that the federal government should be the one to hold data centers accountable for lowering rates. 

“It is up to federal lawmakers to secure the tax code so that these kajillionaire enterprises are paying their fair share. It is unacceptable that rates would go up as a result,” she said at a debate earlier this month. “I want to force these data centers to pay their utility bills and to pay water bills for folks.”

A TEXAS MORATORIUM ON DATA CENTERS: 

Yesterday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott placed a moratorium on new data centers in the Lone Star State, blocking approvals of new facilities housing AI operations until state regulators can conduct an audit on each project’s power usage. 

The state’s grid operator, ERCOT, is considering roughly 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas grid, more than five times the state’s record peak electricity demand for ERCOT, Abbott wrote in a letter to the regulators, adding that around 90% of the new power requests are from data centers. For comparison, one gigawatt can power roughly 750,000 homes. 

The moratorium on new projects sends a signal to data center developers that it may soon not matter if a state has friendlier policies or regulatory pathways for new projects, as Texas is one of the states with the fastest data center growth. 

During a meeting with reporters earlier today, one data center company said the moratorium will “hurt” the industry “a lot,” claiming that ERCOT is adding more hoops for developers to jump through. 

Representatives from the company told reporters that one of their projects in ERCOT’s region is about 10 years away from coming online. 

“When we bought the project property, we were under two from power,” the company said. “And that is an ERCOT issue, not a data center issue.” 

The company said that Abbott’s moratorium will not slow data center growth, just like any other similar moratorium instituted elsewhere in the country. Instead, data center developers will seek out other states and regions to build. 

A messaging problem: There is widespread agreement that data center developers face an uphill battle to convince the general public that the project they are selling is worth potentially higher electricity prices, noise pollution, and significant water usage. 

In fact, many developers actually insist that their facilities can help lower prices, and offer greater benefits to the community, such as jobs, and infrastructure investment. 

But as electricity prices soar and energy demand outpaces new generation plugged into the grid, data centers have become an easy target for many to blame. 

There have been some calls to slow the development of data centers until regions and regulators are able to deliver adequate grid infrastructure upgrades and new power to meet the demand. But many developers have no intention of hitting the brakes. 

“It’s not happening,” a representative with the data center company told Callie today. 

When pressed on how data centers can communicate better to those concerned about massive AI firms and developers pocketing billions of dollars from the build-out of these facilities, the company said that touches on a “morality” issue. 

“And as a real estate developer, morality is a tough question,” the person said. 

All the rest

JONES ACT WAIVER EXTENSION: In the coming days, the White House is expected to extend its waiver to the Jones Act in an attempt to keep gas prices low, Reuters reports. 

The president first issued the waiver in March, and it has subsequently been extended through Aug. 16. It allows for refineries to use foreign-flagged ships to transport fuel between U.S. ports. 

Reuters reported that the oil industry expected an extension last month but the administration continued to meet with maritime industry and lawmakers over making changes. 

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT SAYS EPA CANNOT FREEZE $20 BILLION IN CLEAN ENERGY GRANTS: A federal appeals court said the Environmental Protection Agency cannot freeze $20 billion in clean energy grants. 

The ruling was issued by a divided U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., which restored an April preliminary injunction that prevented the agency from terminating the grants. 

This marks a win for the climate groups, which have been locked in a court battle with the EPA over the termination of $20 billion in grants that were issued under the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. 

As a reminder: The Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund awarded $20 billion to eight nonprofits to help fund clean energy projects across the country. Last year, the EPA froze the grants and attempted to terminate them, arguing that they were improperly distributed because they were routed through Citibank. The agency and three climate groups have been battling in court ever since. 

OIL PRICES FALL ON A DEAL NOT YET FINALIZED: Oil traders appear confident that the U.S. and Iran will strike a deal in the coming days, causing prices to fall by more than 5% throughout today. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has teased a deal that could include the complete reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, saying that an agreement could be made as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday. 

As of this afternoon, no deal had been announced, though reports citing Qatari officials have said that draft documents are being circulated. 

We’ve seen this play out before, where U.S. and Iranian negotiators get close to a deal, prices fall, and then tensions escalate once again. However, traders still appear willing to take officials at their word that a deal is close at hand. 

Just before 3 p.m. EDT, Brent crude was down 5.09% and selling at $79.48 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate had also fallen 5.58% and was priced at $75.86 a barrel. 

BP SHEDS ANOTHER LINE OF BUSINESS: British oil major BP is selling off another one of its assets, putting its $4 billion U.S.-based biogas business up for sale, according to the Financial Times.  

BP’s biogas business Archaea is considered one of the largest renewable gas producers in the U.S. and captures methane gas from landfills and dairy farms. BP first purchased the business four years ago for around $4.1 billion as part of its effort to build up its green energy investments. 

The oil giant made a significant shift back to fossil fuels over the last year, making several changes in its business model and leadership team to do so. 

Just last week, BP also announced it would be selling its North Sea oil and gas assets as well. 

WASHINGTON WILDFIRES: Fast-moving wildfires near Spokane, Washington, have forced nearly 60,000 people to evacuate their homes as of yesterday. 

There are currently three wildfires near Spokane that have destroyed more than 700 structures. The wildfires have burned more than 8,000 acres with 0% containment and put more than 10,000 structures at risk. 

A 37 year-old man was arrested this morning in connection with one of the wildfires, charged with a single count of arson. 

NUCLEAR COOPERATION WITH PARAGUAY: The U.S. government has signed a Strategic Civil Nuclear Cooperation memorandum of understanding with the country of Paraguay, marking the 27th country that the U.S. has signed such an agreement with. 

These agreements, also known as 123 agreements, authorize the licensing of exports of U.S.-made nuclear materials, such as reactor equipment or reactor fuel. 

The U.S. has signed similar strategic civil nuclear cooperation agreements with 26 other countries, including Australia, Brazil, India, Norway, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. 

“Agreements like this and others that I hope will happen in the future will begin to create real concrete progress, institutionalize the deep ties between our two countries moving forward so that they’re not just the product of one administration or one era but they become enduring and can survive the shifts in political winds that happen in democracies and in – from time to time,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during the MOU signing today. 

RUNDOWN 

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