Washington, D.C. — Today, President Donald Trump is meeting at the White House with leaders of major technology companies to formalize a voluntary “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” for consumers. In response, Trevor Higgins, senior vice president of the Energy and Environment department at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
A voluntary pledge from corporate actors to stay on their best behavior is simply a vague and largely meaningless effort that fails to offer ratepayers any guaranteed protection from soaring utility rates. Unless all data centers are required to pay their fair share for the costs for their power, companies can opt out or hide the true impacts of their data center development. And if the Trump administration continues to block the fastest, cleanest power from being added to the grid, it will force data centers to use dirty, expensive coal and gas plants in communities around the country. The country needs a real plan that requires all tech companies to pay the full costs of powering their new data centers.
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