Advocates for artificial intelligence called on House lawmakers Tuesday to deregulate energy use for massive data centers.
During an Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing, Republicans cheered some witness’s calls to expedite energy project permitting and construction for data centers.
The Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs hearing was the latest this year on energy capacity and AI. The data centers that power the new technology require massive amounts of power and have prompted concerns about grid reliability, as well as environmental impacts.
Chair Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) heralded moves from the Trump administration to speed up AI innovation but said that Congress needs to continue to work on deregulation and upping energy capacity. Burlison and a number of committee Republicans framed data center growth as necessary to compete with China.
