Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq.

Arriving in ill humor since 1983. @earthjustice Environmental & Energy lawyer. Tweets my own.

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

So happy to have spent the last five (fabulous) days in Barcelona.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Trump: "Spain is a wasted cause. We don't want to do any trade business with Spain anymore, by the way. I'd like to cut it off. Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. Cut off all trade with Spain, please. Including visits. We don't want anything to do. They're hopeless. Bad people."

[Robin Millican @RobinMillican]

New research out today from me and my colleagues at @ColumbiaUEnergy: We spent 6 months studying why U.S. electricity prices are rising, drawing on analysis from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and three CGEP roundtables in NYC, DC, and Austin. The answer is more complicated (and more fixable) than the data center narrative suggests.

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

This becomes hilariously circular where you have the blackouts being caused by extreme weather from climate change.

[Amy O. Cooke @TheRightAOC]

If states like Colorado insist on using the speculative social cost of carbon in resource planning, then it must be balanced with the very real social cost of blackouts. @AlwaysOnEnergy

https://t.co/2EDJ4OTgkV

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

On @ENERGY's website, the Citizen's Guide on Using FOIA to Request Government Records...is (perhaps par for the course with this Administration)...a broken link...

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

I don’t think I could imagine a better metaphor for this administration.

[ABC News @ABC]

A volunteer firefighter has been arrested for allegedly setting fires and then responding to them with his fire department, according to officials in eastern Pennsylvania. https://t.co/FFjf5wNa0A

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

One of the Reports: “The 10,500 generators attached to data centers in Virginia produce enough pollution to harm public health even if used rarely, according to a new analysis of emissions permits for The Washington Post.”

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

Headline: "New reports raise pollution questions about Virginia data centers"

Oh no!

Buried in the story: None of the reports link data centers to widespread harm, and "Virginia's air quality is generally pretty good"

Oh.

https://t.co/H7A91dQD8U

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

Yeah, how lucky are those people!

[Xiao Wang @xiaowang1984]

Objectively a gas plant is wayyy cleaner than a coal plant tho

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

Utilities opposed this because it removes a revenue opportunity for them and their shareholders (that would then be passed down to ratepayers). Utilities are not your friends.

[Ari Peskoe @AriPeskoe]

PA utilities withdraw their objections to the PUC's model data center tariff. 👀

The utilities had said that the PUC has no authority to require them to directly assign network upgrade costs to data centers, allow data centers to self-construct upgrades, impose study deadlines.

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

RTO/ISO demand forecasts need to be scrutinized with extreme skepticism.

[Joshua D. Rhodes @joshdr83]

"I haven’t really believed the numbers for two years now," University of Texas research scientist Joshua Rhodes said.

As data centers flock to Texas, ERCOT tries to decide which projects are feasible | @HoustonPubMedia

https://t.co/C7Yo3KPCcj

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

Perhaps the spiciest line I have seen so far came from a "gloves off" protest by Viridon...

"Maybe the Complainants conjured up that theory using AI, because it defies 250 years of American economic principles and the 100-year history of the Federal Power Act."

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

Lots of spicy responses to the complaint filed by utilities/transmission owners seeking to to remove competition from the regional transmission development process. Earthjustice filed a protest on behalf of a coalition of clean energy advocates here: https://t.co/N2WUyq1mQz

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

The “creative” financing behind many these deals should be a GIANT red flag.

[Sandeep Vaheesan @sandeepvaheesan]

"The true risk to millions of Americans’ jobs comes not from AI-driven automation but from the economic bubble inflated by AI hype. The U.S. economy has become an enormous unhedged bet on rapid AI transformation."

[Simon Mahan @SimonMahan]

We need to talk about this @RichardMeyerDC post and data, there's a lot that's sus; you've really got to dig into the data to see it though. tldr; we should be skeptical of potential scams with trillions of dollars on the line

Let's do a quick thread.

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

Boy did NERC ever tank its reputation after that Winter LTRA.

[Simon Mahan @SimonMahan]

NERC in January: DOOOOOOOMMM

NERC in May: Lolz, we fine besties, pass the coppertone

[Simon Mahan @SimonMahan]

NERC in January: DOOOOOOOMMM

NERC in May: Lolz, we fine besties, pass the coppertone

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

I have seen suggestions all over the place on how much uptime data centers actually need. Obviously, different needs for different types of data centers. But the fact that regulators haven’t a clue on this point is pretty concerning.

[Travis Fisher @ts_fisher]

New, large electricity customers could avoid FERC and DOE jurisdiction by islanding

"But they need the 99.999% uptime from the grid!"

Is any new, large customer getting that level of reliability from the grid? Or will they be curtailed?https://t.co/NIutDxDt7r

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

Also, Rep. Weber’s statement: “that was a good analogy” was equally bizarre…there was no analogy…What is going on here folks? 😆

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

Not sure why Christie leaves out the point that retail customers of pipelines ultimately pay for #FERC jurisdictional pipelines as a result of FERC ratemaking, which usually includes a nice fat 12% ROE. What a bizarre exchange…

[Energy and Commerce Committee @HouseCommerce]

Electricity moves differently from oil and gas, so it doesn't make sense for transmission lines and pipelines be treated the same way.

In today's hearing, @TXRandy14 discussed how transmission needs to be addressed at the state and local levels to meet their unique needs.

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

@ts_fisher Here ya go. And this revision was based on an extremely narrow scope of review. They should have looked at even more.

https://t.co/IVbP5WQMbB

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

Update: NERC was so wrong they had to issue a correction.

https://t.co/F9jbxBqtDP

[Travis Fisher @ts_fisher]

@SimonMahan Is it popular in your circles to question NERC reports? Could be a very bad look if NERC is right

[Aaron Stemplewicz, Esq. @aaronstemp]

Also…this.

https://t.co/Mwk0hbtFZR