Steve Everley

Energy communications and public affairs, @FTIConsulting. @newtgingrich and @AEI alum. Jayhawk. Opinions are my own. Retweets are not endorsements.

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

Attacks on data centers are dominating headlines, ranging from run of the mill environmental claims to obscure and even bizarre issues.

The broader dynamic should look familiar, because a very similar playbook was used against fracking.

🧵

[Geoffrey Styles @gswstrategy]

@saeverley Remarkable that the Permian, which was first tapped 100 years go and saw conventional oil peak in the '60s/'70s, was in long-term decline and considered past its prime before the shale boom. Now produces a multiple of the conventional oil peak. Inconceivable.

[US Oil & Gas Association @US_OGA]

It's a good thing the foreign funded activists and alarmists didn't get their way or we would have been frozen in time.

They've since moved on to other boogiemen -- like data centers and AI.

[Richard Meyer @RichardMeyerDC]

The core problem with the report is calling a resource "firm" and then defining reliability as an annual energy share. Firm means it's there when you need it, not that the average is high.

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

https://t.co/FVRyPrsA7m

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

The fracking revolution continues.

Twenty years ago, this headline would have been called fake news.

The idea that Permian Basin oil production in Texas and New Mexico would even rival the significance of Saudi Arabia would have been a fairy tale.

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

"Everybody was worried about the Iranian war, and actually natural gas prices have gone down because we're producing so much oil and gas as a byproduct." https://t.co/fEVYhXCrlc

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

“And while Sanders frames ‘tech oligarchs’ as modern-day robber barons, he proposes an idea commonly used by real oligarchs and authoritarians across the world to prop up illiberal regimes, illegally funnel money, and wield unchecked power over their citizens.”

[reason @reason]

Bernie Sanders' plan would impose a one-time tax of 50 percent of AI companies' stock and give the government voting shares and the power to block corporate decisions. https://t.co/NxnWEcQal0

[Xiao Wang @xiaowang1984]

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

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

Always need "more time" to "make it safe" and "address concerns."

NYT on 2010 fracking moratorium: “The goal is to give the state more time to address safety and environmental concerns.”

NY State Senator on 2026 data center moratorium:

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

We already know what happens with these “temporary” moratoriums.

[POLITICO @politico]

New York lawmakers plan to approve one-year data center moratorium https://t.co/vEVBHT2hMm

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

🚨 Trump signs AI executive order asking companies to give government early access to models https://t.co/ZLj0I1fmCF

[Mike Umbro 🪃 @MikeUmbro]

If only ratepayers paid wholesale prices this would mean something to the people of California.

Here’s the truth…

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

@EnergzdEconomy If people don't know about Ross & Rachel, that's on them. 👴

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

@julian_fels Hard to say. The story seems to suggest the monetization incentive as the most likely. It downplays deliberate disinformation but looking at the totality of those pages -- and the broad consistencies across them -- it's hard to dismiss that as out of hand.

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

There is growing scrutiny on the strange anti-data center content that goes viral on social media, and no doubt shapes public perceptions.

"'I actually live in Bangladesh,' the account runner told me."
https://t.co/GjO7FMvISZ

[Logan Dobson @LoganDobson]

"This site generates approximately 2,000 times the tax revenue it would have if was purely farmland."

Data centers can single-handedly balance local budgets, provide money for roads, schools, community events, and more.

[⚡️David Blackmon⚡️ @EnergyAbsurdity]

🚨 Just dropped my latest at Forbes: "West Texas Data Center Project Addresses Activist Concerns Head-On"

As data centers fuel the AI boom, opposition is growing over power, water, and community impacts.

But one project in the Permian Basin is doing it right: Poolside Infrastructure’s Project Horizon, a smarter path forward.

Link: https://t.co/zBmqK3xz4T

#ProjectHorizon #DataCenters #AI #TexasEnergy

[Steve Everley @saeverley]

There is a wide range of policies that can help us capture the full benefits of AI, but I’m pretty sure “more socialism” is not among them.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

I will soon be introducing a bill to give the public a 50% ownership stake in the largest AI companies in America.

This would guarantee that the trillions created by AI are used to improve the lives of all of us — and block oligarch decisions that harm the American people.