Still, it’s a major shift for firms that stood against President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine green energy initiatives during his first term. With Trump’s return to the White House, they are embracing his fervor for fossil fuels. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said at a conference this month that “net zero” emissions goals are “sinister” and threaten to destabilize energy systems.
“This is where politics meets physics,” Dan Brouillette, energy secretary during Trump’s first term, said when asked about the shift by these companies. “The bottom line is that renewable power cannot, will not, with current technology, provide the amount of energy that they want.”
The pivot was underway before Trump took office, as tech firms looked to gas amid a shortage of adequate new clean energy.
Now, the energy demands of tech firms and manufacturers are so acute and the Trump administration’s rollback of climate rules so aggressive, that even coal is making a comeback. But the biggest push is for gas, with more than 220 plants in various stages of development nationwide. They are often pitched as a bridge until more clean power is available, sometimes with promises the plants will eventually be equipped with nascent technology that traps greenhouse gas emissions. But the timeline for installing such “carbon capture” is vague.
“These companies are building these massive new gas plants that are going to be there for 30 to 50 years,” said Bill Weihl, a former director of sustainability at Facebook and founder of the nonprofit ClimateVoice. “That’s not a bridge. It is a giant bomb in our carbon budget.”
