THE DAILY MINE ⛏️

TIME COVER: 'THE PEOPLE VS. AI' — A grassroots revolt goes national...
TIME
Nearly 200 cross-partisan activists — MAGA loyalists and democratic socialists, pastors and nurses — marched on the Virginia capitol this week united against the data center boom; Pew finds five times as many Americans are concerned as excited about AI.

EPRI RAISES THE NUMBER: Data center load forecast boosted 60% — now 9-17% of US power by 2030...
RTO Insider
EPRI's "Powering Intelligence 2026" report raises its data center electricity consumption estimate by 60% from prior 2024 forecasts, driven by accelerated AI build-out; Virginia could see data centers consuming 39-57% of state electricity.

REUTERS: 'Ratepayer Protection Pledge is meaningless' until utilities file actual contracts...
Reuters
Energy attorney Ari Peskoe: "The pledge is meaningless until we see utilities file contracts with state and federal regulators that allocate all costs of serving data centers to data centers" — the structural bar no voluntary commitment clears.

FLORIDA SENATE PASSES DATA CENTER RESTRICTIONS — UNANIMOUS VOTE...
WUSF / Tampa Bay Times
Florida's Senate passed restrictions on large-scale data centers without a single dissenting vote; the companion bill advances to the House floor, adding Florida to the growing list of states taking formal action.

AXIOS: Here's how much Big Tech actually spends on data centers...
Axios
A breakdown of actual data center capital expenditure from Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta — the numbers behind the political fight over who should pay for the power they consume.

FERC PUNTS ON TRANSMISSION: No minimum interregional requirements recommended to Congress...
RTO Insider
FERC submitted its interregional transmission report to Congress this week and declined to recommend minimum transfer capability requirements — a setback for long-distance transmission projects counting on federal momentum to close financing and overcome state opposition.

TEXAS HOLDS: ERCOT weathers the freeze — the 2021 nightmare didn't repeat...
Houston Public Media
ERCOT held through February's cold snap with no blackouts, crediting solar and battery additions — a meaningful contrast to the deadly 2021 collapse that killed hundreds and caused $195 billion in damage.

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: Solar power's newest fans are MAGA influencers...
Politico
A growing cohort of conservative influencers and MAGA-aligned content creators are embracing rooftop solar — driven by energy independence messaging and lower utility bills — in a shift that scrambles the partisan energy debate.

NYC GRID WARNING: Power reliability issues possible starting next year, ISO says...
Utility Dive
New York's grid operator flags near-term reliability risk beginning 2027 as demand growth outpaces planned capacity additions — one of the most densely populated grids in the country is running out of runway.

NORTHWEST ON THE EDGE: Rolling blackout risk rises as renewables 'may not be enough'...
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The Pacific Northwest grid regulator says the region is in the "crosshairs" for potential winter blackouts, with renewable intermittency cited as a key reliability gap alongside surging data center demand.

ARIZONA FLIPS: Governor reverses support for data center tax breaks...
Politico
Arizona's governor reversed course on data center tax incentives as legislative and public pressure mounts — another state in the growing list walking back the subsidies that defined the industry's expansion decade.

PENNSYLVANIA AT THE CENTER: Why the PJM states face the toughest data center power math...
Fortune
A deep dive on Pennsylvania and the PJM interconnection — where coal plant retirements, data center growth, and ratepayer exposure collide in the most contested grid territory in the country.

FORM ENERGY'S IRON BATTERY to back Google data center — without raising neighbors' bills...
Boston Globe
Form Energy's long-duration iron-air battery system will back a Google data center, specifically designed to support the facility without driving up electricity costs for existing homes and businesses nearby.

GOOGLE LEADS THE WAY: Signs AES and Xcel supply deals to power data centers on its own dime...
Reuters
Google secured deals with AES (Texas) and Xcel Energy (Minnesota), agreeing to pay for all required grid infrastructure — the hyperscaler model for self-funding power that states are now demanding from everyone.

NORTH CAROLINA ASKS: Power-hungry data centers are coming — who foots the bill?...
Wilmington Star-News
North Carolina communities are raising the same ratepayer questions that drove legislation in Virginia, Florida, and Ohio — the geographic spread of the resistance is accelerating.