THE DAILY MINE ⛏️

Thursday, March 5, 2026

Trump's Ratepayer Protection Pledge is 24 hours old and already under siege from every direction. Putin is threatening to cut off Russian gas to Europe right now — not 2027 — as the Strait of Hormuz stays effectively closed and oil extends its war-driven rally. Analysts say the pledge is unenforceable across 50 different state utility commissions, none of them bound by a White House photo op. On the ground, Michigan lawmakers are pushing a one-year freeze on all data center construction. Pacific, Missouri held a closed-door meeting that drew protesters. And Bloomberg is reporting that the Iran war is now directly disrupting data center supply chains. The question isn't whether Big Tech will pay — it's whether anyone can actually make them.
 

🔥 Top Stories

PUTIN WEAPONIZES GAS: Threatens to cut ALL supplies to Europe immediately...
Reuters
→ Hormuz shut from the south, Putin threatening from the north — Europe's energy lifelines vanishing

HORMUZ STILL SHUT: Oil extends gains as 20% of global crude stays bottlenecked...
Bloomberg
→ One-fifth of the world's crude still can't move — every day the strait stays closed sets a new price floor

'THEY NEED PR HELP': Trump admits nobody wants a data center next door...
CNBC
→ Promised to cut electricity bills in half. Instead: up 6% in 2025. Midterm voters are watching.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE: Iran war hits Amazon data center supply chains...
Bloomberg
→ War isn't just about oil anymore — it's disrupting the physical infrastructure of the AI boom

GUTTED RENEWABLES, now exposed: Iran war reveals the fossil fuel bet...
Fast Company
→ Every dollar cut from wind and solar is a dollar more dependent on a strait controlled by Iran

 

⚡ Power & Grid

65 TARIFFS AND COUNTING: States race to firewall ratepayers from AI...
Canary Media
→ States aren't waiting for Washington — they're building ratepayer firewalls faster than the feds can pledge

ZERO BIDS: Alaska Cook Inlet oil lease sale is a total bust...
Alaska Beacon
→ "Drill baby drill" hits a wall when nobody wants to drill

ILLINOIS CRACKDOWN: Watchdog demands cap on deceptive energy deals...
Peoria Journal Star
→ New bill would cap alternative supplier rates at 25% above utility price — no more bait-and-switch

ARKANSAS STICKER SHOCK: Rates up 6.7% as Google builds in West Memphis...
Arkansas Business
→ Electricity prices rising at double the inflation rate — and data centers keep landing

CUT THE RED TAPE: The case for deregulation to unlock affordable energy...
The Hill
→ Both parties agree permitting is broken — neither has fixed it

 

🖥️ Data Centers

MICHIGAN FREEZE: Bipartisan bill would HALT all data centers for one year...
MLive
→ "We've been hit with solar, wind farms, battery storage, and now data centers" — rural lawmakers say enough

PACIFIC, MO: Closed-door data center meeting DRAWS PROTESTERS...
Fox 2 St. Louis
→ Secret meetings fuel exactly the kind of backlash the industry can't afford right now

$15 BILLION: Pennsylvania greenights MASSIVE data center power buildout...
PennLive
→ Southcentral PA's first hyperscale — $15B flowing in while neighbors pack the township meeting

MONTEREY PARK REVOLT: City may put data center on the BALLOT...
Spectrum News
→ Residents 3D-printed a model to show what four football fields of AI looks like in their neighborhood

SECRET CONTRACTS: Nobody knows what data centers actually pay for power...
New York Times
→ Billions in grid upgrades — if the data center leaves, ratepayers are stuck holding the bill

 

📊 Stat of the Day

6%

Average nationwide increase in residential electricity prices in 2025, according to EIA. Trump promised to cut bills in half within his first year. Instead, they went up — and data center demand is a growing driver.

 

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