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AI Needs Natural Gas To Survive

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By David Blackmon

As recent studies project a big rise in power generation demand from the big datacenters that are proliferating around the United States, the big question continues to focus in on what forms of generation will rise to meet the new demand. Most datacenters have plans to initially interconnect into local power grids, but the sheer magnitude of their energy needs threatens to outstrip the ability of grid managers to expand supply fast enough.  

This hunger for more affordable, 24/7 baseload capacity is leading to a variety of proposed solutions, including President Donald Trump’s new executive orders focused on reviving the nation’s coal industry, scheduled to be signed Tuesday afternoon. But efforts to restart the permitting of new coal-fired power plants in the US will require additional policy changes, efforts which will take time and could ultimately fail. In the meantime, datacenter developers find themselves having to delay construction and completion dates until firm power supply can be secured. 

Datacenters specific to AI technology require ever-increasing power loads. For instance, a single AI query can consume nearly ten times the power of a traditional internet search, and projections suggest that U.S. data center electricity consumption could double or even triple by 2030, rising from about 4-5% of total U.S. electricity today to as much as 9-12%. Globally, data centers could see usage climb from around 536 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025 to over 1,000 TWh by 2030. In January, a report from the American Security Project estimated that datacenters could consume about 12% of all U.S. power supply. 

Obviously, the situation calls for innovative solutions. A pair of big players in the natural gas industry, Liberty Energy and Range Resources, announced on April 8 plans to diversify into the power generation business with the development of a major new natural gas power plant to be located in the Pittsburgh area. Partnering with Imperial Land Corporation (ILC), Liberty and Range will locate the major power generation plant in the Fort Cherry Development District, a Class A industrial park being developed by ILC.   

“The strategic collaboration between Liberty, ILC, and Range will focus on a dedicated power generation facility tailored to meet the energy demands of data centers, industrial facilities, and other high-energy-use businesses in Pennsylvania,” the companies said in a joint release.  

Plans for this new natural gas power project follows closely on the heels of the March 22 announcement for plans to transform the largest coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania, the Homer City generating station, into a new gas-fired facility. The planned revitalized plant would house 7 natural gas turbines with a combined capacity of 4.5 GW, enough power 3 million homes.  

Both the Homer City station and the Fort Cherry plant will use gas produced out of the Appalachia region’s massive Marcellus Shale formation, the most prolific gas basin in North America. But plans like these by gas companies to invest in their own products for power needs aren’t isolated to Pennsylvania.  

In late January, big Permian Basin oil and gas producer Diamondback Energy told investors that it is seeking equity partners to develop a major gas-fired plan on its own acreage in the region. The facility would primarily supply electricity to data centers, which are expected to proliferate in Texas due to the AI boom, while also providing power for Diamondback’s own field operations. This dual-purpose approach could lower the company’s power costs and create a new revenue stream by selling excess electricity.  

Prospects for expansion of gas generation in the U.S. received a big boost in January when GE Vernova announced plans for a $600 million expansion of its manufacturing capacity for gas turbines and other products in the U.S. GE Vernova is the main supplier of turbines for U.S. power generation needs. The company plans to build 37 gas power turbines in 2025, with a potential increase to over 70 by 2027, to meet rising energy demands. 

The bottom line on these and other recent events is this: Natural gas is quickly becoming the power generation fuel of choice to feed the needs of the expanding datacenter industry through 2035, and potentially beyond. Given that reality, the smart thing to do for these and other companies in the natural gas business is to put down big bets on themselves. 

David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.

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Scott Jennings Dunks Head In Trash Can Upon Mention Of Trump-Musk Feud

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Hailey Gomez

Republican strategist Scott Jennings dipped his head into a trash can during CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” on Thursday after host Jake Tapper asked who he would side with in billionaire Elon Musk’s and President Donald Trump’s feud.

A public argument began between Trump and Musk on Thursday after the billionaire continued to rally against the president’s “big, beautiful bill.” While discussing Musk’s and Trump’s fallout, Tapper asked Jennings who he would side with “in the divorce.”

“Let me just tell you what every Republican is doing. I have my, here’s where we are today. We’re literally, heads are in the garbage can right now. That’s the state of everybody I know at the moment,” Jennings said as he placed his head in a black trash can.

“Not going to lie, it’s an ugly day. And, you know, you hate it when your friends are fighting,” Jennings added. “I continue to believe that their partnership last year saved America. I also continue to believe their goals are not mutually exclusive. Trump needs to pass his agenda, which this bill is his agenda. It’s what he ran on.”

With the Senate expected to take a vote on the budget reconciliation package, Republicans like Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky have been vocal about their dissatisfaction with the legislation.

WATCH:

During a CBS News interview in May, Musk called out Republican support of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” arguing that it would contradict the cost-cutting work of the Department of Government Efficiency. Similar to some Republican senators’ warnings, Musk said the bill could potentially increase the deficit.

“Elon wants to save America from going bankrupt, which they can also do if the Republicans in Congress and everybody works together, all of these things can happen,” Jennings said. “When the fights get personal, though, it means the enemy is advancing. And, in this case, it means the Democrats are laughing and advancing.”

“So, hopefully, cooler heads will soon prevail,” Jennings said. “The president can get his agenda, and Elon can convince the Republicans that the debt is a serious problem, but [I’m] not going to lie. Rough day for the Republicans.”

White House officials have pushed back against opponents of the bill, with White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller writing on X that the bill would save “more than 1.6 TRILLION in mandatory spending, including the largest-ever welfare reform.”

Despite concerns about the bill not being able to pass and head to Trump’s desk by July 4, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in May that he believes there’s a “workable path” to secure 51 votes.

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Liberals Embrace Islamic Extremism In Canada

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When FBI director Kash Patel condemned Canada allowing Islamic terrorists to gain a foothold in North America, Canadian politicians and pundits, including new Prime Minister Mark Carney, dismissed Patel’s assertions as baseless fearmongering.

Unfortunately, it is clear that the Trump administration is correct: Radical Islamic ideology has become endemic in Canada over the past decade.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service itself has confirmed that, since 2015, radical Islamic ideology has become commonplace throughout Canadian society, as a result of the porous borders and the Liberal government’s unwillingness to effectively regulate the influx of international migration into Canada. Numerous terrorist leaders and those with intimate connections to terrorist organizations such as Samidoun and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine have been permitted to migrate within the Canadian state and promote their own nihilistic ideology over the past decade.

Islamic schools in Canada are not compelled to abide by a standardized curriculum and, consequently, covertly promote radical Islamic ideology and extremism to vulnerable children in Canada. At one prominent Islamic school in Canada, the East End Madrassah, administrators were recently pressured to issue a public apology after it was exposed for “… teaching children that treacherous Jews conspired to kill the Islamic Prophet Mohammed.”

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Since 2015, explicit Islamic terrorist acts have become increasingly prevalent in Canada.

According to data from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, “[N]early a dozen terrorism-related incidents [have occurred] in Canada or abroad involving Canadians” since Oct. 7, 2023, alone. In addition), “The number of terrorism charges laid in Canada jumped 488% last year” and “Canadian police have foiled six terrorist plots in the last 12 months alone, with arrests spanning from Edmonton to Ottawa to Toronto.” The Liberal government recently publicly downplayed a report from the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth, & Development Office that a “terror attack attempt in Canada is very likely.”

The globally renowned Counter Extremism Project has recently reported that “within the past few decades, several hundred Canadian civilians have been killed or injured in incidents related to violent extremism,” and that, in spite of the glib posturing and “apparent policy shifts in the Trudeau government, Canada has historically viewed violent Islamist extremism as one of the leading threats to its national security.”

In addition, the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre recently warned the Canadian government that Canada will likely “experience a lone-wolf terror attack soon … and antisemitism is overwhelmingly the motivating factor.”

And to Kash Patel’s point, over the past decade Canada’s porous borders and the Liberal government’s tolerance of Islamic extremism have functioned in concert to enable various terrorists to transgress from Canada into America to commit crimes and even mass murder.

In 2024, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a longtime resident of Canada, attempted to carry out a mass shooting in support of ISIS in New York City, and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the ISIS terrorist who committed the horrific “Bourbon Street Attack” in New Orleans, was also previously permitted to travel freely between Canada and the U.S. Furthermore, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service itself has long recognized Canada’s modern transformation into an exporter of Islamic terrorism and for years has attempted to “monitor and respond to the threat of Canadian extremist travellers (CETs).”

According to Director Patel and the FBI, “over 300 known or suspected terrorists crossed into this country last year illegally … 85% of them came through [Canada and] the northern border,” and “This year, 100 known or suspected terrorists have crossed into this country illegally, 64 or so from the north.” Even Justin Trudeau, Canada’s previous prime minister, was recently forced to admit that “bad actors … have been exploiting [Canada’s] immigration system for their own interests.”

Despite all this, the Canadian political establishment and the media have stubbornly denied any suggestion that Islamic extremism has successfully entrenched itself within Canada.

More importantly, it is readily apparent that until the Liberal government starts to earnestly secure Canada’s borders and begins to excise Islamic extremism from within Canadian society, Canada will continue to serve as a womb for Islamic extremism in North America and a constant source of terrorism in the U.S.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.
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