Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Thursday August 6, 2026
Asterisk (*) denotes news stories that may be inaccessible because portions are behind a paywall
Good morning! Here are today’s Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Oil prices trended lower on Thursday on the progress in Iran-Oman talks, with investors cautiously waiting for signs of a U.S.-Iran peace deal and progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
West Texas Intermediate futures declined 42 cents, or 0.56%, to $74.80 a barrel.
Brent crude futures fell 33 cents, or 0.42%, to $79.12 a barrel by 0418 GMT.
Iran and Oman have reached an understanding on the geographic coordinates for a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, and a joint announcement is being finalised, provided certain third parties did not interfere, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Wednesday.
“Some selling pressure emerged following reports that talks between Iran and Oman are making progress,” said Yuki Takashima, economist at Nomura Securities.
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Top Stories
Freight Waves – August 5, 2026
Energy Secretary signals Jones Act waiver extension as pump prices remain elevated
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Tuesday that another temporary extension of the Jones Act waiver is likely and that the existing exemption has already helped lower energy prices in California and on the U.S. East Coast. Speaking at a press conference in Brownsville, Texas, Wright added that he expects fuel prices to come down in the coming weeks, a message the White House is eager to deliver as President Donald Trump faces political pressure over gasoline costs that continue to average above $4 a gallon nationwide, media reported.
The administration is expected to extend the waiver in the coming days to keep transport flexibility for moving fuel between U.S. ports, according to people familiar with the discussions. The current waiver is set to expire on August 16 and has already become the longest suspension of Jones Act rules in the program’s history.
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Zacks/Yahoo! News – August 5, 2026
Phillips 66 Beats Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
Phillips 66 (PSX) came out with quarterly earnings of $9.41 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7.68 per share. This compares to earnings of $2.38 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +22.53%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this oil refiner would post a loss of $0.55 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.49, delivering a surprise of +189.09%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times. Phillips 66, which belongs to the Zacks Oil and Gas – Refining and Marketing industry, posted revenues of $52.04 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 43.88%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $33.52 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters.
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Colorado Politics – August 5, 2026
Supreme Court to open next term with major climate change case
The Supreme Court’s next term will begin in October with major cases about costly climate change lawsuits and immigration. The high court announced the cases it will hear in the first month of its upcoming term, as the justices remain off the bench for their annual summer break. The Supreme Court will return Oct. 5, when it hears arguments in Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County and Johnson v. United States Congress, a case about a veterans’ benefits dispute.
The Suncor Energy case will see the justices decide whether a lawsuit brought by Boulder County, Colorado, seeking to hold oil companies accountable for their alleged role in global climate change, may move forward. The case is expected to have sweeping ramifications for similar lawsuits that climate activists and Democratic-led jurisdictions have attempted to bring against oil companies, either allowing them to proceed or shutting them down as barred by federal law.
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S&P Global Platts – August 5, 2026
China’s real oil demand masked by rise of unlicensed fuel trade: sources
Chinese oil demand figures derived from official data may underestimateactual consumption, as a resurgence in unlicensed fuel sales since the start of the Middle East war has diverted diesel and gasoline volumes away from monitored retail channels, according to five analysts, six traders and four transport operators. Beijing does not publish actual oil consumption figures, so the market relies on “apparent demand,” calculated as official refinery throughput plus net imports of refined products. According to official data, China’s total apparent oil demand in the second quarter of 2026 fell 12% year over year to 153.47 million metric tons.
Overall, Chinese oil demand has contracted sharply in the face of the Middle East disruptions, with refiners drawing down inventories, suffering weak refining margins, and ongoing restrictions on refined product exports. In June, crude imports fell to a near-decade low of 7.15 million barrels/day, and refinery throughput slid to a near four-year low of 12.52 million b/d, according to state statistical data, down 38% and 15%, respectively, year over year.
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The Latest TERse Tips
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the explosive-laden drone found near a runway at Leipzig/Halle airport overnight was a hybrid attack which opened a new level of danger — Germany opened a counterterrorism investigation on Wednesday after the drone prompted the closure of parts of one of Europe’s biggest cargo hubs — Reuters* (Some reports other than Reuters indicate suspicion that the drone originated in Russia)
A Texas-based liquefied natural gas bunkering company has terminated its lobbying relationship with Thorn Run Partners, ending a roughly six-month engagement that generated $120,000 in fees for the firm — Galveston LNG Bunker Port LLC ended its contract with the law firm effective Aug. 4, according to a termination filing submitted in the third quarter — Legis 1
Governor Greg Abbott today announced a Texas Energy Fund grant totaling more than $8 million to strengthen electric reliability for Bailey County Electric Cooperative Association members in the Texas Panhandle and South Plains — the grant supports projects that improve electric transmission poles, strengthen against wind-related line damage, and boost overall reliability — see the press release
Denton moves toward data center moratorium; City Council weighs stricter development rules — KERA
Atmos Energy Corporation on Wednesday reported consolidated results for its third fiscal quarter ended June 30 — see the press release
Riley Permian Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results — see the press release
Texas Pacific Land Corporation Announces Second Quarter Results — see the press release
Murphy Oil Posts Better-Than-Expected Sales In Q2 2026 — Stock Story
U.S. Crude Oil Inventories Post Weekly Increase — commercial crude oil stockpiles were up by 2.5 million barrels in the week ended July 31. Inventories were expected to have fallen by 1.2 million barrels — The Wall Street Journal*
Iran and Oman were finalizing a draft agreement Wednesday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz that would give Tehran oversight of ships entering the Persian Gulf but wouldn’t let it levy tolls or service fees, people familiar with the matter said — the parties have agreed on the main points of the draft—which would set up an inbound lane near Iran and an outbound lane near Oman—and have shared it with the U.S., countries in the region and Iran’s top leaders, who still needed to sign off, they said — The Wall Street Journal*
India’s top explorer, Oil and Natural Gas Corp hopes to soon sign agreements with Venezuela to operate two oil blocks under the South American nation’s new petroleum law, its finance chief said on Wednesday — Reuters*
Wednesday’s study from Colorado State University Department of Atmospheric Science, the nation’s leader in hurricane forecasting, predicts a nine percent chance of a major hurricane hitting the gulf coast through the rest of hurricane season, well below the full-season average from 1880 to 2020, when each year brought on average a 27 percent chance of a hurricane in the gulf coast — Houston Chronicle*
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Oil & Gas Texas
August 5, 2026
Why is the Texas GOP cozying up to Bo French?: Dallas Morning News*
French’s views and conduct online would make him unelectable in any healthy party. Accepting him now is just inviting ever more extreme views to center stage. In June, French wrote on social media that, if he had the power, he would close and demolish all mosques and “denaturalize and deport every single Muslim.” He has also expressed an irrational view of immigration that would be comical if he weren’t a general election candidate.
“Denaturalize and deport foreigners. There are 100 million people in America who shouldn’t be here. Nothing else matters until we do that. It solves almost every problem,” he wrote in November. There are about 343 million people in the United States. Today, Texas GOP leaders are posing in photos with French and tacitly endorsing him as part of the “ticket.” Tomorrow, they are likely to find themselves opposed in primaries by people just like him or, worse still, adopting his ideas to keep the power they seem to cherish over decency.
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Reuters – August 5, 2026
US upstream oil and gas second-quarter dealmaking dives on volatility*
Dealmaking in the U.S. upstream oil and gas sector shrank fourfold to $9 billion in the second quarter of this year as volatile oil prices tempered investor confidence, analytics firm Enverus said on Wednesday. “Crude volatility tied to the Iran conflict and a softening gas outlook likely widened the bid-ask spread and complicated valuations, which pushed announced value to one of its lowest quarterly totals in years,” said Andrew Dittmar, principal analyst at Enverus Intelligence Research. A record-setting lease sale by the Bureau of Land Management in May took the biggest share of dealmaking value, raking in around $4 billion by selling oil and gas drilling rights on federal lands in Texas and New Mexico, predominantly to Devon Energy (DVN.N), opens new tab and Matador Resources.
The sale covered 33,530 acres, primarily in New Mexico’s Permian basin, part of the nation’s most productive oilfield. A shortage of drilling locations that produce more oil in the U.S. helped to drive fierce competition for the BLM assets, according to Enverus. Meanwhile, Shell’s (SHEL.L), opens new tab June sale of its interest in the Na Kika platform and associated fields in the Gulf of Mexico to subsidiaries of Talos Energy and Ridgewood Energy took second place, totaling around $1.7 billion. The assets produced about 37,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025.
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Offshore Energy – August 5, 2026
Carbon capture-enabled 19.2-mtpa Texas Gulf Coast LNG project enters permitting phase
A planned multi-train liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project on the Texas Gulf Coast has taken a significant regulatory step toward development after submitting a request to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin the pre-filing review process for the proposed export terminal.
Coastal Bend LNG, which selected ConocoPhillips’ Optimized Cascade process (COP OCP) technology last year to assist in achieving its goal of curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, has initiated the formal permitting process for its proposed LNG export facility along the Texas Gulf Coast with the submission of a request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to kick off the pre-filing review.
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Oil & Gas Journal – August 5, 2026
EOG accumulates Austin Chalk position that adds a year to inventories
EOG Resources Inc., Houston, has added to its Eagle Ford asset base via the leasing of a 60,000-net acre Austin Chalk holding that chief operating officer Jeff Leitzell labeled as “truly a sweet spot.” Speaking to analysts after EOG reported second-quarter results, Leitzell said the new position in Lavaca County was acquired at an average of $1,200/acre. Based on EOG teams’ calculations and about a dozen wells already drilled, the new property should pay for itself in less than a year at an average West Texas Intermediate price of $65/bbl.
“These high-pressure wells offer high deliverability and benefit from our learnings in other basins,” Leitzell said on an Aug. 5 conference call. “We have confidently identified one year’s worth of two-mile lateral inventories at current Eagle Ford activity levels. Furthermore, we continue to gather data and evaluate [the acreage’s] extent.”
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RBN Energy – August 5, 2026
Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: Devon Says Permian Gas Issues Aren’t Going Away
Devon is a far bigger producer since the Coterra merger closed May 7, but Devon’s second quarter results reflect legacy Devon operations for the full quarter. Q2 oil production for the company came in at the higher end of guidance at 503 Mb/d, with total production at 1.36 MMboe/d. Full year 2026 guidance wasn’t increased, but tightened to 495-505 Mb/d for crude oil and 1,364-1,398 Mboe/d for total production (see table below). Looking ahead, Devon is pushing capital toward the Delaware, where roughly 400 federal locations won at the New Mexico lease sale are being permitted for their 2027 drilling program.
Waha, natural gas prices were deeply negative for the first 6 months of 2026 as associated gas production hit up against takeaway capacity. Kinder Morgan’s 570 MMcf/d Gulf Coast Express expansion, running from Waha to the Agua Dulce hub in South Texas, started up in late May and brought much needed relief. However, CFO Shane Young wasn’t calling it fixed, stating “as we think into the future, it’s an issue that’s not going away.”
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Freight Waves – August 4, 2026
Texas ports defy tariff uncertainty with record cargo performance
Record first-half container volumes at Port Houston and historic cargo tonnage at the Port of Corpus Christi suggest shippers and energy exporters are still moving freight despite an increasingly uncertain global trade environment. Port Houston handled 389,962 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) during June, an 18% increase from the same month last year, while first-half container volumes climbed to a record 2.23 million TEUs, the highest six-month total in the port’s history.
“Our region is resilient and our port is ready to handle the diverse cargo needs,” Port Houston CEO Charlie Jenkins said in a news release. “Overall, we are well-positioned for long-term growth and continued global competitiveness.” The June results were led by a 27% increase in loaded import containers to 177,097 TEUs, while total container traffic rose 18% year over year. Loaded export containers declined 2% during the month but remained essentially flat through the first six months of 2026.
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Texas Border Business – August 4, 2026
Texas Upstream Energy Jobs Extend Growth Streak to Four Months
Texas’ upstream oil and natural gas sector marked its fourth consecutive month of job growth in June 2026, according to newly released data from the Texas Workforce Commission.Employment climbed by 400 jobs in June, building on May’s robust increase of over 4,000 upstream jobs.
“Four straight months of job gains are a testament to the skilled and dedicated workforce that fuels Texas’ oil and natural gas industry, which has continued to grow amid tensions in the Middle East,” said Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA) President Todd Staples. “Oil and natural gas production in the Lone Star State is central to America’s standing as the world’s leader in delivering safe, reliable energy resources. Our goal is for Texas to keep powering our nation and the world, and to maintain our competitive edge through sound policies that support every facet of the industry.”
Oil & Gas National & International
Oil Price – August 4, 2026
Middle East War Triggers New Global Refining Boom
For the second time this decade, a war has upended global oil markets and sent oil prices and refining margins to multi-year highs, benefitting the world’s biggest oil companies and top refiners. The war in Iran has tightened fuel supply as crude oil has struggled to move through the Strait of Hormuz, triggering reduced refining throughput in Asia and a temporary Chinese ban on exports. The fuel markets tightened even more than the crude market to send refining margins to record highs.
And the biggest refiners benefited from the new refining boom, with Big Oil reporting their highest second-quarter earnings since the previous outbreak of a war, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The bumper earnings were driven not only by the jump in oil prices between April and June—the contribution of the refining and trading divisions was also fundamental for fueling the high profits.
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Oil Price – August 4, 2026
Hormuz Crisis Is Rewriting the Global LPG Trade
The Strait of Hormuz, the Middle East’s main choke point, is effectively closed as Iranian attacks on vessels continue, and the ripple effect is tearing through global supply chains. While crude oil and natural gas disruptions have grabbed headlines, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) also finds itself at the center of the crisis. The United States leads the world in LPG exports by a wide margin. However, the Gulf countries remain a critical supply center: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar are all major LPG exporters currently cut off by the closure. The traditional LPG supply chain, which cuts across the Middle East, is challenged by rising US exports and mounting geopolitical turmoil. But a key question remains: who can keep LPG flowing while the world’s most critical energy bottleneck is under pressure?
The strain on the LPG market from the Iran conflict has been visible. Exports from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and even Iran (whose tankers were recently turned back by the US Navy’s blockade) have slowed significantly since the war began. Before the war, roughly 54 oil, chemical and LPG tankers passed daily through Hormuz. During the height of the conflict in early March, propane prices from the Texas Gulf Coast rose to almost 10%, reaching new highs as supply tightened due to the strait’s closure.
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Oil Price – August 5, 2026
BP’s New Boss Has a Message for Britain
In 2020, BP unveiled a “major, necessary step in support of our purpose to reimagine energy for people and our planet.” The new strategy – “performing while transforming” – would see the firm “significantly scale-up our low carbon energy business” as part of a commitment “to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner and help the world get to net zero.” Even the design of the annual report aimed to reflect this, oozing cuddly vibes with doodles of wind farms and a scribbled “#bpnetzero” on page one. But times change.
Six years and two chief executives later, the company is more frank: corporate communications simply state that BP “is a global integrated oil and gas company.” Adding, for the avoidance of doubt: “We produce oil and gas, trade energy, and make, ship and sell energy products.” The company’s stated purpose is also now clear: “to deliver energy to the world, today and tomorrow.” In pursuit of that, CEO Meg O’Neill is overhauling the company, conceding that “our performance over the past few years has not met our own expectations, let alone those of our shareholders.”
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S&P Global Platts – August 4, 2026
More than 100 countries have adopted energy policies to adapt to Hormuz closure: IEA
More than 115 countries have adopted policy measures like energy conservation, price supports and structural changes to adapt to the energy impact of the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, an official form the International Energy Agency said Aug. 4. “Demand-side measures are not enough to replace the sheer size of energy that’s transiting through that strait, but it can dampen and moderate the impact,” Jérôme Bilodeau, head of analysis for IEA’s Office Energy Efficiency and Inclusive Transitions, said during a webinar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Since the war began, 58 governments have taken energy conservation measures, Bilodeau said. These measures have mainly focused on limiting oil use, including reducing private transportation fuel use, encouraging working or studying from home, reducing government travel and adjusting cooling temperature set points, he said.
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Bloomberg – August 5, 2026
Big Oil Is Bracing for Lower Prices — and Rightly So: Javier Blas*
On Wall Street, money speaks louder than words. The way Big Oil is currently allocating dollars suggests the supermajors are, quietly, preparing for leaner times. It’s the right approach: Oil is a cyclical business, and lower prices are always around the corner. This time, they may be even closer. In many ways, the downturn is already here — 150-plus days since the Iran war started, West Texas Intermediate crude is hovering at about $75 a barrel, down 35% from its conflict peak. It may sound hyperbolic with the Middle East conflict still raging but, increasingly, the risk isn’t triple-digit oil prices but the possibility of $50-a-barrel, at least for a short period, in 2027 or 2028.
In public, oil executives continue to warn about the risk of higher prices if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. They aren’t wrong. Little is said, however, about the downside if the waterway opens. The clues to what they’re really anticipating can be found in their profit statements and, even better, on their balance sheets. Clearly, the sector could afford to give investors even more money in the form of share buybacks or larger dividends if it wanted to. The April-June period was a time of bonanza, with sky-high oil prices. Together, ExxonMobil Holdings Corp., Chevron Corp., Shell Plc, TotalEnergies SE, and BP Plc reported net income of more than $47 billion, up more than 160% from a year earlier. Their free cash flow — the measure between cash generation and expenses — is even more striking. The top five international oil companies generated nearly $70 billion during the second quarter, the most ever, surpassing a peak of $60 billion during the same period in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Yet, rather than returning that huge war windfall to shareholders, the oil majors focused on paying down debt and restructuring operations.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Zacks/yahoo! News – August 5, 2026
NRG Energy Q2 Earnings Lag Estimates, Revenues Increase Y/Y
Details: NRG Energy misses quarterly profit estimates as interest costs rise — Reuters*
NRG Energy, Inc. NRG reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $1.49 per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.66 by 10.2%. The bottom also line declined 11.3% from $1.68 in the year-ago quarter. Total revenues were $7.48 billion, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.89 billion by 27%. The top line also increased 11% from the prior-year quarter’s level of $6.74 billion.
NRG Energy, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | NRG Energy, Inc. Quote The company recorded adjusted EBITDA of $1.22 billion in the second quarter, up 33.9% from $0.91 billion registered a year ago.
Total operating costs and expenses were $6.54 billion, down 2.9% from $6.74 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Operating income in the second quarter totaled $976 million.
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KUHF NPR – August 5, 2025
Data centers use lots of water and power, but Texas officials don’t know exactly how much
The high transmission line that bisects Torrie Martin’s ranch hums subtly. Occasionally the frequency changes to a droning buzz that ends in a pop. “ You can actually hear the power plant right now,” Martin said. “It’s been pretty loud the last few years.” The Vistra Hays Power Plant is directly across the street from Martin’s property. It generates around 990 megawatts of power, enough to power 250,000 homes. This facility is considerably larger than Austin’s biggest power plant — Sand Hill Energy Center — which generates 595 megawatts.
The proximity to the power station makes Martin’s neighborhood a desirable place to build data centers. Data centers need a lot of power to operate, and, depending on how they’re cooled, a lot of water too. As more and more data center developers submit proposals to build in Texas, questions about how they’ll impact Texas’ grid and contribute to drought conditions across the state are widespread. So much so, that Gov. Greg Abbott effectively ordered a pause on all data center projects looking to connect to the grid until officials get a better grasp on the amount of resources they will use.
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Dallas Morning News – August 5, 2026
Journalists have a phrase for hiding the most important news: burying the lead. That’s when the real story isn’t at the top, where everyone will see it. It’s tucked deep inside, where readers might never notice. The town of Westlake recently produced a textbook example. The town newsletter opens with a story about the annual Military Heroes Run. Next comes an item about a tree-trimming project. Only after scrolling to Page 2 do readers find the biggest news: “Inside Westlake’s Newest Development.” But even that’s not enough. That headline could have been much simpler—and much more honest: Westlake announces a massive data center on its southern border. The newsletter wraps the project in glowing language, calling it exciting, an important investment that will boost the economy and “keep money in your pocket.” But that’s only part of the story.
“The initiative reflects accelerating demand for reliable, carbon-free baseload power to support expanding industrial facilities, advanced manufacturing, and AI-driven data centres throughout the US Gulf South,” Holtec said. Entergy and its affiliates operate one of the USA’s largest fleets of nuclear power plants and electric utility systems serving customers in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. Together, the parties will evaluate whether, and if so where, SMR-300 deployment may best meet future customer demand while complementing Entergy’s long-term resource planning and generation portfolio.
Oil Price – August 2, 2026
AI’s Electricity Demand Is Not the Real Problem. Its Inflexibility Is
The electricity demand created by artificial intelligence is usually presented as a simple supply problem. AI requires increasingly large data centers, those facilities consume enormous amounts of electricity, and utilities must somehow build enough power plants to serve them. The numbers appear to support the alarm. Data centers consumed around 485 terawatt-hours of electricity globally in 2025. The International Energy Agency expects this to rise to approximately 950 TWh by 2030, while consumption from AI-focused facilities could triple. Some proposed AI campuses will require several gigawatts of capacity—more than many cities.
Yet the global numbers hide the real problem. Data centers are expected to account for only around 3% of worldwide electricity demand by 2030. Their impact is serious, but it is not remotely large enough to overwhelm the global electricity system. The difficulty is that AI demand is arriving in very large blocks, in very specific locations, and on timelines that are much shorter than those required to build grids and power plants. AI does not primarily have an electricity problem. It has an inflexibility problem.
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Power Magazine – August 3, 2026
The Power Sector’s New Constraint Isn’t Demand—It’s Everything Else: Aaron Larson
For most of the last two decades, the anxiety in power planning was about demand: would consumption grow fast enough to justify new capacity, and how would an aging fleet keep pace? That question has inverted. Demand is no longer the uncertain variable—it is the one thing forecasters are confident about. The uncertainty now sits on the supply side: whether the workforce, the equipment, and the political and economic conditions needed to build and run generation can keep up with a demand curve that is accelerating for the first time in a generation.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) put a number on the demand side in its Electricity 2026 report, projecting that global electricity demand will grow by an average of 3.6% per year through 2030, roughly 50% faster than the average over the previous decade, driven by industrial electrification, electric vehicles, air conditioning, and data centers. For the first time in three decades outside of a crisis period, electricity demand has begun to grow faster than the global economy itself. The demand is coming. The open question is deliverability.
Regulatory
Utility Dive – August 5, 2026
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from rescinding $20 billion in climate grants. In a three-page unsigned court opinion, a divided court overturned a panel’s earlier decision, saying the Environmental Protection Agency likely violated the Inflation Reduction Act when it attempted to terminate and claw back Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants awarded to Climate United and other nonprofits.
The grants were being used to fund “projects across the United States that support domestic clean energy development, build healthy and affordable housing, accelerate American-made electric vehicle manufacturing, and save hard-working Americans money on their bills,” Climate United said in a March 8 lawsuit filed after EPA froze the funding.
Environmentalists Are Rolling Their Eyes at Trump’s “Ratepayer Protection Pledge”
President Donald Trump has announced that about 200 entities have signed on to his nonbinding “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” expanding a voluntary commitment that claims to ensure US consumers will not bear the cost of the AI data center build-out. Trump delivered remarks Thursday at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters, alongside Lee Zeldin, the agency’s administrator, and Chris Wright, the energy secretary. Other attendees included governors who signed on to the pledge, including Brian Kemp of Georgia, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Spencer Cox of Utah, and Jeff Landry of Louisiana.
The pledge, first announced in March, was initially signed by seven tech companies: Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI, and Amazon. It will now cover companies delivering 80 percent of all power to US homes and businesses, according to the White House. “We have kept rates down, way down,” Trump said.