Amazon backs power plant that may become top source of

What happened

Amazon’s artificial intelligence ambitions will soon be partly fueled by a natural gas-burning power plant in Texas that “could become the largest single source of climate pollution in the United States,” The New York Times reported. These gas-burning plants are increasingly lumped into data center projects. They produce harmful pollutants, which can accelerate climate change impacts and harm public health—contributing to conditions like asthma, heart disease, lung cancer, and strokes.

That’s the vision for the future that Amazon and likely other AI firms want the public to focus on. However, it’s unclear if neighbors would ever see those future benefits. And any spike in emissions once the Texas power plant comes online seems to clash with Amazon’s voluntary commitments to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, critics suggested. Amazon told Ars that it remains committed to its Climate Pledge.

” Amazon knows that its data center plans could obstruct its climate goals at a time when its emissions have already been steadily rising, the NYT reported. But Amazon’s bottom line might take precedence over that 2040 deadline.

For companies like Amazon, gas-burning plants offer a fast lane to avoid years of delays associated with connecting to the grid and launching data centers quickly to meet ever-rising demand, just as AI becomes more mainstream.

Any delay at all is viewed as money left on the table, and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on a July 30 earnings call that demand is particularly exploding for its AI and chips businesses amid the AI boom. Looking forward, Amazon expects supply may lag behind demand well into 2027.

Why it matters

Some communities are demanding more stringent environmental reviews, but the Trump administration favors fast-tracking that can include skipping the permitting process entirely. Since Elon Musk’s xAI controversially began relying on gas turbines last spring to power its biggest AI data center, Colossus, there has been public backlash to off-the-grid data centers like the one Amazon is building.

Notably, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Mississippi sued xAI to get Musk’s gas turbines turned off in June. That spurred the Trump administration to join the fight, backing xAI and arguing that citizens have no power to enforce the Clean Air Act.

However, as xAI and Trump pushed to dismiss the lawsuit, reports show that other AI giants have largely ignored mounting public criticism since it was filed. They’ve increasingly invested in various ways to avoid permitting discussions and supply their own power—including Anthropic, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Oracle.

Together with Amazon’s investments, these alternative power plant projects swiftly securing approvals have become a harbinger that, unlike other data center fights that have successfully blocked $130 billion in projects so far this year, resistance against gas-burning plants may be futile. A potential loss in the xAI fight could devastate momentum in communities hoping to keep up the fight for more transparency.

Dozens of firms have begun sourcing their own power supplies in the past year, but the Texas project is reportedly Amazon’s first big investment in an off-the-grid data center.

After Amazon confirmed that it’s investing in the power plant to supply the energy needed for a massive planned data center project in Pecos County, the company boasted this ensured its project avoided straining the grid or raising electricity costs for neighbors.

But the company did not respond to Ars’ questions about the power plant backlash, making it seem clear that the discussion it’s willing to have is over the cost of utilities, not the potentially mass-polluting impacts from its center’s reliance on gas turbines. ” Over time, Amazon expects its power plant will possibly add energy supply for local customers, which could eventually make the grid more reliable and affordable.

What to watch

Margaret Callahan, an Amazon spokesperson, suggested that the 2040 deadline remains a priority but also noted that “the world looks different now than when we co-founded the climate pledge,” the NYT reported. Amazon’s Pecos County plan was first exposed by Cleanview, a company closely tracking environmental concerns with off-the-grid data center developments.

At the start of August, Cleanview discovered that the tech giant had filed three construction permits in Texas near the power plant that were “beginning immediately” and wondered if the projects were linked. 65 gigawatts of power,” Cleanview reported.