{"id":1312,"date":"2026-08-03T11:36:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1312"},"modified":"2026-08-03T11:36:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:36:19","slug":"environmentalists-are-rolling-their-eyes-at-trumps-ratepayer-protection-pledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1312","title":{"rendered":"Environmentalists Are Rolling Their Eyes at Trump\u2019s \u201cRatepayer Protection Pledge\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Trump<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

This story was originally published b<\/em>y\u00a0the<\/em>\u00a0Guardian\u00a0and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk\u00a0collaboration.<\/em><\/p>

Read more Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno Says Max Miller is Unfit to Hold Office<\/a><\/p>\n

Donald Trump has<\/span> announced that about 200 entities have signed on to his non-binding \u201cRatepayer Protection Pledge,\u201d expanding a voluntary commitment that claims to ensure US consumers will not bear the cost of the AI data center build-out.<\/p>\n

Trump delivered remarks on Thursday at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters, alongside Lee Zeldin, the agency\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The pledge,\u00a0first 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have kept rates down, way down,\u201d said Trump.<\/p>\n

Twenty-three Republican governors have signed on to the scheme, Trump announced on Thursday, as have major utilities including Nextera and Duke Energy, data center developers and electricity cooperatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cElectricity rates for 80 percent of the power distributed in America are now being kept in check by the plan,\u201d Trump said at a press conference.<\/p>\n

The announcement came amid a growing backlash to the artificial intelligence boom and the data centers powering it, as electricity bills rise ahead of November\u2019s midterm elections. In June, utility prices were up 4 percent year-over-year, according to data from the\u00a0Bureau of Labor Statistics.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Trump said \u201cradical left communists\u201d are the ones who \u201cwant to shut down all new development, kill our most successful industries, destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs, and surrender the AI race to China.\u201d<\/p>

Read more \u201cThe ICE Agent Behind Me Grabbed the Back of My Shirt and Just Threw Me Like a Sack of Trash\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Yet opposition to data centers has become a bipartisan issue, with voters concerned not only about utility rates, but also the environmental and social impacts of AI.<\/p>\n

More than a dozen states have considered moratoria on data centers, and New York became the first US state to\u00a0enact a temporary ban this month. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have also\u00a0proposed a national moratorium. And on Thursday, Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, called for a ban on data center development in rural Texas; he is now among the governors who signed on to the pledge.<\/p>\n

The pledge will \u201censure everyone involved in building and powering data centers covers their own costs instead of passing them on to American families,\u201d Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, told the Guardian<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President\u2019s bold action is turning data centers into engines of growth for local communities, while cementing America\u2019s dominance in the global AI race,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n

Green groups are largely unimpressed with the non-binding pledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American people don\u2019t care about the weak pledges and empty promises; they need relief from soaring energy bills month after month and real action from these companies to pay their fair share and bring down high costs,\u201d said Patrick Drupp, climate policy director at the national environmental advocacy organization Sierra Club. \u201c[The] pledge is a paper-thin commitment to families who are struggling to keep the lights on as bills soar. The companies signing on have done nothing to show their work on how they will lower costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lena Moffitt, executive director of climate advocacy organization Evergreen Action, called Trump\u2019s announcement a \u201cphoto op with big tech\u201d that \u201cwon\u2019t lower a single family\u2019s electric bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump promised again and again to cut Americans\u2019 energy costs, but instead he\u2019s letting the same corporations driving up demand write their own rules\u2014a voluntary pledge with no teeth and no consequences if they break it,\u201d she said.<\/p>

Read more The Ticks Are Winning<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe American people don\u2019t care about the weak pledges and empty promises.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nEnvironmentalists Are Rolling Their Eyes at Trump\u2019s \u201cRatepayer Protection Pledge\u201d - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1312\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Environmentalists Are Rolling Their Eyes at Trump\u2019s \u201cRatepayer Protection Pledge\u201d - 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