January 15, 2025
3 min read
Biden Opens Publicly Owned Land to Data Centers Run on Clean Energy
President Biden issued an executive order to permit data centers on federal lands in a move aimed at bolstering clean energy and protecting national security during a boom in artificial intelligence
The IAD71 Amazon Web Services data center in Ashburn, Virginia, US, on Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images
CLIMATEWIRE | President Joe Biden issued an executive order Tuesday that directs the departments of Energy and Defense to lease sites to the private sector for a build-out of “gigawatt-scale” data centers.
The move is intended to bolster clean energy and protect national security during a boom in artificial intelligence. Data centers built on federal sites would be required to bring clean energy online to match the facility’s electricity needs, according to the White House.
The Biden administration did not fully define clean energy in its announcement. But it called for DOE and DOD to select sites that have access to transmission and do not negatively affect communities. The executive order also directs the Interior Department to identify land that could support the data centers and enhance permitting for geothermal power.
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The order requests that federal agencies speed up permitting at selected sites, including through “categorical exclusions” under the National Environmental Policy Act. DOE would be required to work with utilities to connect AI infrastructure to the grid, as well as promote the deployment of renewable and nuclear energy.
“DOE will take appropriate steps to coordinate with developers in constructing, financing, facilitating, and planning the upgrade and development of transmission lines around those sites. To facilitate this work, DOE will also collect information to improve transmission planning in these regions, such as utility data on transmission congestion,” the order states.
With President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration occurring next week, it’s unclear how much influence the order will have. Trump has chastised Biden’s push for clean energy but has called for more drilling to boost energy supplies to get ahead of China on AI. He also has pushed for a data center build-out of his own.
At a press conference last week, Trump said Hussain Sajwani, a real estate developer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, would invest $20 billion to build data centers in eight states.
Biden’s order has been expected for weeks. POLITICO previously reported that the president pushed for it partly because technology companies are eyeing subsidies in the Middle East to build data centers. In November, Google inked a deal to develop an artificial intelligence hub in Saudi Arabia.
Tuesday’s order states that the new plan would prevent adversaries from accessing powerful computer systems “to the detriment of our military.” AI is “too important to be offshored,” the order states.
A DOE report last month found that data centers could triple their energy use and account for 12 percent of the country’s electricity by 2028. States and utilities have been grappling with how to plan for the surge in electricity demand. In Virginia, one of the world’s largest AI clusters, officials have warned that growth in data centers may challenge the grid without much faster construction of gas, renewables and transmission.
Prior to the order’s release, environmental groups warned the administration not to release a plan that would loosen environmental restrictions and increase the potential for more pollution. The order states that expedited permitting should occur for infrastructure that “does not significantly affect the environment.”
It further directs agencies to complete a study on data centers’ effects on electricity prices.
According to the White House, developers would have to pay the full cost of building, operating and maintaining data centers on federal land so they don’t raise costs for consumers. The order also directs DOE and DOD to require companies to assess national security risks of projects and ensure that workers are paid “prevailing wages.”
Reporter Robin Bravender contributed.
This story also appears in Energywire.
Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.
