Trump's energy secretary orders a Washington state coal plant to remain open

"Washington and Oregon are home to about 100 data centers. Oregon is second only to Virginia in data center capacity, and the centers consume 11 percent of Oregon's power supply, nearly three times the national average, according to the Sightline Institute, a Seattle think tank. Energy use is rising along with the region's booming high-tech economy, its outsized appetite for electric cars (The Seattle Times reported that 26 percent of new cars registered in Washington in October were EVs) and the climate-change-driven growth of home air-conditioning."

""It is so ironic, when we have a real emergency, that they picked this time to fabricate an energy emergency," said KC Golden, a member of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, an interstate agency created by Congress to ensure reliable power while protecting the environment. While there is no emergency electricity shortfall in the Pacific Northwest, the region, like much of the United States, does have a serious and worsening long-term electricity supply problem."

Record-setting rainfall and widespread flooding have caused a declared federal emergency and displaced thousands, with major highway damage taking months to repair. The Pacific Northwest currently lacks an immediate electricity shortfall but faces a serious long-term supply challenge driven by rising energy use. About 100 data centers in Washington and Oregon significantly increase power demand, with Oregon data centers using roughly 11 percent of the state's electricity. Growth in electric-vehicle adoption and increased home air-conditioning are boosting load. Drought and changing weather patterns threaten hydroelectric generation, which supplies a majority of regional power and has traditionally kept rates low.

Read at Ars Technica