The Lawfare Podcast Lawfare Archive: Energy Security, Data Centers, and AI
Oct 12, 2026
Christie Hicks, who leads Earthjustice’s Clean Energy Program, and Mandy DeRoche, its utility regulation specialist, join Kevin Frazier to examine AI’s energy demands. They discuss cryptocurrency mining’s pollution, data centers’ water use and community costs, grid reliability, national security tradeoffs, and state policies for pairing explosive digital growth with clean power.
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How Bitcoin Revived A Dormant Power Plant
- Proof-of-work mining requires specialized computers and enormous cooling energy, unlike proof-of-stake systems.
- After Greenwich Generation redirected a dormant Seneca Lake power plant to Bitcoin mining, emissions, water pollution, noise, and electronic waste surged.
Bitcoin Prices Drive Pollution Upward
- China’s 2021 mining ban shifted roughly 40–50% of global cryptocurrency mining activity to the United States.
- Bitcoin’s price directly increases mining rewards, energy consumption, and pollution because proof-of-work remains energy-intensive.
Data Centers Often Shift Costs To Communities
- Large digital loads can revive fossil-fuel plants, consume power needed by other customers, and shift grid costs onto the public.
- Tax incentives often erase data centers’ supposed benefits because they create few jobs and may deliver no net tax gain.