Michael Guest Asks Energy Sec. About DoE’s Plans To Meet Energy Needs Of International AI Race

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During Wednesday’s House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS) questioned Energy Secretary Chris Wright about competing in the international artificial intelligence race.

Transcript

00:03At this time, I would like to recognize my distinguished friend from the great state

00:07of Mississippi, the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, Congressman Guest.

00:13Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:14Mr. Secretary, thank you for being with us today.

00:17I want to thank you for ending the pause on LNG exports.

00:22I want to thank you for your commitment to replenish our strategic petroleum reserve.

00:28And I also want to thank you for setting an agency goal that you list as unleashing American

00:32energy dominance while strengthening our national security.

00:37I noticed in your testimony on page three, you talk about the importance of AI, artificial

00:42intelligence.

00:44You refer to it as the next Manhattan Project.

00:46I've also heard it referred to as the next space race.

00:51You list there that we need all energy sources to power the global AI race and meet growing

00:57data center energy demands, including nuclear, gas, geothermal, coal, while also ensuring

01:06the security of the grid.

01:08And so I would ask if you would just take a brief moment to talk to the committee about

01:14how the department is planning to meet the growing energy needs, not only of data centers,

01:21which are extremely important.

01:22But also we know it as advanced manufacturing as we bring more advanced manufacturing online.

01:28The energy needs of transportation now as we see more vehicles being electrified.

01:33So can you just tell us briefly your goal as to how you would like to see the Department

01:39of Energy move forward to make sure that we have the energy necessary to compete in this

01:45AI race?

01:46Fantastic.

01:47Love the question and love the premise of how critical AI is.

01:52And I've called it the next Manhattan Project for a reason.

01:56I'm sure you're aware, you know, in the original Manhattan Project, Nazi Germany was also trying

02:02to develop atomic bomb.

02:04So the cost of being second was just devastating.

02:07Like that was a race, not you want to win.

02:10We had to win.

02:11And I think AI has similar overlay, you know, we, we see the great commercial and personal

02:17lifestyle uses of AI already, but its uses will be dramatically impactful to basic science.

02:24And maybe I'll get to that later, but also to national defense.

02:27If we are lagging, if we're behind China in AI, our sovereignty, our national defense is

02:34at risk.

02:34I think it is not an option for us to get second in AI.

02:38And I think in the last administration where we saw very little growth in America's energy

02:43production capacity, we were on a road where we were not going to lead in AI.

02:49So as I think you and I both believe, we need to lean in.

02:52And if we're going to win AI, it is an energy intensive manufacturing industry.

02:58We have to enable the growth, dramatic growth of American energy production if we are to lead

03:03in AI.

03:04Fortunately, we have the resources, we have the businesses, and we have the technologies

03:08here to invest in those energy things.

03:11The main thing I view the department and the government as a whole is to get out of the

03:15way and to enable private businesses and enterprises to bring the hundreds of billions of dollars

03:22of capital investment that will be needed to lead in AI.

03:27You mentioned LNG exports and natural gas.

03:29Today, natural gas is by far the U.S.'s largest source of electricity.

03:35It's fast to stand up.

03:37We got a lot of capacity rooms to grow there.

03:39We want to remove barriers to growing that.

03:42Nuclear I think has a huge runway.

03:45It's not grown in the United States for decades, but it could and it should.

03:49That is another reliable, affordable, dispatchable energy source, very well suited for AI.

03:55Coal.

03:56Coal is the largest source of electricity in the United States for decades and on the globe

04:02for a hundred years.

04:03And we've been dramatically shrinking our coal capacity when we want to grow our electricity

04:08generating capacity.

04:09That just makes no sense.

04:10Mr. Secretary, I agree with you.

04:12This is a race we can't afford to lose.

04:14You mentioned nuclear as being a key component.

04:17We've heard a lot about SMRs, small modular reactors.

04:20But I also want to talk more about large scale nuclear reactors.

04:23In my home state of Mississippi, we have the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Facility, which is

04:29the most powerful single unit nuclear power plant in the United States.

04:33It is also one of the most efficient and most reliable.

04:37The facility there that has operated that nuclear power facility has an existing early site permit

04:47that expires in 2027.

04:50So that permit, which existed for 20 years, will soon expire.

04:54They have indicated to me that they would like to renew that permit, but have also talked

04:59about that being cost prohibited, that it is projected to cost tens of millions of dollars

05:04just to renew a permit where there has been very little done.

05:08And so in my last few seconds here, can you talk about how important it is to cut red tape

05:13and to streamline the permitting process for projects such as that?

05:18Just central.

05:19Look, our nation became great.

05:21We have gorgeous buildings like the one we're in right now because before in America, we built big,

05:26grand things with a reasonable balance between being safe, being careful of the local environment,

05:32and making stuff happen.

05:33Now that balance has swung so far, it's easy to stop something, it's hard to do something.

05:39I am all in on trying to change that.

05:41You've got a great nuclear power plant with a fantastic operating record.

05:45It should be a quick audit of how it's working, what it's doing, and it should be easier and much cheaper

05:50to extend that permit and keep the plan operating.

05:53I am fully aligned with that objective.

05:55And thank you for raising it publicly.

05:57Thank you, Mr. Secretary and Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

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