The Dec. 28 article, “Energy-hungry AI firms bet on moonshot technologies,” points out that a single AI data center “often requires an entire city’s worth of energy.” Furthermore, by 2030, data centers “are projected to consume as much as 17% of all U.S. electricity,” competing with residential power needs. Ohio currently has 172 data centers, per datacentermap.com, with plans to significantly grow the number.

Meanwhile, Ohio suffered what may be its hottest year ever recorded, a severe drought and a record-breaking 74 tornadoes last year. These climate disasters are being driven by emissions from using fossil fuels to generate our electricity.

So, how do we generate the additional power required to feed the data centers, keep prices down for residential power customers and stop polluting our atmosphere?

The answer, of course, is the use of renewable energy. But many renewable energy projects are being delayed years due to all the bureaucratic federal requirements in place to obtain construction permits.

We need bipartisan agreement on permitting reform like the Energy Permitting Reform Act introduced in the last Congress. Please contact Sen. JD Vance and incoming Sen. Bernie Moreno and your representative and ask them to support federal energy-permitting reform.

Gary T. Seng,

Olmsted Township