Rick Compton

ProPublica has a new investigation into the Trump administration’s push to open public lands to private AI data center development. And the financial connections are worth paying attention to. While these officials have financial connections to the industry, they’re also overseeing policies that could make its expansion easier. Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator, disclosed buying and selling shares in Datavault AI in May 2025. Zeldin’s EPA has proposed eliminating federal minimum public-notice and comment requirements for certain air pollution permits. That means states could decide whether communities even get an opportunity to weigh in on qualifying projects. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has between $18.1 million and $64.4 million invested in AI companies through Arthur Ventures, the investment firm he co-founded. He retained those financial interests when he joined the administration. Burgum, meanwhile, has met with representatives of Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet more than 20 times. He also attended a private dinner with UAE AI officials and investor Amos Hochstein before signing an AI cooperation agreement with the UAE. Here’s the scale of what’s happening: A USGS report identified 91.3 million acres of Interior-managed public land as potentially suitable for data centers. The BLM is reviewing approximately 15 data center applications and 17 associated infrastructure projects across six Western states. Steve Pearce, director of the Bureau of Land Management, has held investments in Nvidia, Meta, Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet. He also has an investment in Titan Development, which has managed land acquisitions for data centers in the Southwest. He pledged to divest many of his AI holdings, but not Titan. Michael Boren, USDA undersecretary overseeing the Forest Service, reported $1.5 million to $6.1 million in financial interests in Elon Musk’s xAI and up to $500,000 in Valar Atomics. Valar is pursuing a massive Utah data center project powered by more than 450 proposed small nuclear plants. And we still don’t know how much taxpayers will actually receive for allowing these private companies to use public land. Interior says the primary payment will be annual fair-market-value rent. ProPublica also found hundreds of administration appointees and their spouses have financial ties to major AI companies, including Nvidia, Alphabet and Meta. The officials involved say they are complying with federal ethics requirements. Doesn’t look like it. The overlap between personal financial interests, government policy and private development on public land raises some very legitimate questions. We can’t make it any clearer than we did on Tuesday. We don’t want this shit. We don’t care that your buddies and you want to make money. Stop it.