Part 6: SO Angry!

I’ve explained the history of how these data center concerns came out, and a lot about electricity related to data centers and AI.  I haven’t gotten to water, sustainability, air quality, wildlife, and so many other things, but I had to stop to discuss this, and it’s BIG.

Jessica Craven came out with a video that came across my feed this morning, and I spent some time verifying it.  It is alarming, and I want everybody to pay attention and share this.  Hidden in the bowels of the Big Beautiful Bill that passed last year is legislation that allows enormous federal tax breaks to AI data centers to build in rural communities.

That would be bad in and of itself, but here’s what makes it so much worse.  In case you were unaware, our mayor, Greg Mills, is a district manager to our House representative, Gabe Evans.  On August 18th, we all showed up in big numbers (150+) to speak to Brighton City Council, including Greg Mills, about our concerns regarding data centers in Brighton.  9 days later, on August 27th, Representative Gabe Evans (who voted in favor of the Big Beautiful Bill) introduced legislation that is advancing through the House Energy and Commerce Committee.  It is called H.R. 10152 – Open-Source AI Leadership Act.

Equally alarming is the text of the bill that, in classic scare tactic fashion, tries to scare everybody into thinking “foreign adversaries” are going to beat us to it.  I invite you to read it.  It’s short and can be found here.

In part (bold letters are my highlights): 

SEC. 2. Adoption and use of qualified open models.

The Secretary shall take any of the following actions as appropriate to support the adoption and use of qualified open models in interstate and foreign commerce:

(1) Designate a single point of contact to coordinate any effort between the Department of Commerce, any relevant private sector entity, and any other relevant stakeholder to support the adoption and use of qualified open models.

(2) Review any relevant program or power of the Secretary related to the adoption and use of qualified open models and direct the head of any such program, as appropriate, to support such adoption and use.

(3) Identify any barrier to the adoption and use of qualified open models and take any action as appropriate to address any such barrier.

(4) Enter into agreements, as appropriate, to support the adoption and use of qualified open models with any of the following:

(A) A private sector entity, including a startup.

(B) An agency.

(C) A State.

(D) A qualified foreign partner.

(5) Develop policy and recommendations to facilitate the adoption and use of qualified open models.

(6) Identify any relevant evidence-based approach, best practice, framework, benchmark, or other method, as appropriate, to monitor the adoption and use of qualified open models and foreign adversary models.

In addition: Nothing in this Act may be construed to authorize the Secretary to ban, restrict, or otherwise make unavailable an open artificial intelligence model in interstate or foreign commerce. 

What concerns me just as much is there doesn’t seem to be any media coverage of this, an explanation of the implications, etc…  I don’t see anything within the bill on whether or not AI should be adopted, but the assumption is already made that this is a good thing.  Also, what the heck??  Single point of contact?  What does THAT mean???  Is that a new executive office?  And making AI agreements with startups?  WHAT?  And what does this actually cover from an energy and commerce subcommittee?

Gabe it quite proud of himself though.  He loves his scare tactics.  His website states (in part):

“The race for AI leadership is a race America cannot afford to lose. Communist China is working every day to outcompete us, steal American innovation, and expand its technological influence around the world. We should be making it easier for our nation’s innovators and startups to build, compete, and lead. This bill helps unleash American open-source AI while implementing common sense consumer protections [Note: this seems like an afterthought in the legislation and is not very clear] . It also creates safeguard to identify and counter national security threats from foreign adversaries. America built the technologies that changed the world, and we’re going to keep leading.” 

Gabe’s gotta go, and Greg needs to clarify where he stands in the middle of this federal/city issue.  The City of Brighton needs an immediate 5 year moratorium on data centers.  I attended the following city council meeting, 2 weeks after we all spoke (9/1).  Nothing was said about data centers by city council. We must all stand together and rise up!