Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming published an opinion piece in Cowboy State Daily, emphasizing the importance of Wyoming’s energy resources in supporting President Trump’s artificial intelligence (AI) initiative. According to Lummis, the initiative, launched in July, aims for American leadership in AI development, which she argues depends heavily on access to reliable and substantial energy supplies.
“The AI revolution is about raw computational power at an unprecedented scale. Training a recent AI model consumed over 50 gigawatt-hours, enough electricity to power 5,000 homes for a year. Today’s AI training clusters draw 100+ megawatts continuously, running 24/7, for months. That requires a lot of energy,” Lummis wrote.
She described discussions with Wyoming residents about the growth of data centers in the state and linked local energy production directly to national security concerns. “If we don’t power America’s AI with Wyoming energy, China will build their AI dominance on their coal instead. We can either build out our energy to power America’s future and get paid for it, or watch China use their energy to beat us,” she stated.
Lummis criticized previous Democratic administrations’ focus on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. She contrasted this with China’s continued investment in coal, natural gas, and nuclear power—energy sources she said are abundant in Wyoming. “The Chinese are not sabotaging their own technological capabilities with green energy nonsense. We shouldn’t either.”
She credited President Trump’s administration for reducing regulatory barriers that had affected Wyoming’s coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium industries: “Thank God we have President Trump back in the White House. His administration has spent months knocking down the regulatory roadblocks that Obama and Biden used to strangle Wyoming’s coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium industries.”
Citing statistics about Wyoming’s energy output—such as producing more coal than any other state and having significant reserves of natural gas and uranium—Lummis argued that these resources position the state as a critical player in U.S. efforts to compete technologically with China.
Lummis also shared her recent visit to Kemmerer coal mine where she met miners who expressed support for Trump’s policies: “For the first time in years, they’re hearing from an administration that actually respects what they do.”
She concluded by urging recognition of what she called “energy dominance” as essential for maintaining U.S. competitiveness: “We must unleash Wyoming energy to power America’s victory in the most important competition of our lifetime.”
