Western governors, gathered for a conference in Paradise Valley, concentrated on the need to grow the American energy industry dramatically to meet the nation’s exploding demand for electricity.
The theme of the Western Governors Association conference this year was “superabundance” — largely referring to energy industries. But much of the talks focused on the lack of energy to meet rising demand, largely created by AI data centers.
The discussion highlighted some differences in opinion between the governors and the Trump administration on how to best address that deficit.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican who chairs the association, said states need to take an all of the above approach that utilizes both new technologies and older ones, including nuclear power, in order to meet rising needs and ensure costs don’t skyrocket for average residents.
“What I love about this issue is that it is no longer a partisan issue,” said Cox, who was joined by Republican and Democratic western governors. “It's very much a bipartisan issue. We all know that we need more of everything right now, and we've got to figure out how to do that.”
In a keynote address, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Trump administration’s policies focus more on increasing energy output and less on regulating it or transitioning to different energy types of energy.
“The West is rooted in innovation and its innovation, not regulation, that’s led to American greatness,” Burgum said.
But the Trump administration has, so far, appeared to pick winners and losers with that approach, taking steps to incentivize more coal and gas production on federal lands while scaling back renewable energy projects, including cancelling a massive solar project on federal land in Nevada.
“We're going to go from something that was reliable to something that was dependent on the weather,” Burgum said. “OK, like we were heading towards a world where every light switch would have to have a sign that this may or may not work based on whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.”
Cox said he agreed with the Trump administration’s decision to cancel certain wind and renewable projects, arguing some cost too much money that could have been invested elsewhere.
But he acknowledged that solar projects, especially with battery storage that can be used any time of the day, should be part of the country’s energy mix.
And he said the changing priorities from coming from the White House aren’t helping address states’ energy needs.
“I think the pendulum swinging from one administration to another isn't great,” Cox said. “The last administration was shutting down projects that needed to move forward, and so now we have a different set of ideas. What we're looking for is just stability and certainty.”
Burgum and the governors did agree that the U.S. is in an artificial intelligence arms race against countries like China, and growing the domestic energy industry is critical to winning.
“Electricity can run a light bulb. It changed the world,” Burgum said. “But now electricity can be converted directly into intelligence.”
And that will drive massive demand. Lisa Tiffin with the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, told the governors that there are 7.2 gigawatts of requests in the pipeline for her member utilities.
Another speaker said a single future project in Wyoming could use up to 10 gigawatts of energy.
“So I just want, again, to put that into perspective, the entire state of Wyoming runs on less than a gigawatt of power right now,” Cox said.
Burgum emphasized the need for the U.S. to continue mining and extracting oil internally rather than relying on other countries.
“We’re building a club of nations that's saying we’re not going to be held hostage to one nation,” Burgum said, referring to China.
As for environmental regulation, Burgum said he’s still in favor of protecting the environment. But he argues the country can protect it and produce more at the same time.
It’s more damaging for the environment, Burgum said, if U.S. states like California purchase oil from the Middle East or Asia where there may be fewer environmental regulations and the carbon footprint attached to the goods is higher because it has to be shipped across the world.
He criticized environmental regulations under the Biden administration for being too restrictive and tied those policies to Biden’s loss to Trump.
“There’s a reason why every major tech company leader was standing at the inauguration last year,” Burgum said. “They had to agree with one thing; is this going to be the team that’s for energy transition or is this going to be the team that’s for energy subtraction? Because ‘energy transition’ as was being defined by the prior administration was actually energy subtraction.”
The Farm Bill
Western governors want the federal government to reauthorize the federal Farm Bill for five years, rather than extending it, as they have recently, on an annual basis.
At a panel discussion, representatives of the fire, forestry and agriculture industries in western states urged governors to communicate with House Speaker Mike Johnson about the importance of reauthorization.
The Farm Bill is a wide-ranging agricultural law last reauthorized in 2018. According to rural farming advocates, that makes it outdated to the point of being inadequate for agricultural producers.
The Farm Bill includes several rural development funding programs, but eligibility for those programs is population based.
Rural County Representatives of California Chair Geri Byrne said the population caps need to be higher so the funding is more accessible.
She also said it’s urgent that the Farm Bill needs to be updated to account for inflation.
She and other panelists indicated there’s plenty of support to pass a reauthorization if Congress agrees to put the matter up for a vote.
“It seems like the support is there but it’s being piecemealed,” Byrne said.
“That’s the problem with piecemealing, right? Then they lose their coalitions,” Cox added.
Cavalier County, North Dakota Commissioner Stanley Dick told the western governors the federal government doesn’t appear to want a more permanent farming policy in place, since they chose to extend the Farm Bill this month once again, rather than reauthorizing it.
“I’m not real sure this administration wants a five-year farm bill. They like, in my mind, they like to a certain extent chaos. They like short term things where they can move quickly from one thing to another,” Dick said.
Across the United States, the agricultural industry is in dire straits. Young people aren’t entering the industry and the price of farming has increased significantly over the past few decades.
“There are more active farmers 75 years and older than 35 years and younger,” Dick said. “That means we’re heading towards a cliff rapidly.”
The Farm Bill is a huge piece of the agriculture industry, but it also affects other things like forestry.
The short-term extensions of the Farm Bill also make it harder to secure money for contracts, Idaho Gov. Brad Little said.
“They are not gonna invest in a sawmill if they think it's predicated on a four-year rolling cycle of farm bills. We have to have this long term supply,” Little said.
Little says long term contracts are better for financial security and ultimately for forest health.
All the panelists spoke in favor of keeping the Farm Bill’s Good Neighbor Authority, known as the GNA, which is a provision that allows state and local governments to do projects on federal agencies.
A key part of the GNA is that states can retain the receipts from things like timber sales and use them to fund other projects on non-federal land. For example, Arizona could participate in a GNA project and use the receipts to invest in mitigating wildfire risk by Flagstaff.
Republican Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said the states should be allowed to manage much more of national forests.
“We have a forest health crisis because we’ve been unable to really get in and get the work done to improve habitat,” he said.
The Colorado River water negotiations
The WGA conference takes place as basin states who rely on Colorado River water are engaged in an ongoing battle over who will have to make cuts to their water use.
Lower basin states, like Arizona, are offering to make cuts, but want upper basin states like Utah to do the same.
Cox said he still thinks the states can come to a solution on their own, without the federal government stepping in.
“What matters is that I don't really think that any of us really want the federal government or a judge to make the ultimate decision, that it's better if we do that together, and I'm confident that we’ll get there,” he said.
The basin states were supposed to come up with a new river agreement by Nov. 11, but the deadline passed without a deal.
Hobbs has taken a different tone and repeatedly urged the Trump administration to exert its influence in negotiations.
The states are now approaching a Feb. 14 deadline to come to an agreement. If the states still can’t agree on a water use deal, the federal government is expected to take control and force their own plan on the states.
Burgum is a key figure on the federal side of river talks and appeared at the conference. He noted that he and Hobbs discussed the matter. But Burgum didn’t elaborate on his position and didn’t take questions from reporters.
“Both times I’ve been here [in Arizona] it’s rained, so I’m just going to keep coming back,” Burgum joked.
Health care
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also spoke at the meeting. He spent much of that time rehashing his regular talking points about combatting chronic disease and processed food additives.
He called chronic disease the “most existential threat” facing the country.
“And malpractice at my agencies is that we cannot definitively define what it is, because they haven't been doing their jobs,” said Kennedy, who previously blamed poor diet, environmental toxins and other factors for chronic disease in kids. Critics say major efforts to research and respond to chronic disease have also been cut on Kennedy’s watch.
Kennedy also spent some of his time responding to Democratic Hawaii Gov. Josh Green’s concerns about Kennedy’s vaccine policies as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revived a debunked theory linking vaccines to autism.
Green, a doctor, said fights over vaccine policies amongst officials are undermining public confidence.
“Just that doubt, if it drops us 10% or 15%, could cause real damage that we never intended or could cause policy change de facto, because people see us fighting and they see us unable to execute the policy that has to be out there,” Green said.
RFK Jr. defended his positions, claiming he is only trying to ensure Americans make informed decisions about vaccines. He said he wants to, “allow people to make individual choices about what their schedule is, what is best for their health, for their children's health.”
Green initially said the governors were most interested in hearing about the Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion fund the Republican tax cut and funding bill dedicated to rural hospitals.
States will find out at the end of this year how much they’re being awarded.
Green said early in the day that Kennedy’s presence provides an opportunity for the state leaders to make their cases for grant funding, which the governors hope their states can use to backfill incoming Medicaid cuts.
But Kennedy offered little in the way of clarity about the fund, only saying the state's applications for the money are currently going through an independent review.
“The applications are, for the most part, extraordinary,” he said. “And it's an independent review process that is supposed to be free of any kind of political manipulation or pressure, and so I kind of have to maintain my distance from it.”
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