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Wright Visits the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Opens Federal Land to Data Center Development

April 4, 2025 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:02:22

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

CBS News Colorado reported on Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s visit to the state, in the report the Department of Energy uploaded. Wright, a Colorado native, came to announce a first-of-its-kind initiative opening certain federal land — including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Boulder campus — to private development of data centers and artificial intelligence, as the report described the initiative. In an interview with the station’s political reporter, Wright discussed the lab’s future and tariffs, according to the report.

The report said Wright suggested the post-tariff uncertainty is short-term pain for long-term gain, pointing to Israel immediately scrapping tariffs on U.S. goods as he noted the example. It said he expects shrinkage in expenditures across the government, including at the federally funded lab, and that research there will likely shift toward the explosive demand for electricity driven by data centers and AI, as the report summarized his remarks. Wright said he supports wind and solar but not subsidies for them, arguing energy systems should be driven by economics and by what delivers secure, affordable, reliable energy, as the report presented his position.

Wright also said the administration plans to incentivize more geothermal and nuclear energy alongside oil, gas and coal, and answered yes when asked whether nuclear reactors could come to Colorado — pointing to existing coal sites with electrical infrastructure and saying he had spoken with the governor, who was himself pushing a first step on nuclear, as the report recounted the exchange.

Why it matters

The Colorado visit shows the labs being repurposed in plain view — NREL’s own land offered for AI data centers, its research steered toward grid demand, and a sitting Democratic governor described as pushing nuclear alongside the Secretary.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright visits NREL in Colorado, from CBS News’s Shaun Boyd - April 3rd, 2025”, 2025-04-04 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-04-04). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.