Energy Dominance Strategy for AI & National Security

Energy addition, not transition, is required to power AI and human flourishing.

Global electricity demand is exploding—China alone is adding five “Americas” of capacity by 2040—so the U.S. must rapidly expand baseload supply to avoid losing the AI arms race.

Why: AI compute, robotics, and advanced manufacturing all scale linearly with available, stable electricity; intermittent renewables cannot provide the 24/7 baseload that dense compute loads demand.

"we're not in any kind of energy transition. We're in an area where we need energy addition."

American-produced molecules and electrons are cleaner, safer, and more ethical than those from adversaries.

Every unit of U.S. LNG or oil that displaces Russian or Iranian supply simultaneously reduces global emissions, defunds terrorism, and strengthens allies.

Why: Stricter U.S. environmental and safety standards yield lower methane leakage, fewer accidents, and less geopolitical rent for hostile regimes.

"if anybody is concerned about the environment, they should want to have every ounce of a liquid fuel and every electron produced in the United States."

Excessive federal permitting and overlapping state rules are the primary bottleneck to new energy supply.

Projects like Resolution Copper waited 29 years for permits; LNG pipelines blocked in New York force data centers to Pennsylvania; nuclear costs doubled by stick-built inspections.

Why: Capital flows to jurisdictions with predictable timelines; when permits become political veto points, investment and innovation migrate overseas.

"the regulatory attack was a whole of government... you came up with regulatory rules that made it impossible for baseload power from fossil fuels even get a permit."

America’s public lands and minerals are an $8–100 trillion untapped asset that can fund the national debt while creating jobs.

Interior already collects $22 B/year in royalties; a 1 % return on resource assets would yield $1 T/year—50× current performance.

Why: Leasing and royalty structures socialize upside, privatize risk, and convert inert acreage into cash flow for schools, roads, and coastal restoration.

"if Interior was a stand-alone company, it would have the largest balance sheet in the world by so far."

Grids require firm, dispatchable power; over-reliance on intermittent renewables causes blackouts.

Spain’s 100 % renewable day was followed by nationwide grid failure; Germany spent $500 B on “green” transition, now pays 3× for 20 % less electricity.

Why: Physics dictates that voltage and frequency stability need inertia and controllable fuel input; solar and wind are stochastic and storage at scale remains uneconomic.

"you cannot run an electrical grid with just intermittent power... intermittent is the definition of solar or wind."

Small modular reactors (SMRs) can be factory-built and daisy-chained to bypass transmission bottlenecks.

Design-once, manufacture-many cuts cost and time; micro-reactors can power remote bases or urban data centers without new transmission lines.

Why: Standardized manufacturing plus regulatory design certification shifts nuclear from bespoke megaprojects to scalable hardware.

"once that design gets approved, we should be able to have essentially like a manufacturing where we regulate the design... then we don't have to do the stick built."

Re-shoring mining and refining is a national-security imperative to break China’s mineral monopoly.

The U.S. graduates only ~200 mining engineers/year; China controls refining of cobalt, rare earths, and lithium; sovereign risk insurance can de-capitalize domestic projects.

Why: Defense systems, EVs, and AI hardware all depend on supply chains currently subject to Chinese export controls.

"we only graduate 200 people in degrees in mining today."

Societal risk perception is skewed—nuclear and self-driving tech are orders of magnitude safer than accepted norms.

Zero U.S. nuclear fatalities vs. 38,000 annual highway deaths; vending machines kill more Americans than nuclear plants.

Why: Misallocated fear stifles deployment of technologies that could save lives and reduce emissions.

"there's about 37 people that have died from getting angry at vending machines... I actually checked on this."