Data Centers and the Oil Industry

Dear Editor,

The data center infrastructure bubble just somehow inflated again; and if you thought the oil and gas companies were going to be left for dead thanks to booming renewable energy generation - here they come again, rising like zombies from the grave.

A Reuters article published 10/27/25 reports SLB, Baker Hughes, and Halliburton - a murderer's row of oilfield contractors, cronies to the oil major robber barons - plan to expand into the data center space. Gas turbines, power equipment, utility systems and more, all provided by these companies to support the massive energy needs of these projects.

Of course, why wouldn't you? Data centers are being proposed and built at a rapid clip, environmental regulations and risks be damned, so naturally companies that already have built a legacy from environmental exploitation will jump on the bandwagon.  The question then becomes for us, the common citizen - how much more exploitation will be allow before we push back? How many more millions of gallons of water and acres of land will be sacrificed before we push back on these development plans?

The gas, oil, and coal industry is dying a slow death at the hands of cheaper, greener electricity sources - don't let this overhyped AI bust allow these legacy industries to keep fouling our planet.

Sincerely,

Nathan Dombeck

Janesville, WI