Presidential Documents

5469 

Federal Register 

Vol. 90, No. 11 

Friday, January 17, 2025 

Title 3— 

The President 

Executive Order 14141 of January 14, 2025 

Advancing United States Leadership in Artificial Intelligence 

Infrastructure 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the 

laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: 

Section 1. Purpose. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a defining technology of 

our era. Recent advancements in AI demonstrate its rapidly growing relevance 

to national security, including with respect to logistics, military capabilities, 

intelligence analysis, and cybersecurity. Building AI in the United States 

will help prevent adversaries from gaining access to, and using, powerful 

future systems to the detriment of our military and national security. It 

will also enable the United States Government to continue harnessing AI 

in service of national-security missions while preventing the United States 

from becoming dependent on other countries’ infrastructure to develop and 

operate powerful AI tools. 

Advances at the frontier of AI will also have significant implications for 

United States economic competitiveness. These imperatives require building 

AI infrastructure in the United States on the time frame needed to ensure 

United States leadership over competitors who, already, are racing to take 

the lead in AI development and adoption. Building AI in the United States 

requires enormous private-sector investments in infrastructure, especially 

for the advanced computing clusters needed to train AI models and the 

energy infrastructure needed to power this work. Already, AI’s electricity 

and computational needs are vast, and they are set to surge in the years 

ahead. This work also requires secure, reliable supply chains for critical 

components needed to build AI infrastructure, from construction materials 

to advanced electronics. 

This order sets our Nation on the path to ensure that future frontier AI 

can, and will, continue to be built here in the United States. In building 

domestic AI infrastructure, our Nation will also advance its leadership in 

the clean energy technologies needed to power the future economy, including 

geothermal, solar, wind, and nuclear energy; foster a vibrant, competitive, 

and open technology ecosystem in the United States, in which small companies can compete alongside large ones; maintain low consumer electricity 

prices; and help ensure that the development of AI infrastructure benefits 

the workers building it and communities near it. 

With this order, I provide a plan for protecting national security, preserving 

our economic competitiveness, revitalizing our energy infrastructure, and 

ensuring United States leadership in AI. 

Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to enable the development 

and operation of AI infrastructure, including data centers, in the United 

States in accordance with five guiding principles. When undertaking the 

actions set forth in this order, executive departments and agencies (agencies) 

shall adhere to these principles, as appropriate and consistent with applicable 

law: 

(a) The development of AI infrastructure should advance United States 

national security and leadership in AI. Meeting this goal will require steps 

by the Federal Government, in collaboration with the private sector, to 

advance AI development and use AI for future national-security missions, 

including through the work described in National Security Memorandum 

25 of October 24, 2024 (Advancing the United States’ Leadership in Artificial 


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Intelligence; Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Fulfill National Security 

Objectives; and Fostering the Safety, Security, and Trustworthiness of Artificial Intelligence) (NSM–25). It will also require the use of safeguards to 

improve the cyber, supply-chain, and physical security of the laboratories 

at which powerful AI is developed, stored, and used. Additionally, protecting 

United States national security will require further work to evaluate and 

manage risks related to the powerful capabilities that future frontier AI 

may possess. 

(b) The development of AI infrastructure should advance United States 

economic competitiveness, including by fostering a vibrant technology ecosystem. Already, AI is creating new jobs and industries, and its effects 

are being felt in sectors across the economy. The Federal Government must 

ensure that the United States remains competitive in the global economy, 

including through harnessing the benefits of this technology for all Americans. It must also promote a fair, open, and competitive AI ecosystem 

so that small developers and entrepreneurs can continue to drive innovation—a priority highlighted in both Executive Order 14110 of October 30, 

2023 (Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial 

Intelligence), and NSM–25—as well as to support secure, reliable supplychain infrastructure for AI activities. 

(c) The United States can and should lead the world in operating the 

next generation of AI data centers with clean power. Meeting this goal 

will require building on recent successes to modernize our Nation’s energy 

infrastructure; improve permitting processes; and support investments in, 

and expeditious development of, both currently available and emerging clean 

energy technologies, such as geothermal energy, nuclear energy, and longduration energy storage used to store clean energy, as well as relevant 

supply chains. The United States must not be surpassed in its support 

for the development, commercialization, and operation of clean energy technologies at home and abroad, and the rapid buildout of AI infrastructure 

offers another vital opportunity to accelerate and deploy these energy technologies. To help ensure that new data center electricity demand does not 

take clean power away from other end users, result in resource adequacy 

issues, or increase grid emissions, the construction of AI infrastructure must 

be matched with new, clean electricity generation resources. 

(d) The development of AI infrastructure should proceed without raising 

energy costs for American consumers and businesses, and it should have 

strong community support. The companies developing, commercializing, and 

deploying AI must finance the cost of building the infrastructure needed 

for AI operations, including the development of next-generation power infrastructure built for these operations. 

(e) The development of AI infrastructure should benefit those working 

to build it. Meeting this goal will require high labor standards and safeguards 

for the buildout of AI infrastructure, consultation and close collaboration 

with communities affected by this infrastructure’s development and operation, and continuous work to mitigate risks and potential harms. The American people more broadly must safely enjoy the gains and opportunities 

from technological innovation in the AI ecosystem. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. For purposes of this order: 

(a) The term ‘‘agency’’ means each agency described in 44 U.S.C. 3502(1), 

except for the independent regulatory agencies described in 44 U.S.C. 3502(5). 

(b) The term ‘‘AI data center’’ means a data center used primarily with 

respect to developing or operating AI. 

(c) The term ‘‘AI infrastructure’’ refers collectively to AI data centers, 

generation and storage resources procured to deliver electrical energy to 

data centers, and transmission facilities developed or upgraded for the same 

purpose. 


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(d) The term ‘‘AI model’’ means a component of an information system 

that implements AI technology and uses computational, statistical, or machine-learning techniques to produce outputs from a given set of inputs. 

(e) The term ‘‘clean energy’’ or ‘‘clean energy generation resources’’ means 

generation resources that produce few or no emissions of carbon dioxide 

during operation, including when paired with clean storage technologies. 

This term includes geothermal, nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, solar, wind, 

hydroelectric, hydrokinetic (including tidal, wave, and current), and marine 

energy; and carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies (for which 

the carbon capture equipment meets the definition set forth in 26 C.F.R. 

1.45Q–2(c)) that operate with fossil fuel generation resources, that achieve 

carbon dioxide capture rates of 90 percent or higher on an annual basis, 

and that permanently sequester the captured carbon dioxide. 

(f) The term ‘‘clean power’’ means electricity generated by the generation 

resources described in subsection (e) of this section. 

(g) The term ‘‘clean repowering’’ means the practice of siting new clean 

generation sources at a site with an existing point of interconnection and 

generation sources operating with fossil fuels, such that some output or 

capacity from existing generation sources is replaced by the new clean 

generation sources. 

(h) The term ‘‘critical electric infrastructure information’’ has the same 

meaning as set forth in 18 C.F.R. 388.113(c). 

(i) The term ‘‘data center’’ means a facility used to store, manage, process, 

and disseminate electronic information for a computer network, and it includes any facility that is composed of one or more permanent or semipermanent structures, or that is a dedicated space within such structure, 

and operates persistently in a fixed location; that is used for the housing 

of information technology equipment, including servers, mainframe computers, high-performance computing devices, or data-storage devices; and 

that is actively used for the hosting of information and information systems 

that are accessed by other systems or by users on other devices. 

(j) The term ‘‘distributed energy resource’’ has the same meaning as set 

forth in 18 C.F.R. 35.28(b)(10). 

(k) The term ‘‘Federal Permitting Agencies’’ refers to the agency members 

of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) 

established under section 41002 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, 42 U.S.C. 4370m–1, as well as any other agency with 

authority to issue a Federal permit or approval required for the development 

or operation of AI infrastructure. 

(l) The term ‘‘Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program’’ refers 

to the program established to provide an approach for the adoption and 

use of cloud services by the Federal Government, as codified in 44 U.S.C. 

3607–3616 (as enacted by the FedRAMP Authorization Act, section 5921 

of Public Law 117–263). 

(m) The term ‘‘frontier AI data center’’ means an AI data center capable 

of being used to develop, within a reasonable time frame, an AI model 

with characteristics related either to performance or to the computational 

resources used in its development that approximately match or surpass 

the state of the art at the time of the AI model’s development. 

(n) The term ‘‘frontier AI infrastructure’’ means AI infrastructure for which 

the relevant data center is a frontier AI data center. 

(o) The term ‘‘frontier AI training’’ refers to the act of developing an 

AI model with characteristics related either to performance or to the computational resources used in its development that approximately match or surpass 

the state of the art at the time of the AI model’s development. 

(p) The term ‘‘generation resource’’ means a facility that produces electricity. 


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(q) The terms ‘‘interconnection,’’ ‘‘interconnection facilities,’’ and ‘‘point 

of interconnection’’ refer to facilities and equipment that physically and 

electrically connect generation resources or electrical load to the electric 

grid for the purpose of the delivery of electricity, for which grid operators 

have granted all appropriate approvals required for those facilities and equipment to operate. 

(r) The term ‘‘lab-security measures’’ refers to steps to detect, prevent, 

or mitigate physical, cyber, or other threats to the operation of a data 

center, to the integrity of information or other assets stored within it, or 

of unauthorized access to such information or assets. 

(s) The term ‘‘leading-edge logic semiconductors’’ refers to semiconductors 

produced at high volumes using extreme ultraviolet lithography tools as 

defined by the CHIPS Incentives Program Notice of Funding Opportunity, 

2023–NIST–CHIPS–CFF–01. 

(t) The term ‘‘model weight’’ means a numerical parameter within an 

AI model that helps determine the model’s outputs in response to inputs. 

(u) The term ‘‘new source review’’ refers to the permitting program with 

this name in 40 C.F.R. parts 51 or 52. 

(v) The term ‘‘non-Federal parties’’ refers to private-sector entities that 

enter into a contract with the Department of Defense or the Department 

of Energy pursuant to section 4(g) of this order. 

(w) The term ‘‘priority geothermal zone’’ refers to lands with high potential 

for the development of geothermal power generation resources, as designated 

by the Secretary of the Interior, including pursuant to section 4(c) of this 

order. 

(x) The term ‘‘project labor agreement’’ means a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement that establishes the terms and conditions of a construction 

project. 

(y) The term ‘‘surplus interconnection service’’ has the same meaning 

as set forth in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order No. 845. 

(z) The terms ‘‘transmission facilities’’ and ‘‘transmission infrastructure’’ 

mean equipment or structures, including transmission lines and related facilities, used for the purpose of delivering electricity. 

(aa) The term ‘‘transmission organization’’ refers to a Regional Transmission 

Organization or an Independent System Operator. 

(bb) The term ‘‘transmission provider’’ means an entity that manages or 

operates transmission facilities for the delivery of electric energy used primarily by the public and that is not a transmission organization. 

(cc) The term ‘‘waters of the United States’’ has the same meaning as 

set forth in 33 C.F.R. 328.3(a). 

Sec. 4. Establishing Federal Sites for AI Infrastructure. (a) By February 

28, 2025, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy shall, if 

possible, each identify a minimum of 3 sites on Federal land managed 

by their respective agencies that may be suitable for the agencies to lease 

to non-Federal entities for the construction and operation of a frontier AI 

data center, as well as for the construction and operation of clean energy 

facilities to serve the data center, by the end of 2027. In identifying these 

sites, each Secretary shall, as feasible and appropriate, seek to prioritize 

sites that possess the following characteristics, as consistent with the objective of fully permitting and approving work to construct a frontier AI data 

center at each site by the end of 2025: 

(i) inclusion of sufficient terrain with appropriate land gradients, soil 

durability, and other topographical characteristics for frontier AI data centers; 

(ii) minimized adverse effects from AI infrastructure development or operation on local communities’ health, wellbeing, and resource access; natural 


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or cultural resources; threatened or endangered species; and harbors or 

river improvements not associated with hydropower generation resources; 

(iii) proximity to any communities seeking to host AI infrastructure, including for reasons related to local workers’ access to jobs involved in designing, building, maintaining, and operating data centers; 

(iv) ready access and proximity to high-voltage transmission infrastructure 

that minimizes the scale of, cost of, and timeline to develop any transmission upgrades or development needed to interconnect AI infrastructure, 

in consideration of access and proximity to: 

(A) high-capacity transmission infrastructure with unused capacity, as 

identified by collection activities described in section 6 of this order; 

(B) any planned generation facilities that can enable delivery of electricity to an AI data center on the site managed by each Secretary’s 

respective agency, that possess an executed interconnection agreement 

with a transmission provider, that do not possess an executed power 

purchase agreement, and for which construction has not yet begun; 

(C) any lands that the Secretary of the Interior identifies pursuant to 

subsection (c) of this section; and 

(D) any power generation facilities with high clean repowering potential; 

(v) location within geographic areas that are not at risk of persistently 

failing to attain National Ambient Air Quality Standards, and where the 

total cancer risk from air pollution is at or below the national average 

according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) 2020 

AirToxScreen; 

(vi) lack of proximity to waters of the United States for purposes of 

permitting requirements; 

(vii) lack of extensive restrictions on land uses associated with constructing 

and operating AI infrastructure or on access to necessary rights-of-way 

for such activities; 

(viii) ready access to high-capacity telecommunications networks; 

(ix) suitability for the development of access roads or other temporary 

infrastructure necessary for the construction of AI infrastructure; and 

(x) absence of other characteristics that would, if the site was used or 

repurposed for AI infrastructure, compromise a competing national security 

concern as determined by the relevant Secretary in consultation with 

the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. 

(b) By March 15, 2025, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 

Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in consultation with 

the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, and the Chair of the 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, shall identify sites managed by BLM 

that the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of BLM, deems 

may be suitable for granting or issuing rights of way to private-sector entities 

to construct and operate additional clean energy facilities that are being 

or may be built as components of frontier AI infrastructure developed pursuant to this section. In performing this work, the Secretary of the Interior, 

in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy, 

shall take steps to ensure where feasible and appropriate that any such 

sites identified under this subsection include sufficient acreage for developing 

clean generation resources that can deliver sufficient electricity to each 

site identified under subsection (a) of this section for matching the capacity 

needs of frontier AI data centers on the latter sites. The sites identified 

under this subsection shall include any land managed by the Department 

of the Interior that is within a region designated by the Secretary of the 

Interior under subsection (c) of this section, or a region preliminarily identified as a candidate for such designation. In determining the suitability 

of sites, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of BLM, 

shall prioritize identification of sites that: 


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(i) contain completed, permitted, or planned clean generation projects 

that can enable delivery of electricity as described in this subsection 

and possess an executed interconnection agreement with a transmission 

provider; 

(ii) have been allocated as available for solar applications in the Final 

Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Resource 

Management Plan Amendments for Utility-Scale Solar Energy Development, 

published by BLM, or that have otherwise been allocated as available 

for clean-energy applications in a BLM resource management plan; 

(iii) have reasonable access to and are located nearby existing high-voltage 

transmission lines that have at least one gigawatt of additional capacity 

available, or for which such capacity can be reasonably developed through 

reconductoring, grid-enhancing technologies, or transmission upgrades; 

(iv) possess the characteristics described in subsections (a)(i)–(x) of this 

section, in a manner that is consistent with the objective of fully permitting 

and approving work to construct utility-scale power facilities on a timeline 

that allows for the operation of those facilities by the end of 2027 or 

as soon as feasible thereafter; and 

(v) possess other characteristics conducive to enabling new clean power 

development at such sites to contribute to lower regional electricity prices 

or to bring other community benefits. 

(c) By March 15, 2025, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 

Director of BLM and in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall, 

if possible, designate at least five regions composed of lands or subsurface 

areas managed by the Department of the Interior as Priority Geothermal 

Zones (PGZs). The Secretary of the Interior shall designate those regions 

based on their potential for geothermal power generation resources, including 

hydrothermal and next-generation geothermal power and thermal storage; 

diversity of geological characteristics; and possession of the characteristics 

described in subsections (a)(i)–(x) and (b)(i)–(v) of this section. 

(d) The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, and the Secretary 

of the Interior shall each make a legal determination as to whether each 

site identified pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) of this section is available 

for lease or for the issuance of a right of way, as appropriate, pursuant 

to the authority of the Secretary that made the identification, and as to 

whether the Secretary has the legal authority to lease or grant a right of 

way over or upon each site identified for the construction of frontier AI 

infrastructure. For purposes of this order, a site shall be considered ‘‘cleared’’ 

under this subsection if the relevant Secretary has determined that the 

site is available for lease and the Secretary concerned has the authority 

to lease it. 

(e) By March 31, 2025, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 

Energy, in coordination with the heads of any other agencies that either 

Secretary deems appropriate, shall coordinate to design, launch, and administer competitive public solicitations of proposals from non-Federal entities 

to lease Federal land to construct frontier AI infrastructure, including frontier 

AI data centers, on sites identified under subsection (a) of this section 

and cleared under subsection (d) of this section, if any. When issuing the 

solicitations, the Secretaries shall announce the sites identified under subsection (a) of this section and cleared under subsection (d) of this section, 

if any, and additional relevant information including the sites’ geographic 

coordinates, technical characteristics, proximity to sites identified consistent 

with subsection (b) of this section and cleared under subsection (d) of 

this section, if any, and other relevant information. The solicitations shall, 

to the extent consistent with applicable law and to the extent the Secretaries 

agree that such requirements promote national defense, national security, 

or the public interest, as appropriate, require applicants to identify particular 

sites on which they propose to construct and operate frontier AI infrastructure; submit a detailed plan specifying proposed timelines, financing methods, and technical construction plans associated with such construction 


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work, including a contingency plan for decommissioning infrastructure on 

Federal sites; submit a plan that describes proposed frontier AI training 

work to occur at the site once operational; submit a plan for detailing 

the extent of the use of high labor and construction standards as described 

in subsection (g)(viii) of this section; and submit a plan with proposed 

lab-security measures, including personnel and material access requirements, 

that could be associated with the operation of frontier AI infrastructure. 

These requirements should be designed to ensure adequate collection of 

information from applicants regarding the criteria in subsections (g)(i)–(xvi) 

of this section. The solicitations shall close within 30 days of their issuance. 

(f) By March 31, 2025, the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with 

the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy, shall publicize the 

sites identified under subsection (b) of this section and cleared under subsection (d) of this section, if any, and additional relevant information including the sites’ geographic coordinates, technical characteristics, proximity 

to sites identified consistent with subsection (a) of this section and cleared 

under subsection (d) of this section, if any, and other relevant information. 

(g) By June 30, 2025, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy 

shall announce any winning proposals identified through solicitations described in subsection (e) of this section. In selecting any winning proposals, 

the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy shall, in consultation 

with each other, assign winners the opportunity to apply for any Federal 

permits needed to build and operate frontier AI infrastructure pursuant 

to the frameworks described in subsection (h) of this section on any sites 

included in the solicitations issued under subsection (e) of this section, 

as the Secretaries deem appropriate. The Secretaries shall consult with the 

Attorney General on the implications of selections on the competition and 

market-structure characteristics of the broader AI ecosystem. The Chair of 

the Federal Trade Commission is encouraged to participate in these consultations. The Secretaries shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law 

and to the extent that the Secretaries assess that the requirement promotes 

national defense, national security, or the public interest, as appropriate, 

select at least one proposal developed and submitted jointly by a consortium 

of two or more small- or medium-sized organizations—as determined by 

those organizations’ market capitalization, revenues, or similar characteristics—provided that the Secretaries receive at least one such proposal that 

meets the appropriate qualifications. The Secretaries shall provide technical 

assistance, as appropriate, to small- or medium-sized organizations seeking 

to submit proposals. The criteria for selecting winning proposals shall include, at a minimum, consideration of the following characteristics of the 

applicants and any identified partner organizations, to the extent consistent 

with applicable law and to the extent that the Secretaries agree that the 

listed characteristics promote national defense, national security, or the public interest, as appropriate: 

(i) proposed financing mechanisms and sources of funds secured or likely 

to be secured for work to be performed at the site; 

(ii) plans for ensuring high-quality AI training operations to be executed 

at the site by the applicant or third-party partners; 

(iii) plans for maximizing energy, water, and other resource efficiency, 

including waste-heat utilization in constructing and operating the AI data 

center at the site, the strength of the proposed energy master plan for 

the site, and the quality of analysis of potential strains on local communities; 

(iv) safety and security measures, including cybersecurity measures, proposed to be implemented at the site, and capabilities for such implementation; 

(v) capabilities and acumen of applicable AI scientists, engineers, and 

other workforce essential to the operation of AI infrastructure; 


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(vi) plans for commercializing or otherwise deploying or advancing deployment of appropriate intellectual property, including AI model weights, 

developed at the site, as well as plans for commercializing or otherwise 

deploying or advancing deployment of innovations related to power generation and transmission infrastructure developed in the course of building 

or operating AI infrastructure; 

(vii) plans to help ensure that the construction and operation of AI infrastructure does not increase electricity costs to other ratepayers or water 

costs to consumers, including, as appropriate, through appropriate proposed or recommended future engagement with any applicable regulatory 

authorities and State, Tribal, or local governments; 

(viii) plans to use high labor standards that help ensure continuous and 

high-quality work performed on the site, such as paying prevailing wages; 

hiring registered apprentices; promoting positive labor-management relations through a project labor agreement; and otherwise adopting high 

job quality and labor standards for the construction and operations workforce as set forth in Executive Order 14126 of September 6, 2024 (Investing 

in America and Investing in American Workers), and a plan to address 

labor-related risks associated with the development and use of AI; 

(ix) design features and operational controls and plans that mitigate potential environmental effects and implement strong community health, public 

safety, and environmental protection measures; 

(x) other benefits to the community and electric grid infrastructure surrounding the site; 

(xi) experience completing comparable construction projects; 

(xii) experience in compliance with Federal, State, and local permits and 

environmental reviews relevant to construction and operation of AI infrastructure or, in the alternative, other evidence of an ability to obtain 

and comply with such permits or reviews in an efficient manner; 

(xiii) the presence of organizational and management structures to help 

ensure sound governance of work performed at the site; 

(xiv) the effect of the selection of an applicant on the emergence of 

an interoperable, competitive AI ecosystem; 

(xv) whether an applicant has already been assigned an opportunity, or 

is being assigned another opportunity, to build a frontier AI data center 

on a Federal site through the solicitation process described in this section; 

and 

(xvi) other considerations of national defense, national security, or the 

public interest, including economic security, as the Secretary of Defense 

and the Secretary of Energy deem appropriate. 

(h) By June 30, 2025, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy, 

in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, shall each develop a 

framework through which any winning applicants selected under subsection 

(g) of this section may apply to lease sites respectively identified under 

subsection (a) of this section, and cleared under subsection (d) of this 

section, to construct and operate AI infrastructure, and by which the applicants may own the AI infrastructure facilities on those sites, subject to 

the conditions described in subsections (i)–(x) of this subsection. To the 

extent that the Secretaries assess that it is consistent with national defense, 

national security, or the public interest, as appropriate, these frameworks 

shall allow for winning applicants to cooperate with other appropriate private-sector entities on construction and operation activities, including 

through contracting and subcontracting relationships, and the frameworks 

shall not require that parties proposing to own AI infrastructure be identical 

to those proposing to operate the infrastructure or perform work at the 

sites on which the infrastructure is located. Actions taken by Federal entities 

pursuant to the frameworks shall conform to any applicable requirements 

of Appendix B of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A– 


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11 and any other appropriate budget-scoring practices; applicable in-kind 

consideration shall be taken into account in calculating the cost to lessees 

of any such leases. As part of the foregoing work, the Secretary of Defense 

and the Secretary of Energy shall, to the extent consistent with their respective authorities and with national defense, national security, or the public 

interest, as appropriate, require lease or contract terms that accomplish 

the following: 

(i) establish a target of the applicant’s beginning construction of a frontier 

AI data center by January 1, 2026, and commencing full-capacity operation 

of the AI infrastructure by December 31, 2027, subject to fulfillment of 

relevant statutory and regulatory requirements, and in a manner consistent 

with opportunities to operate the infrastructure at or below full capacity 

at an earlier date; 

(ii) require that, concurrent with operating a frontier AI data center on 

a Federal site, non-Federal parties constructing, owning, or operating AI 

infrastructure have procured sufficient new clean power generation resources with capacity value to meet the frontier AI data center’s planned 

electricity needs, including by providing power that matches the data 

center’s timing of electricity use on an hourly basis and is deliverable 

to the data center; 

(iii) clarify that non-Federal parties bear all responsibility for paying any 

costs that parties to the frameworks described in subsection (h) of this 

section, as well as transmission providers or transmission organizations 

or other entities not party to the contract, incur from work pursuant 

to it, including costs of work performed by agencies to complete necessary 

environmental reviews, any costs related to the procurement of clean 

power generation resources and capacity in accordance with subsection 

(g)(ii) of this section, any costs of decommissioning AI infrastructure on 

Federal sites, any costs of developing transmission infrastructure needed 

to serve a frontier AI data center on a Federal site, and the fair market 

value of leasing and using applicable Federal lands; 

(iv) require adherence to technical standards and guidelines for cyber, 

supply-chain, and physical security for protecting and controlling any 

facilities, equipment, devices, systems, data, and other property, including 

AI model weights, that are developed, acquired, modified, used, or stored 

at the site or in the course of work performed on the site. The Secretary 

of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Director of the AI Safety Institute 

(AISI) at NIST, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary 

of Energy, and the Director of National Intelligence, shall identify available 

standards and guidelines to which adherence shall be required under 

this subsection. The identified standards should reflect and incorporate 

guidelines and best practices developed by the Secretary of Commerce, 

acting through the Director of NIST, pursuant to Executive Order 14028 

of May 12, 2021 (Enhancing United States Cybersecurity), and Executive 

Order 14110 of November 1, 2023 (Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence). The Secretary of Commerce, acting 

through the Director of AISI at NIST, shall support the ongoing improvement of the framework described in this subsection by developing security 

guidelines for frontier AI training and operation and, as part of this work, 

shall comprehensively evaluate the security implications of publicly available AI models that the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director 

of AISI at NIST, deems globally significant; 

(v) require that non-Federal parties owning or operating frontier AI data 

centers sign a memorandum of understanding with the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of AISI at NIST, to facilitate collaborative 

research and evaluations on AI models developed, acquired, modified, 

run, or stored at the site or in the course of work performed on the 

site, for the purpose of assessing the national-security or other significant 

risks of those models; 


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(vi) require non-Federal parties to report information about investments 

or financial capital from any person used or involved in the development 

(including construction), ownership, or operation of AI infrastructure on 

the site and in the development, operation, or use of AI models operating 

in such AI infrastructure, as appropriate to evaluate risks to national 

security; and require non-Federal parties to limit the involvement in any 

such activities of, or the use or involvement in any such activities of 

investments or financial capital from, any person whom the Secretaries 

of Defense or Energy deem appropriate on national security grounds; 

(vii) require non-Federal parties owning or operating AI data centers on 

Federal sites to take appropriate steps to advance the objective of harnessing AI, with appropriate safeguards, for purposes of national security, 

military preparedness, and intelligence operations, including with respect 

to the objectives and work outlined in NSM–25. Such steps shall, as 

consistent with applicable legal authorities, include collaborating with 

the Federal Government on regularly recurring assessments of the nationalsecurity implications of AI models developed on Federal sites, as appropriate. In addition, as appropriate and consistent with any relevant Federal 

procurement laws and regulations, the non-Federal parties shall be required 

to commit to providing access to such models, and critical resources 

derivative of such models, to the Federal Government for national-security 

applications at terms at least no less favorable than current market rates, 

consistent with NSM–25 and the associated Framework to Advance AI 

Governance and Risk Management in National Security. To the extent 

feasible, AI models and resources derived from them shall be developed 

and provided to the Federal Government in a manner that prevents vendor 

lock-in and supports interoperability, including as consistent with the 

measures in section 5 of OMB Memorandum M–24–18; 

(viii) require that non-Federal parties owning or operating frontier AI 

data centers on Federal sites develop plans to make available computational 

resources that are not dedicated to supporting frontier AI training, or 

otherwise allocated under another provision, for commercial use by 

startups and small firms on nondiscriminatory terms and in a manner 

that minimizes barriers to interoperability, entry, or exit for users; 

(ix) require non-Federal parties owning or operating AI infrastructure on 

Federal sites to explore the availability of clean energy resources—such 

as geothermal power generation resources and thermal storage, long-duration storage paired with clean energy, and carbon capture and sequestration 

as described in section 3(e) of this order, as well as beneficial uses of 

waste heat—at any appropriate sites that those parties lease for purposes 

of constructing frontier AI data centers on Federal sites or procuring 

power generation capacity to serve these data centers; and 

(x) require AI developers owning and operating frontier AI data centers 

on Federal sites either to procure, for use in the development of their 

data centers, an appropriate share (as measured by monetary value) of 

leading-edge logic semiconductors fabricated in the United States to the 

maximum extent practicable; or to develop and implement a plan, subject 

to the respective approval of the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary 

of Energy, to qualify leading-edge logic semiconductors fabricated in the 

United States for use in the developer’s data centers as soon as practicable. 

The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy shall develop any 

such requirements—including any determinations about amounts of leading-edge logic semiconductors that may be considered ‘‘appropriate’’— 

in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce. 

(i) Within 1 year of the date of this order and consistent with applicable 

law, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the 

Director of National Intelligence, and the Assistant to the President for 

National Security Affairs, shall issue regulations that prescribe heightened 

safeguards to protect computing hardware acquired, developed, stored, or 


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used on any sites on which frontier AI infrastructure is located and that 

are managed by the Department of Defense, as needed to implement or 

build upon the objectives of, or the requirements established pursuant to, 

subsection 4(g)(iv). The regulations shall include requirements to conform 

with appropriate high-impact level standards identified through the Federal 

Risk and Authorization Management Program, and they shall further provide 

for appropriate penalties consistent with applicable authorities. No less than 

annually the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the aforementioned 

individuals, shall review the need for updates to the regulations, and promulgate any necessary revisions. The Secretary of Energy shall impose substantively the same requirements with respect to frontier AI infrastructure 

on sites managed by the Department of Energy, to the extent authorized 

by law. 

(j) To enable the use—for advancing geothermal power development, including the development of thermal storage—of Federal lands already subject 

to leases: 

(i) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior 

shall establish a program with personnel dedicated to providing technical 

assistance for, streamlining, and otherwise advancing direct-use leasing 

of geothermal projects on BLM lands, including as consistent with the 

policies set forth in 43 C.F.R. subpart 3205, and leases of geothermal 

projects on lands subject to mining claims or under an oil and gas lease. 

(ii) When issuing leases and related authorizations for geothermal projects, 

the Secretary of the Interior shall consider the extent to which the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 

et seq., the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq., and other 

appropriate statutes have been satisfied by prior analyses of the lease 

area. 

(k) In performing the work described in section 4 of this order, including 

as related to the selection and management of sites, the head of each respective Federal agency shall: 

(i) consult, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, Executive 

Order 13175 of November 6, 2000 (Consultation and Coordination with 

Indian Tribal Governments), and the Presidential Memorandum of November 30, 2022 (Uniform Standards for Tribal Consultation), with Tribal 

Nations for which such work may have implications or who otherwise 

request such consultation; 

(ii) seek input from, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law 

and Administration policies, with State and local governments and other 

stakeholders and communities for which such work may have implications; 

and 

(iii) consider taking actions that present the greatest opportunities to support the goals described in Safely and Responsibly Expanding U.S. Nuclear 

Energy: Deployment Targets and A Framework for Action (November 2024). 

Sec. 5. Protecting American Consumers and Communities. (a) Within 180 

days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Energy, in consultation 

with the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors and the heads of 

other agencies that the Secretary deems appropriate, shall submit a report 

to the President on the potential effects of AI data centers on electricity 

prices for consumers and businesses. This report shall include electricityrate-structure best practices for appropriate Federal agencies, State regulators, 

and transmission providers and transmission organizations to promote procurement of clean energy generation resources as components of AI infrastructure without increasing costs for other customers through cost-allocation 

processes or other mechanisms—particularly in regions that have or are 

expected to have high concentrations of AI infrastructure—as well as regional 

analyses of key data center hubs. The report shall further account for any 

existing approaches developed by Federal agencies to engage transmission 

providers and State regulators regarding electricity prices. After submitting 

the report, the Secretary of Energy shall engage appropriate private-sector 


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entities, to include the winning applicants selected under subsection 4(g) 

of this order, on the report’s findings and recommendations. 

(b) The Secretary of Energy shall provide technical assistance to State 

public utility commissions to consider rate structures, including clean transition tariffs and any other appropriate structures identified under subsection 

(a) of this section, to enable new AI infrastructure to use clean energy 

without causing unnecessary increases in electricity or water prices. 

(c) The Secretary of Energy and the heads of other appropriate agencies 

as the Secretary of Energy deems appropriate, shall coordinate to expand 

research-and-development efforts related to AI data center efficiency. Supported research and development shall cover, as appropriate, efficiency considerations associated with data center buildings, including the data center 

shell; electrical systems; heating, ventilation, and cooling infrastructure; software; and beneficial use cases for wastewater heat from data center operations. As part of this work, the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary 

of Energy shall submit a report to the President identifying appropriate 

ways that agencies can advance industry-wide data center energy efficiency 

through research and development, including server consolidation; hardware 

efficiency; virtualization; optimized cooling and airflow management; and 

power management, monitoring, and capacity planning. 

(d) In implementing this order with respect to AI infrastructure on Federal 

sites, the heads of relevant agencies shall prioritize taking appropriate measures to keep electricity costs low for households, consumers, and businesses. 

(e) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Director of OMB, 

in consultation with the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality 

(CEQ), shall evaluate best practices for public participation and governmental 

engagement in the development of potential siting and energy-related infrastructure for data centers, to include practices for seeking input on potential 

health, safety, and environmental impacts and mitigation measures for nearby 

communities. The Director shall present recommendations to the Secretary 

of Defense and the Secretary of Energy, who shall—as feasible and appropriate, and to advance the goals of assuring effective governmental engagement and meaningful public participation—implement and incorporate these 

recommendations into their siting and related decision-making processes 

regarding AI infrastructure. 

Sec. 6. Facilitating Electric Grid Interconnections for Federal Sites. (a) Within 

60 days of the date of this order, for the purpose of supporting any winning 

applicants of the solicitations described in subsection 4(e) of this order, 

the Secretary of Energy shall establish requirements for transmission providers and transmission organizations to report to the Secretary information 

regarding surplus interconnection service; available transmission capacity 

for interconnecting generators; opportunities for clean repowering; and proposed, planned, or initiated projects to build clean power generation capacity 

for which construction is not complete, but which have executed generation 

interconnection agreements. Information requested regarding these proposed, 

planned, or initiated projects shall include the size, location, and generation 

technology for each such clean power generation project, as well as the 

status and estimated cost of any transmission upgrades necessary to enable 

that project’s interconnection consistent with the interconnection agreement. 

The Secretary shall facilitate communication, as appropriate, among the 

owners of such surplus interconnection service, facilities with opportunities 

for clean repowering, or clean power generator projects and winning applicants to the solicitations described in subsection 4(e) of this order. The 

Secretary shall further establish appropriate requirements for transmission 

providers and transmission organizations to continue reporting information 

described in this subsection on an ongoing basis, and in any event no 

less than annually. 

(b) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Energy 

shall identify and communicate, as appropriate, a prioritized list of underutilized points of interconnection that are relevant to AI infrastructure on 

Federal sites and that demonstrate the highest potential for uses associated 


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with AI infrastructure. In developing this list, the Secretary shall direct 

transmission providers and transmission organizations to identify areas of 

the transmission network best suited to serve as points of interconnection 

for either data centers or other AI infrastructure that will use electricity 

from the transmission system—and locations best suited for interconnection 

of clean generators to serve such data centers—considering criteria such 

as minimizing the need for transmission upgrades necessary to accommodate 

such interconnection and access to clean energy generation resources. 

(c) By June 30, 2025, the Secretary of Energy, in coordination with the 

Secretary of Defense and in consultation, as appropriate, with the Secretary 

of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, shall engage with transmission providers and transmission organizations owning, operating, or maintaining transmission infrastructure located near Federal sites selected for 

AI infrastructure to identify any grid upgrades, deployment of advanced 

transmission technologies such as high-performance conductors or grid-enhancing technologies, operational changes, or other steps expected to be 

required for extending interconnection services to AI infrastructure by the 

end of 2027. Such engagements shall continue as the parties deem appropriate, and they shall prioritize, as appropriate, efforts to enable use of 

surplus interconnection services, clean repowering, and other methods of 

accelerated shifts toward clean power and beneficial use of waste heat. 

The engagements shall also include consideration of ways that the performance of such work as described in this subsection can most contribute 

to lower regional electricity prices. 

(d) The Secretary of Energy shall conduct an analysis of currently available 

transmission infrastructure serving potential sites, and the likely cost and 

feasibility of, and timeline for, developing additional such infrastructure 

needed for constructing and operating a frontier AI data center on sites 

identified under subsection 4(a) of this order, and cleared under subsection 

4(d) of this order, including by providing the frontier AI data center with 

clean energy and capacity. The Secretary shall identify and collect from 

transmission providers and transmission organizations information that the 

Secretary deems necessary for the analysis required under this subsection. 

The Secretary shall, as appropriate, treat such information as critical electric 

infrastructure information. 

Sec. 7. Expeditiously Processing Permits for Federal Sites. (a) The heads 

of Federal Permitting Agencies shall prioritize work and exercise all applicable authorities, as appropriate, to expedite the processing of permits and 

approvals required for the construction and operation of AI infrastructure 

on Federal sites, with the goal of issuing all permits and approvals required 

for construction by the end of 2025 or as soon as they can be completed 

consistent with applicable law. As part of this work, the Permitting Council 

may provide coordination of permitting for AI infrastructure on Federal 

sites, as appropriate and to the extent that the relevant developers of AI 

infrastructure submit a notice of the initiation of a proposed covered project 

under 42 U.S.C. 4370m–2 and the project is determined to be such a covered 

project by the Permitting Council. 

(b) To facilitate expeditious implementation of the requirements under 

NEPA with respect to Federal sites: 

(i) The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary 

of Energy shall identify, within their respective agencies, personnel dedicated to performing NEPA reviews of projects to construct and operate 

AI infrastructure on Federal sites. 

(ii) The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of the 

Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, and 

the Secretary of Energy, shall undertake a programmatic environmental 

review, on a thematic basis, of the environmental effects—and opportunities to mitigate those effects—involved with the construction and operation 

of AI data centers, as well as of other components of AI infrastructure 

as the Secretary of Defense deems appropriate. The review shall conclude, 

with all appropriate documents published, on the date of the close of 


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the solicitations described in subsection 4(e) of this order, or as soon 

thereafter as possible. The review shall, as applicable, incorporate by 

reference previously developed environmental studies, surveys, and impact 

analyses, including the analysis described in subsection 4(b)(ii) of this 

order. 

(iii) After the conclusion of the programmatic review described in subsection (b)(ii) of this section, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of 

the Interior, the Secretary of Energy, and the heads of other relevant 

agencies, as appropriate, shall commence any further environmental reviews that are required under NEPA for the construction and operation 

of AI infrastructure on Federal sites, including by applying any available 

categorical exclusions. Such reviews shall, as appropriate, build on or 

incorporate by reference the programmatic environmental review conducted under subsection (b)(ii) of this section, as well as any other studies, 

surveys, and impact analyses that the Secretaries deem appropriate. 

(c) To advance expeditious preconstruction permitting and ensure full 

compliance with air-quality permit requirements for AI infrastructure, the 

Administrator of the EPA, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense 

and the Secretary of Energy, shall: 

(i) within 30 days of the selection of winning applications under subsection 

4(g) of this order, engage State and local permitting authorities with jurisdiction over sites selected for AI infrastructure, as appropriate, to enhance 

relevant authorities’ understanding of the technical characteristics of AI 

infrastructure projects as relevant to new source reviews under the Clean 

Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq., and to enhance the public’s understanding 

of the same, as well as to facilitate the acquisition of information by 

AI developers operating on Federal sites regarding best practices for expeditiously obtaining air-quality permits; 

(ii) continue engagements with State and local permitting authorities, and 

provide technical assistance to AI developers operating on Federal sites, 

on an ongoing basis and as appropriate, to help advance expeditious 

conclusion of, and compliance with, new source reviews; and 

(iii) following the acquisition of all preconstruction air-quality permits 

by developers, take steps to ensure, on an ongoing basis and as appropriate, 

that AI developers operating on Federal sites adhere to all requirements 

of operational air-quality permits applicable to their respective projects; 

that information needed to demonstrate compliance, possibly including 

air-monitoring data, is made publicly available and regularly updated; 

and that best practices are identified for air-emissions reduction and airquality monitoring regarding AI infrastructure on Federal sites. 

(d) To help ensure expeditious permitting or permission processes related 

to waters of the United States and harbor and river improvements, the 

Secretary of Defense shall prioritize work, as appropriate, to process applications for permits administered by the United States Army Corps of Engineers 

(USACE) under the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq., and to process 

applications for permission for appropriate projects under section 14 of 

the Act of March 3, 1899 (33 U.S.C. 408), as consistent with the statutes’ 

requirements, in order to render determinations on any such permits or 

permissions associated with AI infrastructure on Federal sites by the end 

of 2025, or as soon as feasible consistent with statutory requirements. The 

Secretary shall, consistent with applicable law, prioritize allocation of resources toward USACE district offices, and direct the allocation of resources 

within such offices, as needed to comply with this directive. The Secretary 

shall further apply all general permits applicable to AI infrastructure where 

appropriate to promote expeditious permitting on such Federal sites. 

(e) Within 30 days of the selection of any winning applications under 

subsection 4(g) of this order, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary 

of Energy shall initiate Tribal consultations as applicable and appropriate 

based on the sites selected. Upon receipt of sufficient project information, 

the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy shall further initiate 


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consultations with the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director 

of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), to ensure that 

the construction and operation of AI infrastructure on each site that is 

identified under subsection 4(a) of this order, cleared under subsection 

4(d) of this order, and subsequently chosen as the location for the construction and operation of AI infrastructure pursuant to a winning application 

under subsection 4(g) of this order are not likely to jeopardize the continued 

existence of any endangered species or threatened species or result in the 

destruction or adverse modification of a critical habitat of such species. 

The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy shall conclude such 

consultations with USFWS, to the maximum extent practicable, within 90 

days of the initiation of such consultations when feasible and consistent 

with statutory requirements. 

(f) To advance the development of geothermal energy production and 

thermal storage, including in support of AI infrastructure on Federal sites: 

(i) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior 

shall undertake a programmatic environmental review, on a thematic basis, 

of the environmental impacts and associated mitigations involved with 

the construction and operation of a geothermal power plant. 

(ii) By the date on which the review described in subsection (f)(i) of 

this section is completed, the Secretary of the Interior shall establish 

a target cumulative capacity of permitted or operational geothermal projects 

by a year that the Secretary shall designate. 

(iii) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior 

shall assess existing categorical exclusions that are listed in the NEPA 

procedures of other agencies and could apply to actions taken in connection 

with geothermal energy development. The Secretary shall propose adopting 

such categorical exclusions as the Secretary, after consultation with the 

heads of agencies whose NEPA procedures list the categorical exclusions, 

deems appropriate, and, after considering all comments received through 

applicable public comment processes, take any actions to adopt categorical 

exclusions that are appropriate given the received comments, as consistent 

with the requirements of NEPA and 40 C.F.R. parts 1500–1508. The Secretary shall prioritize the expeditious permitting of geothermal projects, 

including the application of any appropriate categorical exclusions adopted 

under this subsection, on PGZs. The Secretary shall prioritize work to 

expeditiously permit geothermal projects on PGZs above the work described in subsection (f)(i) of this section. 

(iv) When issuing leases and related authorizations for geothermal projects 

on PGZs, the Secretary of the Interior shall fulfill the requirements of 

NEPA and the Endangered Species Act in a manner that allows for the 

earliest possible operation of geothermal power plants consistent with 

applicable law. 

(v) The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary 

of Energy shall, as appropriate, coordinate to determine and clarify appropriate procedures for the execution of leases or subleases for developing 

or expanding clean energy generation resources, including geothermal energy generation resources, on withdrawn lands subject to the jurisdiction 

of the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy. 

Sec. 8. Ensuring Adequate Transmission Infrastructure for Federal Sites. 

(a) The Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense 

and the Secretary of the Interior, shall take steps to enable AI infrastructure 

on Federal sites to have reliable access to transmission facilities adequate 

for the operation of frontier AI data centers by the end of 2027. 

(b) To promote any needed upgrades and development of transmission 

infrastructure that is located on or that is necessary to support Federal 

sites with AI infrastructure, the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with 

the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of BLM and the 

Director of USFWS, shall: 


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(i) by September 30, 2025, identify and initiate use of all appropriate 

authorities to construct, finance, facilitate, and plan such upgrades and 

development, including through the Transmission Infrastructure Program 

administered by the Western Area Power Administration; and 

(ii) prioritize the allocation of staff and resources for developing transmission infrastructure needed to support AI infrastructure on Federal 

sites—and in doing so, as appropriate, allocate relevant staff and resources 

from any component within the Department of Energy for this purpose— 

consistent with the requirements and objectives of this order and applicable 

law. 

(c) Because of the importance of frontier AI infrastructure, including transmission capacity, to the defense industrial base, critical infrastructure, and 

military preparedness: 

(i) The Secretary of Energy shall consider expected use of frontier AI 

data centers on Federal sites as part of the Secretary’s triennial study 

of electric transmission capacity constraints and congestion under section 

216(a)(1) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824p(a)(1)). 

(ii) Consistent with the requirements of section 216(a)(2) of the Federal 

Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824p(a)(2)), and based on any findings made in 

future studies of electric transmission capacity constraints and congestion 

as described in subsection (c)(i) of this section, the Secretary shall consider 

whether to designate geographic areas around frontier AI infrastructure 

on Federal sites as national interest electric transmission corridors. 

(d) The Secretary of Energy shall, as appropriate, help ensure that transmission facilities upgraded or developed to support AI data centers on 

Federal sites: 

(i) are designed to support all reasonably foreseeable electric loads, including through the deployment of grid-enhancing technologies, high-performance conductors, and other advanced transmission technologies, including 

those described in the Department of Energy’s Innovative Grid Deployment 

Liftoff report, that will increase the capabilities of the transmission facilities 

on a timely and cost-effective basis; and 

(ii) conform to conductor efficiency standards or other technical standards 

or criteria that the Secretary determines will optimize facilities’ performance and cost-effectiveness. 

(e) To improve the timely availability of critical grid equipment for frontier 

AI infrastructure, such as electrical transformers, circuit breakers, 

switchgears, and cables, and to protect electricity consumers from exposure 

to rising equipment prices: 

(i) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense, 

the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Energy shall jointly 

consult with domestic suppliers of such technologies on the expected 

needs of AI infrastructure on Federal sites, suppliers’ current production 

plans, and opportunities for Government support in helping suppliers 

meet market demands. 

(ii) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Energy 

shall facilitate industry-led convenings on transformers and other critical 

grid components, which shall include appropriate representatives from 

agencies, transmission providers and transmission organizations, domestic 

suppliers of transformers, data center developers, and other private-sector 

organizations. On an ongoing basis, the Secretary, after consulting with 

participants in the industry-led convenings, shall: 

(A) on at least an annual basis, develop and publish supply and demand forecasts for transformers, including forecasts for different transformer variants and analyses of supply and demand trends under different future scenarios, which shall include scenarios for growth in 

electricity demand from AI infrastructure and other sources of demand; and 


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(B) consider and, as appropriate, execute purchases of transformers 

and other critical grid components in order to provide demand certainty for domestic manufacturers to invest in capacity for meeting 

the needs of AI infrastructure. Any decision to execute such purchases shall be based on economic or other industry data, including 

the capacity utilization of domestic suppliers of transformers or other 

components, that the Secretary deems relevant to evaluating the status 

of the domestic industry. The Secretary shall subsequently execute 

sales of any purchased transformers or other critical grid components 

at times that the Secretary deems appropriate based on such data. 

(f) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Energy 

shall establish requirements for transmission providers and transmission 

organizations to report to the Secretary transmission-related information to 

assist in siting and accelerating the interconnection of generation resources 

to serve frontier AI data centers on sites identified under section 4(a) of 

this order and cleared under subsection 4(d) of this order. Such information 

may include data on transmission congestion to help identify where additional transmission investments could enable the development of additional 

transmission capacity to serve such AI data centers. 

(g) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the heads of agencies 

that possess loan or loan-guarantee authorities shall evaluate whether any 

such authorities could be used to support the development of AI infrastructure on Federal sites—including the production of critical grid equipment 

as described in subsection (e) of this section, or other actions to strengthen 

the AI infrastructure supply chain. In cases in which any authorities are 

available and appropriate for this purpose, the heads of relevant agencies 

shall provide that information to developers of AI infrastructure on Federal 

sites or other appropriate private-sector entities. 

Sec. 9. Additional Efforts to Improve Permitting and Power Procurement 

Nationwide. (a) The heads of Federal Permitting Agencies shall designate, 

with respect to each of their component agencies, dedicated staff to handle 

all matters related to permits and approvals for AI infrastructure. Such 

designations shall include personnel dedicated to coordinating with and 

addressing the needs of applicants for permits under the respective agency’s 

purview. In designating such personnel, the heads of Federal Permitting 

Agencies shall, as appropriate, implement staffing arrangements and other 

mechanisms that accelerate permitting for AI infrastructure to the maximum 

extent possible. 

(b) To improve review practices pursuant to NEPA: 

(i) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the heads of Federal Permitting 

Agencies, in coordination with the Chair of CEQ, shall assess existing 

categorical exclusions and identify opportunities to establish new categorical exclusions to support AI infrastructure on Federal sites, consistent 

with the requirements of NEPA and 40 C.F.R. parts 1500–1508. The heads 

of agencies whose NEPA regulations include categorical exclusions related 

to fiber-optic cables are encouraged, in undertaking these assessments, 

to evaluate whether such categorical exclusions may be applied to the 

development of fiber-optic cables as used for AI infrastructure. 

(ii) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the heads of Federal Permitting Agencies shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, 

propose any new categorical exclusions and, after considering all comments 

received through applicable public comment processes, take any actions 

to establish categorical exclusions that are appropriate given the received 

comments. 

(iii) Within 120 days of the date of this order, and consistent with the 

directives described in section 7 of this order, the Secretary of Defense, 

the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary 

of Energy shall identify any existing categorical exclusions that are listed 

in the NEPA procedures of other agencies and that are relevant to the 

development of clean energy, electric transmission, or AI data centers 


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and take any appropriate steps to adopt such categorical exclusions where 

appropriate and consistent with the requirements of NEPA and 40 C.F.R. 

parts 1500–1508. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior, 

the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Energy shall take any 

appropriate steps to adopt and apply such categorical exclusions to AI 

infrastructure on Federal sites where consistent with the requirements 

of NEPA and 40 C.F.R. parts 1500–1508. 

(c) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Energy 

shall issue a request for information on opportunities for accelerated interconnection at existing power plants, including as related to surplus interconnection service and clean repowering. The request shall seek details 

on the ownership of such plants with surplus interconnection service and 

the plants’ suitability for colocation of new clean power generation resources 

with shared grid access. 

(d) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Energy 

shall issue a request for information from private-sector entities including 

transmission providers, transmission organizations, and clean energy developers regarding load interconnection processes. The Secretary shall subsequently engage with transmission providers and transmission organizations 

regarding best practices to improve the transparency and efficiency of such 

processes, including through adopting new technologies, software, and procedures. The Secretary shall provide technical assistance and financial assistance to facilitate such adoption, as appropriate. The Secretary shall publish 

a report describing the results of this work within 1 year of the date of 

this order. 

(e) To promote the expeditious, responsible development of nuclear power 

generation resources, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy 

shall: 

(i) seek to facilitate the deployment of additional nuclear power and, 

as relevant, supply-chain services on lands owned by, respectively, the 

Department of Defense and the Department of Energy—including Department of Defense installations and sites owned or managed by the Department of Energy National Laboratories—by, as appropriate and consistent 

with applicable law, identifying opportunities for such deployment on 

specific lands to the extent such opportunities exist and, in the case 

of the Secretary of Energy only, by evaluating whether financial support 

for such deployment is appropriate; 

(ii) within 180 days of the date of this order, coordinate to publish a 

joint list of ten high-priority sites—or, if fewer than ten appropriate sites 

exist, as many sites as possible—which may overlap with sites identified 

and cleared under section 4 of this order, that are most conducive to 

expeditious, safe, and responsible deployment of additional nuclear power 

capacity readily available to serve AI data center electricity demand by 

December 31, 2035, taking into account factors including Federal, State, 

Tribal, and local ordinances; permitting and other regulatory requirements; 

water access; climate resilience and natural-hazard risks; and transmission 

and interconnection dynamics; and 

(iii) within 1 year of the date of this order, publish either a joint plan 

or their own respective plans describing how each Secretary will facilitate 

deployment of additional nuclear power capacity as described in this 

subsection on any such sites. Any such plan shall address selection of 

appropriate nuclear reactor technologies; the licensing and permitting of 

relevant technologies or facilities; the approach that each Secretary would 

take to ensure the safe and responsible transportation of uranium and 

any other radioactive material to the site; the approach that each Secretary 

would take to ensure the safe and responsible storage or disposal of 

any spent nuclear fuel; remediation of the site after the plant ceases 

operation as needed; and any other steps necessary to ensure the deployment will protect public health, safety, and the environment, consistent 

with all applicable legal requirements and the principles of the document 


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entitled Safely and Responsibly Expanding U.S. Nuclear Energy: Deployment Targets and a Framework for Action (November 2024); and 

(iv) when carrying out actions under this subsection, comply with the 

directives of section 4(k) of this order. 

(f) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce, 

in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, and 

the White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience, shall submit a report 

to the President on supply chain risks applicable to the United States data 

center industry. The report shall include analysis of supply chain risks 

associated with the materials used to construct and maintain data centers, 

the electronics necessary to operate a data center, and emerging data center 

technologies, as well as recommended steps for the Federal Government 

to take to address identified risks. The report shall also include analysis 

on supply chain risks applicable to the generation and transmission infrastructure needed to power AI data centers. On an ongoing basis, as appropriate, the Secretary of Commerce shall engage with the private sector to 

identify emerging supply chain risks that have the potential to undermine 

the success of the United States AI infrastructure industry—with such success 

defined to include the industry’s commercialization of emerging technologies—and to recommend policy solutions to address identified risks. 

(g) Within 180 days of the date of this order, to promote the expeditious, 

responsible development and deployment of distributed energy solutions 

that support the development and operation of AI infrastructure, the Secretary 

of Energy shall develop model contracts for using distributed energy resources 

(DERs) to increase the local grid’s capacity to support AI infrastructure. 

In developing such contracts, the Secretary shall consider options for costeffective uses of DERs, including distribution-sited generation resources, energy storage assets, and opportunities for flexible management of electricity 

demand. The model contracts shall, as appropriate, include clauses providing 

for the owners of data centers to finance costs incurred by other entities 

in developing, installing, and operating DERs, consistent with the objective 

of utilities accounting for these financing activities when processing data 

center owners’ interconnection applications. 

(h) By July 31, 2025, the Permitting Council shall engage with developers 

of AI infrastructure to advance their understanding of resources available 

under title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (Public 

Law 114–94) to accelerate permitting processes and reviews for clean energy 

projects that are part of AI infrastructure on Federal sites. As part of this 

work, the Permitting Council, in consultation with the White House Task 

Force on AI Datacenter Infrastructure announced on October 29, 2024, shall 

endeavor to engage small developers of AI infrastructure. 

(i) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Army, 

acting through the Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the 

USACE, shall, consistent with applicable law, assess existing nationwide 

permits (NWPs) to determine how they may be applied to facilitate the 

construction of AI data centers and develop and publish a list of NWPs 

that could facilitate such construction. The Secretary of the Army, acting 

through the Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the USACE, 

shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, subsequently establish such new NWPs as expediently as possible. 

(j) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Energy 

shall release for public comment draft reporting requirements for AI data 

centers covering all phases of AI data centers’ development and operation— 

including material extraction, component fabrication, transportation, construction, operation, recycling, and retirement —regarding embodied greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, and excess heat or energy expenditures, 

as distinct from operational intensity of greenhouse gas emissions. 

(k) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Energy, 

in coordination with the Administrator of the EPA and the Chair of CEQ, 


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shall establish a grand challenge, serving as a call to voluntary action for 

appropriate private-sector and other stakeholders, for the purpose of: 

(i) setting targets for minimizing the power usage effectiveness ratio and 

water usage effectiveness ratio of AI data centers, with a goal of bringing 

the power usage effectiveness ratio of AI data centers on Federal sites 

below 1.1; 

(ii) promoting best practices for the beneficial use of waste heat and 

other efforts to maximize efficiency; 

(iii) promoting best practices for data center energy management and sustainable design and operational practices for data centers that avoid or 

reduce adverse effects on natural and cultural resources and communities, 

and that protect public health and the environment; 

(iv) raising AI developer and user awareness regarding the comparative 

energy intensities of different computational tasks; and 

(v) developing best practices and standards for software and algorithmic 

efficiency. 

Sec. 10. Engagement Abroad. (a) Within 90 days of the date of this order, 

the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the 

Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, the Administrator of the 

United States Agency for International Development, the Assistant to the 

President for National Security Affairs, and the heads of other relevant 

agencies as the Secretary of State may deem appropriate, shall develop 

a plan for engaging allies and partners on accelerating the buildout of 

trusted AI infrastructure around the world. Such a plan shall include measures to advance collaboration on the global buildout of trusted AI infrastructure; mitigate and prevent harms to local and affected communities; engage 

the private sector and investor community to identify and mitigate barriers 

to AI infrastructure investments; support the deployment of commercially 

available reliable clean power sources and the development and commercialization of emerging clean energy technologies, such as small modular 

nuclear reactors; exchange best practices for permitting, power procurement, 

and cultivating talent to build, operate, and maintain trusted AI infrastructure; and strengthen cyber, physical, and supply chain security safeguards 

related to AI infrastructure. Within 1 year of the date of this order, the 

Secretary of State shall submit to the Assistant to the President for National 

Security Affairs a report on actions taken pursuant to this plan. 

(b) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the Assistant to the President 

for National Security Affairs shall convene heads of appropriate agencies, 

to include the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary 

of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, the Chief Executive Officer of the 

United States International Development Finance Corporation, and the President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, to identify and implement actions to facilitate United States exports and engagements abroad 

related to advanced nuclear technologies and relevant supply-chain services. 

Sec. 11. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed 

to impair or otherwise affect: 

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, 

or the head thereof; or 

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. 

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and 

subject to the availability of appropriations. 


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(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, 

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party 

against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, 

employees, or agents, or any other person. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

January 14, 2025. 

[FR Doc. 2025–01395 

Filed 1–16–25; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3395–F4–P 


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