Benj Edwards
30 Jul 2025

Proposed data center would demand 5x Wyoming’s current power use at full deployment.

On Monday, Mayor Patrick Collins of Cheyenne, Wyoming, announced plans for an AI data center that would consume more electricity than all homes in the state combined, according to The Associated Press. The facility, a joint venture between energy infrastructure company Tallgrass and AI data center developer Crusoe, would start at 1.8 gigawatts and scale up to 10 gigawatts of power use.

The project’s energy demands are difficult to overstate for Wyoming, the least populous US state. The initial 1.8-gigawatt phase, consuming 15.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually, is more than five times the electricity used by every household in the state combined. That figure represents 91 percent of the 17.3 TWh currently consumed by all of Wyoming’s residential, commercial, and industrial sectors combined. At its full 10-gigawatt capacity, the proposed data center would consume 87.6 TWh of electricity annually—double the 43.2 TWh the entire state currently generates.

Because drawing this much power from the public grid is untenable, the project will rely on its own dedicated gas generation and renewable energy sources, according to Collins and company officials. However, this massive local demand for electricity—even if self-generated—represents a fundamental shift for a state that currently sends nearly 60 percent of its generated power to other states.

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon praised the project’s potential benefits for the state’s natural gas industry in a company statement. “This is exciting news for Wyoming and for Wyoming natural gas producers,” Gordon said.

The proposed site for the new data center sits several miles south of Cheyenne near the Colorado border off US Route 85. While state and local regulators still need to approve the project, Collins expressed optimism about a quick start. “I believe their plans are to go sooner rather than later,” he said.

Wyoming’s data center boom

Cheyenne is no stranger to data centers, having attracted facilities from Microsoft and Meta since 2012 due to its cool climate and energy access. However, the new project pushes the state into uncharted territory. While Wyoming is the nation’s third-biggest net energy supplier, producing 12 times more total energy than it consumes (dominated by fossil fuels), its electricity supply is finite.

While Tallgrass and Crusoe have announced the partnership, they haven’t revealed who will ultimately use all this computing power—leading to speculation about potential tenants.

A potential connection to OpenAI’s Stargate AI infrastructure project, announced in January, remains a subject of speculation. When asked by The Associated Press if the Cheyenne project was part of this effort, Crusoe spokesperson Andrew Schmitt was noncommittal. “We are not at a stage that we are ready to announce our tenant there,” Schmitt said. “I can’t confirm or deny that it’s going to be one of the Stargate.”

OpenAI recently activated the first phase of a Crusoe-built data center complex in Abilene, Texas, in partnership with Oracle. Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, told The Associated Press last week that the Texas facility generates “roughly and depending how you count, about a gigawatt of energy” and represents “the largest data center—we think of it as a campus—in the world.”

OpenAI has committed to developing an additional 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity through an agreement with Oracle. “We’re now in a position where we have, in a really concrete way, identified over five gigawatts of energy that we’re going to be able to build around,” Lehane told the AP. The company has not disclosed locations for these expansions, and Wyoming was not among the 16 states where OpenAI said it was searching for data center sites earlier this year.

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Via https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/07/ai-in-wyoming-may-soon-use-more-electricity-than-states-human-residents/

Darren Major ·Jul 31, 2025 

Carney’s announcement came after he spoke to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas earlier Wednesday.

Mona Abuamara, the former chief representative of the Palestinian General Delegation to Canada, told CBC’s Power & Politics that she believes the commitments Carney set out are achievable.

“The Palestinian people have been living hell for two years. They know what they want. They need the opportunity to actually build their own state,” she told guest host David Common.

The Palestinian Authority currently controls parts of the West Bank through the Fatah party. Hamas governs in Gaza. Neither territory has held an election since 2006.

Carney said Hamas can have no role in the election he is proposing. He also reiterated that Hamas needs to release the remaining Israeli hostages and said a Palestinian state must be demilitarized.

The announcement follows similar commitments from other allied countries in the past week.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday the U.K. will also recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza, allows the UN to bring in aid and takes other steps toward long-term peace.

France announced a similar plan last week, but without conditions. Ireland, Norway and Spain have all recognized Palestine within the last year.

Carney said he has spoken to both Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in recent days.

“In our judgment, and the judgment of others, the prospect of a Palestinian state is literally receding before our eyes,” the prime minister said.

“Working with others to support the possibility of a Palestinian state establishes that [prospect].”

Canadian governments previously said they would acknowledge a Palestinian state only after a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and Palestinian leadership. Carney said that approach was “no longer tenable.”

Carney said the ongoing threat of Hamas, the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and “the ongoing failure by the Israeli government to prevent the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Gaza” spurred Canada to make this move now.

Israel rejects Canada’s plans

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said its government “rejects” Carney’s move.

“The change in the position of the Canadian government at this time is a reward for Hamas and harms the efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of the hostages,” the statement said.

Iddo Moed, the Israeli Ambassador to Canada, told Power & Politics that Canada’s decision would “embolden” Hamas.

“Hamas is very much aware of what is going on right now and I think they will be celebrating this very message,” Moed said.

Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), said in a news statement on Wednesday that Carney’s decision is “predicated on misplaced faith in vague commitments” by Abbas.

“Extending recognition absent real change on the ground is a recipe for another failed Palestinian pseudo-state controlled by terrorists,” Shack said.

More than 100 advocacy groups have been warning of hunger spreading in Gaza as ceasefire negotiations stall.

Israel, which controls all supplies entering Gaza, denies it is responsible for food shortages.

Carney was asked how likely it is that elections could be held given the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the heightened tensions in the region overall.

“Much has to happen in order for a democratic viable state [to be] established in Palestine. We fully recognize that,” Carney said.

“We’re committed to help work as part of that process, but I’m not in any way [or] shape minimizing the scale of that task.

Carney was joined by Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, who announced $10 million “to accelerate reform and capacity-building for the Palestinian Authority” earlier this week.

Anand’s announcement was made at a major UN conference — convened by France and Saudi Arabia — to find ways to preserve the two-state solution.

Conservatives denounce decision

The Conservative Party said in a statement that it supports a two-state solution, but also said Carney’s decision is a “reward” for Hamas.

“A unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood, without peace negotiations or a renunciation of violence, destroys the path to a lasting, two-state solution. Worse, it legitimizes terrorism by handing political rewards to a group that rules Gaza through fear, oppression and brutality,” the statement said.

NDP MP Heather McPherson said she welcomed Carney’s decision but said it should have been made sooner. She also called on Canada to do more to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“It should not have taken the Liberals this long to make this decision — and it should not take until September to implement it,” McPherson wrote in a statement.

“The Liberals should recognize the state of Palestine today — while also taking the political action necessary to end Canada’s complicity in this genocide.”

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Via https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-canada-recognize-palestinian-state-conditions-1.7597525

Flooded Tombs of the Nile

Directed by Katie Bauer (2021)

Film Review

Historians have focused mainly on ancient Egyptian civilization because they had written language. In reality the kingdom of Kush (modern day north Sudan) constructed far more public monuments. Unfortunately many of them are underwater due to dam building that elevated the Nile’s water table.

For centuries the Kushites ruled the Nubian desert (modern day north Sudan) buried their kings in Napata near Nuri (at the Fourth cataract of the Nile). Kush became a very powerful kingdom owing to its control of all the trade routes to the Mediterranean and Asia. Some the most valuable commodities they controlled were ivory, animal skins, precious stones and gold.

Egypt eventually invaded Kush in 1450, ruling them for 400 years. They also imposed their religion on Kush, with the Kushites become far more devout than the Egyptians. As Egypt began to decline, Kush conquered Egypt in 752 BC and put Kushite pharaohs in the Egyptian throne for 100 years as the 25th Dynasty.

This documentary follows the 2018 excavation by a crew of underwater archeologists of the tomb of king Nastasen. He was the last Kushite king to build himself a burial pyramid. After 315 BC, the Kuhites moved their center of power away from Napata. In one way the flooding of the Kushite pyramids was a blessing. Ir protected these tombs from grave robbers. The latter carried off, not only gold and historical artifacts, but the mummies of many Egyptian pharaohs.

Other archeologists are doing a dig in the desert around the tomb, uncovering a town where workers lived while they worked on the tomb. So far they have found evidence of 10 separate neighborhoods, each dominated by a multistory building. Their most significant find so so far is a mud jar stopper stamped with a local official’s seal. The need for local officials to approve stores of food suggests a fairly complex economic system.

During the filming, the archeologists dive to collect mud from the third chamber of the under water pyramid. On returning to the surface, they strain through wire mesh on returning to the surface. So far they’ve retrieved shakti (miniature images of the king meant to assist him in the afterlife), gold foil which once covered the shakti, animal bones and charcoal from burnt offerings, and leather (Kushite mummies were wrapped in a hide mat).

They have also discovered an immovable stone slab in the middle of chamber three which they believe covers the king’s sarcophagus.

By Can Efesoy, Busranur Keskinkilic, Damla Delialioglu, Sumeyye Dilara Dincer and Beril Canakci  July 30 2025

The “New York Declaration,” launched Tuesday at a United Nations conference, reaffirmed support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict amid the rising famine and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza following Israeli assaults.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s offensive on Gaza has killed over 60,000 Palestinians. Relentless bombing has devastated the enclave, causing severe food shortages. At least 154 people, including 89 children, have died from starvation.

The declaration was issued at the conclusion of the High-Level International Conference on the Peaceful Settlement of the Palestinian Question and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, held under the joint chairmanship of Saudi Arabia and France.

“We agreed to take collective action to end the war in Gaza, to achieve a just, peaceful, and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the effective implementation of the two-state solution, and to build a better future for Palestinians, Israelis, and all peoples of the region,” the statement said.

According to the declaration, recent developments have “highlighted, once again, and more than ever, the terrifying human toll and the grave implications for regional and international peace and security” caused by the ongoing Middle East conflict.
It added that without “decisive measures towards the two-state solution and robust international guarantees, the conflict will deepen and regional peace will remain elusive.”

In comments made by Turkish officials at the meeting, the following statements were used: “Based on the decades-long Israeli record, handover of weapons by Palestinian armed groups should be closely conditioned to the realization of an independent, sovereign, and contiguous Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital or in accordance with an agreement reached among Palestinian groups as part of the reconciliation process.”

Türkiye, France, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Norway, Qatar, Senegal, Spain, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the Arab League endorsed the declaration. 

The statement called for an immediate end to Israel’s war in Gaza, expressing support for efforts by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States to bring all parties back to the ceasefire agreement.

It emphasized the importance of implementing all phases of the agreement, including a permanent end to hostilities, the release of all hostages, the exchange of Palestinian prisoners, the return of all remains, and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Following the ceasefire, the declaration also suggested the establishment of a transitional administrative committee to operate in Gaza under the umbrella of the Palestinian Authority.

The statement reaffirmed that Gaza is “an integral part of a Palestinian state” and “must be unified” with the occupied West Bank. It emphasized that governance, law enforcement, and security across all Palestinian territories should fall solely under the authority of the Palestinian Authority, with appropriate international support.

The document also welcomed the Palestinian Authority’s “One State, One Government, One Law, One Gun” policy and pledged support for its implementation.

According to the declaration, this includes advancing a disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) process, to be carried out within a framework agreed upon with international partners and under a set timeframe.

The declaration reaffirmed support for a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security. It backed the Palestinian right to self-determination and said full UN membership for Palestine is essential to any lasting political solution.

International legal action highlighted

The annex to the New York Declaration, summarizing proposals from participating states, calls for full cooperation with international legal bodies.

It urges ICC member states to support the court’s investigation into the situation in Palestine and encourages countries to join the genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

[…]

Via https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/turkiye-eu-arab-league-16-countries-endorse-new-york-declaration-supporting-2-state-solution/3646558