Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made a bold statement about artificial intelligence data centers on Wednesday that is not only contradicted by actual data but also by Howard Lutnick himself.
During an interview on CNBC, Lutnick discussed the ongoing pushback to the data centers, and insisted that, contrary to popular belief, they don’t actually use massive amounts of water.
He also claimed any suggestions that the data centers require lots and lots of water are just “propaganda by our adversaries to try to slow us down.”
Lutnick then insisted that data centers are “world-class productions” that could “produce huge economics,” before insisting that communities that recruit data centers will just be better off.
But Lutnick’s insistence that data centers don’t use water isn’t supported by the evidence. The Florida Water & Pollution Control Operators Association said a medium-sized data center might need 100 million gallons a year for cooling, while a large one might use 1 to 5 million gallons of water per day during peak conditions.
Lutnick’s statement is also contradicted by (checks notes) Howard Lutnick, who, last year, admitted to Fox News’ Sean Hannity that, while he supported building the data centers, “these AI things suck water. They need water.”
Here’s a cut of both of Lutnick’s contradictory statements, courtesy of MeidasTouch senior digital editor Acyn Torabi.
The Trump administration has been promoting data centers, with the president himself declaring on Tuesday that communities that oppose building them will end up “backwards and poor.”
However, the push has led to typically conservative ranching and farming communities banding together with left-leaning environmental advocacy groups to voice concerns about the centers. Some fear the centers will negatively affect drought-stricken waterways, cause pollution in food-growing areas and shrink farmland.
HuffPost reached out to Lutnick for clarity on his data center water claim, but no one immediately responded.
Not surprisingly, people on social media weren’t impressed by Lutnick’s seeming flip-flop, with many noting he also gave contradictory statements about his relationship with disgraced financier and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.