Fox Host Defends AI Data Center Needs Over Christmas Tree Farm: ‘Get On Board'

Fox Business host Dagen McDowell defended a proposed energy project that would power artificial intelligence data centers in Virginia by running high-voltage transmission lines through three Maryland counties, despite objections from a local Christmas tree farm.

“The Big Money Show” co-host dismissed the farm’s concerns Friday following Fox correspondent Darren Botelho’s report from Gaver Farm in Mount Airy, where four transmission towers for the $424 million Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project are set to be built.

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Gaver Farm agrotourism manager Laura House told Botelho that Maryland is “just an extension cord” for the project, which would “go through the state” without actually benefiting it, adding that it would be “devastating” for locals and her farm if construction moves forward.

“So, this is just putting transmission lines over this property,” McDowell responded. “I think that the United States of America would gladly just saw off Maryland and kick it into the Atlantic Ocean if you don’t like it. … They’re trying to blame AI, if it’s not AI it’s something else, it’s called growth and development of business.”

“So, this is just putting transmission lines over this property,” McDowell responded. “I think that the United States would gladly saw off Maryland and kick it into the Atlantic Ocean if you don’t like it. … They’re trying to blame AI, it’s not AI ... It’s something else. It’s called growth and development of business.”

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PSEG’s Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project states on its website that the proposed 67 miles of transmission lines and towers would “bolster the reliability of the state’s power grid,” noting that Maryland currently sources around 40% of its electricity from out-of-state.

However, a 2023 report by PJM, the country’s largest Regional Transmission Organization, notes that the project’s driving force is the rapid growth of data centers in northern Virginia. The proposed date of operation is June 2027.

“If there is a need for electricity generation and a conduit like power lines to bring electricity to a densely populated area of business and growth like northern Virginia, then it is not about AI, it is about economic growth for the United States, number one,” McDowell said Friday.

“Number two, it is a tree farm — not growing food. The alternative would be some liberal puts some giant solar panels on that land, and you won’t be growing any Christmas trees, either.”

When co-host Brian Brenberg noted that he’s seen these “gross-looking” transmission lines and towers in person and argued that Gaver Farm will “lose all of its aesthetic appeal” if the project moves ahead, McDowell doubled down, telling Americans to fall in line.

“Everybody needs to get on board,” she said. “You know what? Buy a fake tree!”

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It should be noted that this is the network that has platformed countless voices over the years purporting that Democrats were the ones waging a “war on Christmas.”

McDowell’s “fake tree” suggestion led to a groan from McDowell’s co-hosts.

“A dagger right in my heart,” Brenberg told McDowell, before online critics joined in.

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