Why is the Koch's Dark Money Group Trying to Kill Vermont's Data center bill?

Gov. Scott now has one of the strongest data center laws in the nation on his desk, and he has until Thursday night to sign or veto it. The bad news? Gov. Scott’s own staff have joined Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a core right-wing group in the Koch Brothers’ dark money network, to oppose it.^{1, 2}

If you agree that Vermont’s ratepayers, environment, and the climate should have the strongest possible protections around data center development, please take a moment to contact Gov. Scott and urge him to sign H.727, the data center bill. You can also call his office at 802-828-3333 and leave a message.

Why, exactly, would the Kochs’ right-wing operatives care about a bill in Vermont protecting Vermont’s ratepayers from data center development? Well…

The bill bars the use of on-site fossil fuel generation except for use as a true backup in the case of a power outage or other actual emergency – the first bill passed in the US to do so. While most of their funding is hard or impossible to trace (they call it dark money for a reason), AFP is funded in significant part by fossil fuel interests, including the American Petroleum Institute itself.³
Data center developers have gotten other ratepayers to shoulder billions of dollars of costs that they should have paid – Vermont’s bill requires Vermonters to be “insulated from all costs” associated with data center development. Meanwhile, Koch Industries started a real estate company that literally builds data centers.⁴ You better believe they don’t want other states following Vermont’s lead and forcing them to pay the full cost of their developments when they could have American families pay instead. Oh, and for good measure they also started a venture capital firm that invests in AI startups.⁵
H.727 requires data centers to build renewables on-site – AFP has a long history of fighting anything and everything that advances renewables instead of its favored energy source – fossil fuels.⁶
The bill bars data centers from increasing PFAS contamination in Vermont’s waters. Koch Industries? Koch Industries owns a company being sued for contaminating drinking water supplies with PFAS.⁷
And for good measure they oppose the bill’s “Expansive Environmental Justice Mandates” (their words) and the fact that it holds data centers to the same “general good of the state” standard we apply to things like solar power. Because of course.

Given the unbelievably clear, self-interested, profit-driven motivations behind its missive, it’s both pathetic and galling that AFP’s letter opposing H.727 begins “on behalf of hardworking Vermonters and their families.”

What makes that opening claim even worse? The letter was written by AFP staffer Rachel Burgin, who appears to live in Florida⁸, or maybe Georgia⁹ (the state, not the town in Vermont), and whose lobbying registration lists a Virginia address.

Now, obviously, out-of-state lobbyists can of course lobby Vermont legislators. Corporations and DC firms flying in well-heeled lobbyists to try to kill legislation in Vermont is not an uncommon occurrence (though it happens less now that testimony via Zoom is so easy). But a dark money group with no staff in Vermont trying to kill a bill designed to protect Vermont ratepayers by claiming they’re doing so “on behalf of hardworking Vermonters”?!?

🤬

Despite AFP’s best efforts, and the opposition of the Scott Administration, there’s still a real chance that Gov. Scott decides to side with Vermonters and sign this bill. But that’s only likely to happen if he hears that’s what you want – what Vermonters want.

Please take a moment to contact Gov. Scott right now and urge him to side with Vermonters, and not the Kochs’ dark money lobbyists, and sign the data center bill. Again, he’s got until Thursday night to make his decision.

¹^{https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Workgroups/Senate%20Natural%20Resources/Bills/H.727/Witness%20Documents/H.727~TJ%20Poor~%20Testimony%20Department%20of%20Public%20Service~5-8-2026.pdf}

^{2. https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Workgroups/Senate%20Natural%20Resources/Bills/H.727/Public%20Comment/H.727~Rachel%20Burgin~Public%20Comment~5-19-2026.pdf}

^{3 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/unreliable-sources-4-how_b_3300642}

^{4 https://www.kochinc.com/news/koch-real-estate-investments-is-helping-major-tech-companies-meet-the-demand-for-new-data-centers}

^{5 https://www.kochdisruptivetechnologies.com/portfolio}

^{6 https://energyandpolicy.org/americans-for-prosperity/}

^{7 https://www.nashobavalleyvoice.com/2026/03/03/editorial-pepperell-joins-growing-list-of-pfas-plaintiffs/}

^{8 https://x.com/RepRachelBurgin}

^{9 https://cleantechnica.com/2025/09/02/americans-for-prosperity-comes-for-vermont-voters-part-one/}