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FERC Rejects PJM's Plan To Curtail New Data Centers First, Approves A Large-Load Registry And Tells States To Set The Curtailment Order: In an order dated Friday, Oct. 9, and reported Monday by Utility Dive and Reuters, the commission rejected the core of PJM's large-load package, the Interim Resource Adequacy Service that would have let data centers connect without new capacity if they agreed to be cut off ahead of other customers in an emergency, finding that it placed obligations on retail customers, chose which retail customers get curtailed and set what appears to be a retail rate, all matters for the states, and that the curtailment terms appear discriminatory. It approved PJM's definition of a large load and a registry recording each facility's location, ramp schedule and capacity supply. "We strongly encourage states to continue their important work on this issue," the commission wrote. Commissioner David Rosner, concurring, said state regulators should set the order, with non-critical data centers curtailed before homes, hospitals and schools and only after voluntary demand response is exhausted. PJM says it is reviewing the order; its revised backstop procurement filing is still due Oct. 29. Who goes dark first now moves to state commissions and legislatures, where Pennsylvania's HB 2828, out of committee since Sept. 30, would write emergency load-control procedures for large computational loads. Link

The White House AI Task Force Will Enforce Safety Expectations Under Existing Law With DOJ, The FTC And The SEC, Vice Chair Scott Kupor Says, And Will Not Seek New Legislation: In an interview Politico published Tuesday, Oct. 13, the OPM director and Super Intelligence Force vice chair said the group will work with the Justice Department and other enforcement agencies to hold AI developers to safety expectations under existing criminal and civil law, making "abundantly clear" to industry "the rules of the road"; he also pointed to the SEC, and the charter names DOJ and the FTC. His agenda: audit the pledges companies made under the Sept. 29 accord, run a full risk assessment and make sure the government can respond if a model causes harm. The first official meeting is this week, and the 120-day report due from the Oct. 4 launch covers risks, standards for advanced models and the costs of overregulation; the charter does not call for new legislation. "Give us our 120 days," Kupor said. Legal experts quoted by Politico call liability under product and anti-hacking statutes an uphill fight, which keeps Rep. Trahan's CLAIM Act draft and the Hawley-Murphy agent liability bill in play. Link

Dover Gives Final Approval To Delaware's First Data Center Moratorium, An 18-Month Pause On Reviews Of Facilities Over 30 MW: The City Council voted unanimously Monday, Oct. 12, to pause the city's review of proposals for large energy-use facilities, including data centers drawing more than 30 megawatts, roughly the load of 24,000 homes, for 18 months while officials study whether to allow them and how to regulate them. No formal application is pending, though developers have approached the city. "This is not a 'no' to data centers," said sponsor Donyale Hall; Councilman Brian Lewis, who wanted a construction ban, said "the environment, people's health and our infrastructure are more important than jobs in the city." Kent and New Castle counties have already limited where data centers can go in unincorporated areas, and city leaders worried Kent's rules would push developers into Dover. This newsletter reported Dover's passage on Oct. 1 from a report that has since been corrected; Monday's vote is the final action. Link

Elizabeth City Adopts An 18-Month Pause, Shelby County Clears A First Reading 5-4, Charlotte Hears Both Sides On An 11-Month Extension: Elizabeth City, N.C., voted unanimously Monday, Oct. 12, for an 18-month moratorium on data center applications, choosing it over a zoning amendment that would have allowed them by council permit in two industrial zones; the city attorney will review the length, neighboring Perquimans County paused for six months and Pasquotank County is moving toward a full ban. In Shelby County, Tenn., an amended moratorium of up to 12 months for unincorporated areas passed first reading 5-4 with four abstentions and needs two more readings; Commissioner Amber Huett-Garcia will bring an alternative modeled on Memphis's draft rules Oct. 21, the day after Memphis's own final vote. Charlotte's council heard residents urging an extension and union workers urging an end at its Oct. 12 hearing on carrying the pause, which expires Nov. 5, for up to 11 more months; a vote is expected Oct. 26. Link

About 400 Scientists, Including Hinton And Bengio, Call For An International Body To Set Containment Standards And Keep An Incident Registry For Cyber-Capable AI: In an open letter reported Tuesday, Oct. 13, by Reuters, scientists from 34 countries said voluntary industry commitments are "not enough" and called for an international body, set up with governments and AI and security experts, to write industry-wide containment standards for advanced cyber-capable systems and keep a registry of significant security incidents to be made public over time. Frontier models should initially be air-gapped from outside networks under independent oversight, and labs testing cyber-capable models should adopt high-assurance containment now, before any regime exists. Yann LeCun did not sign, and EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told Reuters on Friday that the AI Act already covers rogue-system risk. The Globe and Mail counts more than 260 signatories from 27 countries, so treat the totals as approximate. An incident registry is now the common ask of the White House task force's Oct. 9 statement, Britain's Monday package and this letter, with no agreement on who would run it. Link

Microsoft's Brad Smith Calls For Kill Switches, Mandatory Incident Reports And Government Pre-Release Evaluation, And Says Britain Should Lead: On the BBC's Big Boss Interview, released Monday, Oct. 12, Microsoft's president said AI faces fewer safety rules than milk or washing machines and backed laws requiring emergency brakes to pause or slow systems that escape human control, incident reports with notice to the people affected, and independent government evaluation of new AI before release, an idea he said "makes people nervous" in the U.S. He called the White House accord "a good step" that does not go far enough: "The good companies will do what you want. It's the companies that are not as responsible that you need to worry about." He named the UK, with its AI Security Institute, as best placed to lead global rules. It puts the company that signed the accord on record for the binding versions of the duties the accord leaves voluntary, the same day Britain announced its incident-reporting study. Link

Nevada Regulators Head Into Hearings On Who Pays For NV Energy's Data Center Build-Out, With The Attorney General's Consumer Bureau Pressing "Pay Your Own Way": Rebuttal testimony on large-load policy closes this week in NV Energy's 2026 resource plan (PUCN Docket 26-05007), which carries about 22,000 MW of developer interest and proposes 4,550 MW of renewables, 5,305 MW of batteries and 1,223 MW of gas peakers. Attorney General Aaron Ford's Bureau of Consumer Protection wants large users to fully fund dedicated substations and lines and to sign long-term Large Load Electric Service Agreements that protect households if a data center shrinks or leaves; hyperscale operators want dedicated, accelerated renewable procurement, and the Nevada Conservation League says the peakers put the state's renewable standard at risk. Phase 2 hearings on large-load cost allocation start Oct. 26 and Phase 3 on the 20-year plan Nov. 16, with a final order targeted for mid-December. It is the state version of the cost question FERC just sent back to the states. Link

Greece Drafts Data Center Grid Rules: 60 Percent Renewable Power, EUR 200,000-Per-MW Guarantees And Priority Access Above 200 MW: A draft from Greece's Ministry of Environment and Energy, reported Oct. 12 and 13 and open for consultation until Oct. 24, would require new data centers to source at least 60 percent of their electricity from renewables, through direct connection to nearby generation and storage or power purchase agreements, pay their own connection and reinforcement costs, and post bank guarantees of EUR 200,000 per MW of planned capacity, valid three years, to screen out speculative applications. Grid operator IPTO would license projects above 10 MW and HEDNO smaller ones; projects over 200 MW get priority if 80 percent of their power comes from a distributed producer or six-hour storage, and regulator RAAEY would keep a data center registry. IPTO says applications rose from 5 GW to 9 GW in two months this summer. The per-MW guarantee is a European answer to the speculative-load problem PJM's new registry is meant to measure. Link