Recently on the Tucker Carlson Show (Right bias), YouTuber Clayton Morris of Redacted News (Not Rated) said that the mayor and city council of Homer City, PA have claimed that a local energy and data center project has already raised local energy prices and that blackouts are bound to occur.
After an investigation and correspondence with representatives of Homer City, AllSides has found this to be false.
The clip offers an excellent example in learning to see media bias — including slant, bias by omission, sensationalism, and negativity bias — and to think critically about our information landscape.
Sensationalism and a Fabricated Claim
The YouTube clip (taken from a longer episode) is titled, “They Are Already Warning Us…” and has a text overlay that reads, “Be Prepared. The Grid is Going Down.”
Already, we can identify numerous types of media bias in the title and text overlay: negativity bias and sensationalism. The text predicts the future, and the headline inspires negative emotions (“warning”). It also contains a notable omission — who is warning us?
Then there are Morris’ disturbing claims — blackouts and high energy prices. Here they are in full:
“Homer City [PA]…their energy prices have already increased. But they’re building this…massive Homer City energy complex … But the people of Homer City don’t get the benefit of it. They don't get any of that. It’s going to go to the data center build-out. I think the mayor, the other members of the local City Council have already seen those prices go up and have said that we will expect blackouts ... Like, over the next few years, our grid cannot handle this. And so the people of this area that live in the surrounding area can expect to see their homes affected by this and blackouts that will unfold in these neighborhoods.”
Tucker does not ask Morris for the source of his claims. Are the mayor and City Council on the record stating they’ve seen energy prices go up? When did they state this and where? Who reported it? If they did state this, what is their source for the claim that energy prices have risen? Has the mayor surveyed local residents or spoken to the local energy company? How can we verify increased energy costs are due to data centers specifically?
Tucker doesn’t ask — at least not in this clip — and Morris doesn’t specify. And digging in further, it appears the whole claim is completely fabricated.
AllSides found no indication that public officials were on the record stating this, and independently contacted Homer City Borough. Not only did representatives there tell us Homer City officials aren’t involved with the energy project in any capacity, they also confirmed that the Homer City mayor and council are not on the record claiming high energy prices and eventual blackouts.
The actual municipality dealing with the project is Center Township in Indiana County, PA. Its governing body is a Board of Supervisors. AllSides found no indication that members of the Board of Supervisors are on the record claiming current high energy costs and eventual blackouts. Center Township has not returned a request for comment.
The Tucker Carlson Show episode containing the false claim has over 739,000 views on X and over 8,000 likes. One YouTube clip containing the claim has over 6,100 likes.
Bias by Omission, Negativity Bias, Slant
Morris is a former television news anchor who now co-hosts his own show, Redacted News, on Rumble and YouTube. In the clip, he’s referring to The Homer City Generating Station, a former coal-burning power station 50 miles east of Pittsburgh that was decommissioned in 2023. It is being built into a natural gas-powered campus that will generate power for both homes and data centers. It is infused with a $10 billion investment (led by Knighthead Capital Management).
Morris says the people of Homer City will not benefit from the additional power generated, omitting the portion of energy going to homes. He also says this project is currently raising consumer costs, making it sound like the plant is already operating. However, AllSides could not find any evidence that the plant is currently in operation and/or powering data center clients. The project appears to be in the building stage.
Per the project’s website: “we expect construction of the site to commence this year and expect the first turbine deliveries from GE Vernova to begin in 2026. We expect to begin producing power by 2027.”
How PA Is Mitigating Potential Data Center Energy Impacts on Customers
Data centers have been a source of anxiety and much news coverage lately. PA Governor Josh Shapiro’s recent executive order on the issue declares::
- Data centers must pay the extra electricity-system costs they create, rather than regular customers.
- If data centers require so much electricity that PJM, the official area transmission organization, has to take extra steps to keep the grid reliable, the responsible data centers will pay those costs.
- Electric utility companies are not allowed to shift these costs onto households or businesses, even if the data center can't pay its share.
- Data centers will pay to connect themselves to the electric grid.
- Data center projects must first be approved by local officials.
- Developers must sign a legal document committing to certain guidelines — among them that they pay for their own power, hire locally, be transparent with local governments and adhere to high water-conservation standards.
- Data center projects are made ineligible for PA’s fast-track permitting program.
- Nondisclosure agreements for data center projects are banned.
- A designated state official will push regulators to quickly create rules and structures necessary to make the order functional.
My Analysis
I live in Western PA near the energy site in question. When a friend sent me this clip, I was alarmed. Blackouts? Near my friends and neighbors?
It took me over three hours to investigate the claims made in this 3-minute clip, and I came away extremely disappointed. It’s very cheap for Tucker to make this type of interview content and post it to YouTube. Verifying the claims, however, is expensive in terms of time and energy. Think of how many claims are flying around the internet at all hours of every day and with nobody digging in to verify them.
Tucker Carlson has a populist bias — his editorial angle as of late is to stoke distrust of major corporations, governments, and other elite actors. This skepticism isn’t bad by itself, but his audience should understand this isn’t investigative journalism before relying on Carlson’s show for all their information.
Investigative reporting considers multiple angles, interviews multiple people, and cites primary sources. A true journalist would ask for sources and investigate. Carlson allows his guests to talk without much pushback — so long as what they are saying suits his editorial angle of populist distrust in major institutions. In this case, at least one claim was misleading and unfair to Pennsylvania locals.
Julie Mastrine is the Director of Communications and Bias Ratings at AllSides. She has a Lean Right bias.
This piece was reviewed by Andy Gorel, Managing Editor (Center bias) and Evan Wagner, Product Manager (Lean Left bias).
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