West Virginia Attorney General John "JB" McCuskey said Monday that his office is helping lead a new multi-state investigation into big tech firms, alleging they exaggerate their clean-energy commitments - a practice known as "greenwashing."
McCuskey is joining 15 other state attorneys general, led by Montana's Austin Knudsen, in probing tech titans Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft over claims they are powered entirely by renewable energy. He said those assertions are misleading because the companies rely on renewable energy certificates - credits that let them claim green energy use even while their data centers consume electricity generated by coal and natural gas.
"What's happening is the left has created this kind of scam system," McCuskey told Fox News Digital. "You can pipe electricity into your data center using coal or natural gas, then buy credits from someone producing green energy somewhere else and say you're not using any carbon fuels," he explained.
"It'd be like Taylor Swift flying to the Super Bowl on her jet, then saying she didn't burn jet fuel because she bought a carbon credit."
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McCuskey said the practice distorts the energy market and threatens grid reliability, particularly in states such as West Virginia and Montana that produce coal and natural gas. He warned that "voodoo accounting" in the credit system makes it difficult for utilities and planners to know how much electricity is truly being generated and consumed.
Amazon, Google, and Meta did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Microsoft declined to comment.
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While the coalition's letter is critical of the system, McCuskey stressed that the intent isn't to attack the tech companies themselves.
"Our beef isn't actually with the tech companies, it's with the system they're being forced to use," he said. "We want to build great relationships with them because we understand how important AI and data centers are for economic development."
He blamed what he described as "hyper-aggressive and irrational energy policies" for entrenching the current credit system, which he said began under the Obama administration and accelerated under former President Joe Biden.
McCuskey said he was the only state attorney general to attend the recent Pittsburgh Energy Conference, where President Donald Trump underscored his push to make U.S. dominance in energy and artificial intelligence a cornerstone of his economic and national security agenda.
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"What the president calls the 'green scam' is a very accurate assessment," McCuskey said. "This investigation aligns perfectly with the goal of developing our carbon fuels in a way that keeps America leading the world in energy production and keeps electricity affordable for families."
He said West Virginia has not yet received a response from the companies involved, but he expects the process to take time.
"This is about empowering them to do what they need to do without having to jump through irrational hoops," McCuskey said. "These environmental gimmicks make it harder for states like ours to produce the energy the country needs and to plan for future power demand."
