A Steve Bannon operative yelling "Earth First!" at an anti-data center gathering at a moment when Democrats (and even many mainstream enviro groups) are sprinting away from environmental messaging and policy seems ... notable. www.wired.com/story/how-da...

True, but rarely acknowledged out loud in polite company. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/o...

The Trump administration is leasing nearly half a million acres in Nevada to oil and gas companies—some for just $10 an acre—while blocking other uses like wildlife protection and clean energy projects, leaving families to pay the price.

Why Are the Feds Leasing Public Lands to Big Oil for So Cheap?

In the sunny Southwest, oil and gas companies can get an acre for as low as $10, while solar companies can barely get a scrap.

nrdc.org

I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this (mostly good) piece, but here's one: If you want to know why promises of green reindustrialization in the Inflation Reduction Act didn't translate into votes, there's a lot in here that speaks to that. jasmi.news/p/no-data-ce...

No Data Centers In My Backyard

money, power, and populism in the AI buildout

jasmi.news

Nuclear power not holding up so well amid the European drought. www.dw.com/en/danube-wa...

Danube water levels: Hungary, Romania cut nuclear output

Historically low water levels along Europe's second-longest river have led Hungary and Romania to reduce output at key nuclear plants. Danube tourism and river cargo have also been severely affected b...

dw.com

It’s summer music season, so a good time to re-up this article from colleague @quentingood.bsky.social on ways to make live music less of a burden on the environment. frontiergroup.org/articles/sus...

Sustainable sound: Reducing the environmental impact of live music

The live music industry generates significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and waste, but it doesn't have to.

frontiergroup.org

The hilarious meta aspect of this story about used EV prices in the US rising is how long they take to reach the obvious (but repugnant to The Discourse) conclusion, that people really like the EVs that US carmakers don’t want to sell them www.cnbc.com/2026/07/31/u...

EV prices aren't following the 'law of used cars,' analyst says — what it means for buyers and sellers

The prices for used electric vehicles have risen this year, which is unusual, experts said. Affordability and high gas prices help explain why, they said.

cnbc.com

Q for permitting reform knowers: Wouldn't permitting certainty, if put in place under the current administration, just incentivize the accelerated sell-off/looting of public lands that's already well underway?

An under-reported part of the data center opposition story so far: many religious people are not down with building the god-machine. www.texastribune.org/2026/07/29/t...

Religion motivates data center opposition in Texas

Some see the AI facilities as a sign of the apocalypse, others see an opportunity to advocate for environmental stewardship.

texastribune.org

The pro-data center argument, summarized: Data centers have the wee environmental impact of a bucolic golf course. Also, fighting them in one place will just result in foisting them on some other, less resourced community. What? www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/o...

Opinion | The Environmental Case Against Data Centers Is Misguided

nytimes.com

next NYT take: we shouldn't worry about floods because the US is on average 2,500 feet above sea level

Madison Condon@madisoncondon.bsky.social · 2mo ago

whether or not data center water use will be a problem depends on where the data center is, that is how water works

No part of this bait-and-switch act is going to help with achievening consensus around future efforts to build clean energy infrastructure on federal lands. When such a thing even becomes conceivable again. heatmap.news/energy/clear...

Scoop: Clearway Asks Trump to Swap Solar Farm for Data Center and Gas Plant

The large renewables developer changes tack “in response to federal energy objectives.”

heatmap.news

"DEQ has no regulatory authority to stop these actions undertaken in response to the emergency ..." Loss of onsite power should not provide carte blanche to coat neighborhoods with diesel particulates. www.wusa9.com/article/news...

A behind the meter Northern Virginia data center's power plant went offline on 7/16, causing the facility to run off diesel generators for 24 hours during a Code Red air pollution event

The more I learn about it the more I think "the fossil fuel industry has an enormous, massively funded propaganda apparatus" is one of the most under covered and under appreciated stories of our era

Mother Jones@motherjones.com · 2w ago

A new report exposes what's behind the "clean" gas lie

Yesterday afternoon 14:09 in Lacanau Océan in France. A pale red sun through the smoke tinged everything in Mars style orange. Welcome in the climate emergency! Despite all denial of the fossil fuel lobby, it’s scientific fact: CO2 emissions heat up Earth & make fires worse. 🔥🔥🔥

The first data center approved on federal lands was greenlit through backroom talks, questionable legal arguments and uncertainty around who even engaged with the Trump administration in the first place. What’s happening in Nevada is a national story.

How the Trump Administration Turned a Solar Farm Into a Data Center

The local government of Boulder City, Nevada had previously rejected a proposal for the computing facility, which would draw power from the existing electricity supply.

heatmap.news

And *this* attitude is why Boston's streets resemble Grand Theft Auto - our streets speedways, red lights suggestions. To look at the current state of our streets and think the main problem is too much bike infra is not to spend much time on them. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/22/o...

Safe streets in Boston require more than choosing sides - The Boston Globe

Louisa Gag’s death should prompt safety improvements, but Boston’s transportation battles will persist unless City Hall convinces residents that all viewpoints matter.

bostonglobe.com

EV registration fees have been on the rise in many US states. But Wyoming recently lowered them, halving the cost from $200 to $100. It’s one of several states that are bucking the trend of more onerous and punitive EV fees. frontiergroup.org/resources/wh...

Where are road taxes higher for EVs than gas-powered cars?

A new federal fee on electric vehicles could result in EV drivers in 33 states paying more for roads than drivers of gas-powered cars.

frontiergroup.org

Not sending that Argument piece any clicks, but the conversation around climate targets and tipping points reminds me a lot of my long-time (but ultimately successful) efforts to quit smoking cigarettes. /thread

Power sector GHGs rose by 4% last year due to rising demand and increased coal use

In which I yell at my favorite journal and its thoughtful, talented collection of researchers that we really need to take fossil phase-out seriously as a line of inquiry, and that we would not stand for the level of talking around it as a solution in other settings with very obvious problems:

The state of energy transition research and the need for fossil phase-out: evidence from Environmental Research Letters

The state of energy transition research and the need for fossil phase-out: evidence from Environmental Research Letters, Grubert, Emily

iopscience.iop.org

Several hundred mourners are already here for the vigil in honor of Louisa Gag, and City Hall Plaza is still filling with new arrivals

We need more renewable energy to reduce fossil fuel pollution, but renewables can also impact the environment and wildlife. My new report @frontiergroup.bsky.social and Environment Texas shows how it can be built and operated responsibly in Texas (and beyond) frontiergroup.org/resources/pr...

Protecting the nature of Texas, powering our clean energy future

Smart renewable energy siting and operations in the Lone Star State

frontiergroup.org

Listening to an excellent panel of Texas conservation experts on strategies to expand wind and solar energy development while protecting wildlife & land, jumping off from our new report with Environment Texas Research & Policy Center. frontiergroup.org/resources/pr...

Protecting the nature of Texas, powering our clean energy future

Smart renewable energy siting and operations in the Lone Star State

frontiergroup.org

To address the substance of this (as opposed to the timing, which, oh my Lord, read the room), two big "blind spots" in the mixed traffic approach being advocated here are road rage and left hooks. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/15/o...

The preventable blind spot trap killing Boston’s cyclists - The Boston Globe

Large trucks turning right can sweep cyclists into their rear wheels in an instant. Understanding this deadly dynamic could save lives.

bostonglobe.com

Something that rarely seems to explicitly come up in this conversation: A huge perceived (and, I'm sure, in some cases actual) threat facing cyclists "taking the lane" on city streets is road rage.

Distributed solar helped New England electric customers save at least $130 million in wholesale energy costs during the heat event between June 28 and July 4. 28%-43% of daily costs were avoided by the distributed solar in the region. www.mainepublic.org/climate/2026... #energysky

Rooftop solar eases New England's electric demand in heat wave

Solar panels on homes and businesses helped feed the regional electric grid as demand for cooling climbed.

mainepublic.org

A new report from the nonprofit PowerLines found electric and gas utilities requested $18.6 billion in rate increases during the first half of the year, affecting more than 56 million customer accounts nationwide. Nearly half of the requests came from Southern utilities.

Utilities sought record rate increases this spring as Duke's request remains before NC regulators

A new report found utilities sought a record-high $9.2 billion in rate increases during the second quarter. North Carolina accounts for nearly $900 million of those requests, including Duke Energy's f...

wral.com

But adding data centers to the grid is going to lower rates, dontchaknow.

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Each Year Worldwide@tkovach.bsky.social · 3w ago

"Since 2024, the auctions have added in total about $29 billion in costs to all utility customers in the PJM region because of data centers...The market monitor also produced the estimate of $6.3 billion in additional costs from the latest auction"