How the Supreme Court cleared the way for the data center boom

How the Supreme Court cleared the way for the data center boom

Dozens of data centers are going up around the country without water permits or any way for the public to weigh in, according to a POLITICO analysis.

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The Trump administration is planning a fireworks display of epic proportions for America's 250th anniversary. It could also cause a spike in pollution here in DC, according to researchers who've studied how fireworks affect air quality, water quality & wildlife.

Trump's record-setting July 4 fireworks could shower the city with pollution

The National Park Service will launch a dazzling 850,000 fireworks in the nation's capital this year. Scientists are watching for the environmental and

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Chemical giant Chemours has agreed to pay $22.5M in fines & $90M in mitigation under a landmark deal over PFAS pollution announced by the Trump administration. But North Carolina says the agreement does little to help the hundreds of thousands of people affected by Chemours' Fayetteville, NC plant.

E&E News: Trump admin reaches settlement with major PFAS maker

Chemours would pay $22.5 million for illegally releasing "forever chemicals." One state affected by the pollution called the proposed deal "an insult."

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This is my final story as an NPR correspondent. After more than 22 years at the network, I was among those laid off in a reorganization. www.npr.org/2026/06/01/n...

'At what point does it make sense to ditch a gas car for an electric vehicle?'

"At what point does it make sense to ditch a gas car for an EV?" NPR listener Guadalupe Higuera of Phoenix asked this question and worked with Climate Desk reporter Jeff Brady to answer it.

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Don't miss this killer story from Corbin, @chelseaeharvey.bsky.social and Lesley Clark on the quiet forces aligning to attack climate research.

Corbin Hiar@corbinhiar.bsky.social · 2mo ago

NEW: Republican lawmakers and oil industry allies are seeking to discredit a forthcoming National Academies report on weather attribution science — a field of climate research that could cost fossil fuel companies billions of dollars. www.politico.com/news/2026/06...

Yazoo Pumps are back, and they're going to cost a lot more than was previously estimated. Still missing, though, is a cost-benefit analysis from the Army Corps to show that the project - which seeks to reduce flooding for ~780 homes & 100s of thousands of acres of rural cropland - is worth the cost.

E&E News: Yazoo Pumps costs skyrocket; Army Corps mum on economics

The long-delayed, once-vetoed Yazoo Pumps project is slated to cost $2.3 billion. Critics question if the benefits are worth the costs.

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xAI has abruptly stopped work on a water reuse facility aimed at reducing a Memphis-area data center's strain on the local drinking water source. The move comes as SpaceX preps to launch the biggest IPO in history. My latest with @mirandawrites.bsky.social www.eenews.net/articles/xai...

XAI sidelines major water reuse project as IPO looms

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company abruptly stopped work on a water reuse facility meant to alleviate strain on the Memphis-area water supply

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EPA Chief Lee Zeldin is good at tailoring his message to MAGA media. But that sometimes puts him at odds with EPA's official justifications for actions -- whether it be a rule or the cancellation of a grant. And that could be a liability if he moves over to DOJ: www.eenews.net/articles/fro...

From EPA to DOJ? Zeldin’s words may haunt him.

The EPA chief’s partisan attacks energize the base but risk weakening cases he’d oversee if he's named attorney general.

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No one wanted to redevelop this polluted property. Then came AI.

In E&E News, @zialyle.bsky.social & I talked with @mirandawrites.bsky.social about the new paper Zia led finding climate risks at drinking water utilities (www.nature.com/articles/s43...). EPA eliminated a program that helped water utilities prepare for climate change. www.eenews.net/articles/epa...

EPA shifts program for water utilities to downplay climate change

Jess Kramer, the EPA water chief, says technical assistance programs shouldn’t be used “as a means to advance local or state climate goals.”

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Washington State came up with a crafty bit of policy to get around Trump's order to keep the Centralia coal plant open — tax the plant into oblivion. (Disclaimer: requires cap and trade law.) heatmap.news/energy/washi...

Washington State Just Outmaneuvered Trump’s Coal Order

A new law piles taxes on the state’s last remaining coal plant, making it too expensive to operate.

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NEW with @ruthreader.bsky.social: Some Democrats see an opening to win over MAHA voters ahead of November as the movement's frustrations with the Trump administration reach a breaking point www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

‘I share your outrage’: Democrats woo MAHA moms ahead of the midterms

Democrats hope the Trump administration's recent pesticide move will sway voters in their direction.

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“We were very fortunate that the collapse occurred downstream from the primary drinking water intakes,” said Michael Nardolilli, executive director of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin. “It’s better to be lucky than good, but there’s only so much luck that can go around here.”

How DC dodged a bullet in Potomac River sewage spill

The record-setting sewage spill could have been much worse — a warning for the region's vulnerable water supply and old infrastructure nationwide.

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Great story, with charts and detailed breakdowns, about the exodus of EPA career staff (especially research scientists) over the past year from my colleague @kevinbogardus.bsky.social subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

E&E News: Where the ‘Fork’ took a bite out of EPA

The agency’s loss of scientific know-how put "a knife into the heart" of its research enterprise.

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Trump fixates on sewage, a favored talking point, in fight with Wes Moore

There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism, but there is growing research that shows a link between wildfire smoke exposure in pregnant mothers and autism diagnoses. Two studies published in the last month indicate wildfire smoke has profound neurological impacts: grist.org/health/growi...

Growing evidence points to link between autism and wildfire smoke

Two new studies have identified an alarming connection between exposure to wildfire smoke during pregnancy and autism in young children.

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“This sounds more like the commander [was] looking out for public safety & ensuring he can deliver benefits like recreation & flood control for all the taxpayers, not just those that complain about good development standards,” said a former Army Corps official, who sees the firing as highly unusual.

E&E News: Army Corps fires commander who clashed with lakefront homeowners

Little Rock District Commander Patrick Caukin’s shoreline management angered homeowners at Table Rock Lake in Missouri’s Ozark Mountains.

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“The affordability issue is already a challenge, & this is going to exacerbate that even further,” said Tony Parrott, who heads up the sewer district in Louisville, Kentucky. “If we’re losing that layer of wetlands as a tool, it means we’re going to have to make larger investments on the back end.”

Water rule rollback stokes affordability concerns

The Trump administration says the regulation will ease permitting expenses. Utilities say costs could shift to them and their customers.

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EPA's push to limit the scope of the Clean Water Act continued today, with the agency releasing a new rule that could make it harder for states to block energy projects that have the potential to pollute waterways.

E&E News: EPA proposal limits state veto power for energy projects

The plan aims to fast-track permits and would make it harder for states to block projects or impose environmental conditions on them.

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Public records released via an environmental group's Freedom of Information Act request show few residents took the initiative to respond, and those who did were critical and "embarrassed" by the Trump administration's effort.

Interior Secretary Burgum asked public land users to flag ‘negative’ depictions of American history. Wyoming criticized the effort instead. - WyoFile

Environmental group’s public records request shows few residents took the initiative to respond, and those who did were critical and 'embarrassed' by the Trump administration’s effort.

wyofile.com

“I don’t think we have enough good data to know how much [water] is being used,” said Virginia state Sen. Richard Stuart, a Republican in the Virginia legislature whose district has become a hub for data centers.

States push to end secrecy over data center water use

The effort is drawing bipartisan support and is expected to come up again next year as officials grapple with the artificial intelligence boom’s side

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A neutral arbiter agrees: @politico.com violated our contract and its own journalistic standards when it deployed AI. Our readers deserve news, not slop! wbng.org/2025/12/01/p...

Meet the Republicans who killed solar subsidies — after using them

Meet the Republicans who killed solar subsidies — after using them

POLITICO’s E&E News examined satellite imagery of more than 100 homes owned by Republican lawmakers to see if they have solar panels. Seven had rooftop arrays.

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New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.

Recently, I started to look into how PFAS chemicals came to be a Pennsylvania town's drinking water. I had heard the PFAS might have come from a surprising source: an EPA-approved cleanup plan at a Superfund site. Now, EPA has found that the use of sewage sludge during cleanup was a likely factor.

EPA: Superfund cleanup ‘likely’ fouled Pennsylvania town’s water

Municipal sewage sludge was used as fertilizer in the project that began decades ago in Palmerton, where PFAS now taint soil and water.

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EPA still has a "walking around money" left over in fy 2026. But it's choosing to furlough some people while others remain on the job and drawing a paycheck. It appears to be keeping those working on deregulation and other priorities. @ellieborst.bsky.social and I: www.eenews.net/articles/epa...

EPA flush with cash for ‘priority’ staff

The agency is taking an unprecedented approach to furloughs during this latest government shutdown.

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You may have read about Kipnuk, an Alaska village devastated by a typhoon months after EPA nixed $$ for climate resilience projects. Huslia, in interior Alaska, similarly lost a $20 million EPA grant to help protect itself. "We don’t want the history of our village to keep getting flushed away."

E&E News: This Alaska village had a $20M life preserver. EPA yanked it away.

Federal cash would have built water infrastructure in Huslia and moved its homes away from a rapidly eroding riverbank.

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SCOOP from me: I uncovered that the Interior Department just quietly defunded *two* multimillion dollar research programs studying how whales move and behave near U.S. wind farms actively being built. Trump blames wind turbines for whale deaths, then cuts vital research on the topic. 🧵

Trump claims ‘wind mills’ kill whales but quietly torpedoes the…

The Interior Department defunds two vital research programs that track North Atlantic right whales near active offshore wind construction sites.

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EPA "keeps saying it will come soon, and we keep waiting, and now we’re in a shutdown," one environmental advocate said of the funding delay.

E&E News: Lead pipe projects face delays amid EPA funding holdup

The agency said that billions to replace lead pipes will be allotted to states soon, but health advocates said the delay is highly unusual.

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