A new Amazon data center is set to become the single largest source of environmental pollution in the U.S., according to a New York Times report on August 8. The tech giant — which already operates the most data centers worldwide — is reportedly building a natural gas power plant in Pecos County, Texas, to power its new data center at the same site. According to project permits, the plant would generate up to 7.65 gigawatts of power using 35 natural gas turbines. The new plant — which burns natural gas to generate electricity — has been authorized to release 33 million tons of CO₂ annually, more planet-warming gases than any other power plant in the country, says the NY Times report.

Conversely, Amazon had pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across all its global business operations by 2040. The company made the promise in 2019 when it initiated and co-founded The Climate Pledge — a voluntary coalition of over 700 companies and partners — aimed at addressing its own corporate footprint and rallying global supply chains. However, the company has seen its emissions rise each year for the past several years, something analysts attribute to a spike in data centers to support the AI boom. The company is currently building several additional AI data centers globally, including the one that the new gas plant would power in Texas.

Amazon has acknowledged the impact of its intense AI ambitions on its earlier climate pledges but insisted the company remained committed to them, despite obvious struggles. “The world looks different now than when we co-founded the climate pledge,” said Margaret Callahan, an Amazon spokeswoman. Still, “our commitment hasn’t changed,” she said, echoing similar statements by Microsoft, which is struggling to fulfill its 2030 sustainability promise amid carbon-heavy AI expansion, but insists it remains committed to it.

As detailed in our data center power roadmap, an increasing number of hyperscalers and data center operators are switching from grid connections to dedicated on-site power generation. The “behind-the-meter” moves are being triggered mainly by the long timelines required to set up new power infrastructure to connect new power-hungry data centers to the grid, but also by growing anti-data center sentiments over irreversible hikes in the electricity bills of nearby communities.

While many companies are also pursuing nuclear and renewable energy options — examples being Microsoft’s Three Mile Island nuclear deal and Meta’s agreement to secure up to 1GW of orbital solar energy capacity — gas appears to be the leading preference due to its scalability and speed of availability. The Trump administration has thrown its weight behind such projects for data centers, promoting oil, natural gas, and coal over renewable energy sources.

The city council of Emporia, Kansas, the same council that had a teacher arrested for clapping in support of the opposition, announced that it will move its meetings online after its members received death threats. According to 404 Media, Emporia announced this move two days before the meeting set for August 5, 2026, and will also affect the one set on August 19, 2026.

“In the interest of public safety, the Emporia City Commission meetings scheduled for Wednesday, August 5, 2026, and Wednesday, August 19, 2026, will be conducted virtually. No public comment period will be provided during either meeting,” the city said on its Facebook page.

“The City remains committed to conducting the public’s business in an open and transparent manner while taking reasonable measures to protect the safety of elected officials, City staff, and members of the public. The City appreciates the public's understanding and cooperation as it implements these temporary measures while ensuring the continuity of City business.”

The move to a virtual meeting is an understandable move given the death threats on some of the city leaders. However, it also canceled public comments and instead directed citizens to an email address and phone number where they can air their concerns privately. This led to some citizens airing their complaints in a protest outside the Emporia municipal auditorium.

“While I don't doubt that there are credible threats, my big question is on how many there are and from where they are coming. Mayor Smith did mention in yesterday's meeting that the threats don't seem to really be coming from locals but ‘it only takes one’ to ruin a meeting so they went virtual. I feel like we're being punished for the actions of outsiders,” Lux Claridge, the person arrested in the previous council meeting, told 404 Media.

“I'm not so upset about going virtual, it makes sense, but back it up with examples of these threats. I'm more upset that they opted to close public comment and I don't understand why.”

One of the things that the council considered during the meeting was the petition to put a data center ban on the ballot, with the members voting unanimously to send it for judicial review. The council claimed that doing otherwise could open the city to a lawsuit from either side, although it did not elaborate on the reason why this would happen.

While we haven’t heard of a local jurisdiction getting sued for passing a data center ban, one Texas senator warned a county in the state that it cannot legally impose this. So, the commissioners are likely being careful to avoid legal issues, even if they’re in another state.

The community of Gilroy, California, about 30 miles southwest of San Jose, was surprised when an Amazon data center started construction in their town last month. But as many projects like these have been suffering from opposition and delays across the country, the Wall Street Journal reports that this specific site avoided scrutiny by adhering to local zoning rules set 45 years ago.

Amazon’s Gilroy project sits on a 56-acre piece of farmland between a Walmart Supercenter and the Gilroy Premium Outlets. The company and the city didn’t exactly keep the project secret when it started its application in 2020. In fact, there were disagreements between the tech giant and the city government during the process. The publication noted that some Amazon officials were frustrated by slow permitting progress, which was delayed by at least one year. At the same time, the city pushed back on some of the company’s requests, especially if they were no longer up for discussion.

Roger Wehner, Amazon Web Services vice president of economic development, told WSJ that the site had gone through a long approval process, which required public notices and public-comment periods. However, when Gilroy resident Rosa Rodriguez wanted to state her concern about the damage a data center can do to a region suffering from drought, she was told that the comment period had already lapsed in 2024, long before data centers became a hot topic across the country.

Gilroy City Mayor Greg Bozzo said that other industrial projects that had a similar scale to the Amazon data center have previously been approved without resistance.

“It didn’t bother them that a food-distribution center came to Gilroy without their engagement, but now it bothers them that a data center is coming to Gilroy without them having the possibility of engagement,” Bozzo said.

Still, he conceded the people are now more aware about data center developments and added, “We…have an opportunity to change the way that we do business in Gilroy. We’re adapting to the times.”

The tech giant also said that it’s engaging more with the community, with Amazon officials claiming that they met residents directly and even hosted an open house where people can ask questions and leave comments. It also addressed fears that the development would cause a water shortage, which other data centers have already caused, saying the company is constructing a wastewater recovery system to supply its water needs and will even build a pipeline to bring wastewater from the source to its plant.

Bozzo also highlighted the benefits that Amazon will bring to the city, especially increased tax revenue, construction jobs, and a million-dollar donation towards a new fire truck. He also pointed out that the tech giant has been giving grants to non-profit organizations in the city, as well as sponsoring the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival.

But at this point, it’s not the Amazon data center the people of Gilroy are having an issue with. Instead, it’s the fact that a major project that has the potential to have a major impact on the community has been approved without the knowledge of many residents.

The Salem City Council convened a public meeting last July 27, where it discussed the proposed $5.1 billion Oakline at Mill Creek data center by Verrus. As the people converged on the meeting site, a TikTok user spotted a guillotine towed by a bike outside of the venue, signaling the people’s discontent with the project.

According to NewsData, the consultation lasted for more than six hours as several members of the community voiced their opposition towards it. The developer’s representatives were initially on-site to hear the comments, but had to leave midway through as they were confronted by some protesters.

“During a break in the proceedings, a group of opposition members cornered Verrus representatives and shouted insulting remarks, to the point where it no longer felt safe to stay,” Verrus spokesperson JP Newmann said, according to the publication. “We appreciate the support of local law enforcement in helping de-escalate the situation and escorting Verrus representatives from the site safely.”

One week after the meeting, Salem announced a data center moratorium that would halt all data center developments in the city for one year as it considers zoning laws to accommodate developments such as this. This adds Salem to the long list of jurisdictions that have passed similar moratoriums, including Seattle, Washington, and the State of New York.

Unfortunately, the Verrus project will likely not be affected by this delay as it filed its application three days before the announcement. Despite this, Governor Tina Kotek (D) announced that Oregon will terminate a deal to sell a 32-acre plot of land that forms part of the three plots of land on which the project will sit. While it still leaves Verrus with approximately 43 acres, it means that it would have to go back to the drawing board to change its plans. This is similar to what Nashville did when it used its eminent domain power to deny the land that another developer wanted to use to build a data center near the historic Nashville Zoo.

But because Verrus submitted its application before the moratorium announcement, the city is still processing its proposed data center project. That does not mean that it will get an immediate green light, though. It still has to go through an extensive permitting process, which includes technical studies, permit conditions, and enforceable agreements, among others.

Oregon is one of the first states to enact a law that ensures large consumers, like data centers, pay for the majority of the grid upgrades needed to serve their needs. This allowed Portland General Electric, the state’s largest power provider, to increase the bills of users who used more than 20 MW by 30%, while also affecting a 1.3% cut in residential electricity costs. But despite this protection that stops ratepayers from price shocks, many people are still against data center projects in their towns and cities.

The State Corporation Commission, Virginia’s independent state agency that regulates public utilities, has ordered data centers to pay for all the required transmission infrastructure that the project will use exclusively. According to Realtor.com, Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) has recently been pressing AI hyperscalers to reduce their impact on the power grid and utility prices.

Virginia currently has the greatest number of data centers across the U.S., with the state hosting at least 570 sites. Because of the massive power demand of these sites, the state has been experiencing issues with electricity price hikes, with one county even asking its employees, including schools, to conserve power. PJM Interconnection, which distributes power to the state, has increased prices by 76%, with Monitoring Analytics, the independent watchdog keeping an eye on the utility company, saying that this is mostly due to AI data centers.

The move requiring data centers to pay for their own upstream electrical infrastructure should, hopefully, ease the burden on the average Virginian. "We are taking real steps to address rising energy costs for Virginians," said Gov. Spanberger. "I will continue to work with the General Assembly and take action to make sure data centers pay their fair share, adhere to strict environmental standards, and listen to the concerns of local communities.”

This is one of the first statewide announcements that will enforce President Donald Trump’s ratepayer protection pledge. Trump summoned the biggest AI hyperscalers to the White House in early March and made them promise that they will “pay their own way” when it comes to building the infrastructure they need. But despite this, the burden of more expensive electricity hasn’t eased for the average American. The administration expanded this promise in late July to include state governors, utility companies, and data center developers.

Many critics said that this pledge is nothing but a piece of paper, with some comparing it to a “pinky promise.” After all, this is just a commitment and not a regulation that would penalize companies that don’t comply. Nevertheless, it seems that it has spurred at least one state to make a move that should, hopefully, have a material impact on the average citizen.

Aside from Virginia, Oregon is the only other state, so far, that has raised electrical rates for large consumers, like data centers. According to the Oregon POWER Act, facilities that consume 20 MW or more are assigned to a higher rate class. Portland General Electric, the state’s largest power supplier, has already implemented this, resulting in a 30% rate increase for these big power users, while also cutting residential costs by 1.3%.

While the average consumer isn’t necessarily paying for the power that data centers consume, utility companies had to conduct massive grid upgrades to support the increased demand from these developments. The utility companies then equally passed on all the necessary capital expenditure to all consumers, instead of just the data centers. By requiring data centers to spend on their own grid upgrades, further increases in electricity prices could, hopefully, be prevented.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is working on a ruling that will ban the import of Chinese-made optical transceivers, which are widely used in data centers to convert electrical impulse data into light and vice versa. Sources told Reuters that the agency wants to publish the ruling so that it would take effect before the end of the year.

"Transceivers definitely ⁠pose a risk," AI policy expert Divyansh Kaushik of advisory firm Beacon Global Strategies told the publication. "As the data center buildout scales up, you want to make sure the ​data center supply chain is secure from the get-go.” The administration fears that these components could be used to steal data, install malware, or disrupt data center operations in the U.S.

These optical transceivers are crucial for data centers as they require less electrical energy than traditional copper-based wiring and are also much faster. There are several U.S.-based manufacturers of these components, like Lumentum, Coherent, and Apple Optoelectronics, but Reuters said that they do not have the scale and capacity of leading company Innolight, which has cornered 27% of the global market.

This isn’t the first industry-wide ban that the FCC has imposed in recent months. While the U.S. has banned Huawei products from the country since 2019, it recently enforced several other bans that have primarily affected major Chinese or China-connected companies. This includes the ban on foreign-made drones, applied in December 2025, foreign-manufactured routers, enacted last April, and advanced robotic devices that weigh over 4.4 pounds and have a 200-kbps connection, which was announced just last month.

The first ban primarily affected DJI, while the one set in April hit TP-Link badly, even though it has since separated from its Chinese parent company in 2024. While you may not think that consumers will be affected by the Chinese robot ban, the July ruling also affects robot vacuums, with the top brands in the U.S. like iRobot, Roborock, Ecovacs, Dreame, and Xiaomi all being owned by a Chinese entity.

Although the U.S. said that all companies are affected by these bans, it also allows for conditional approvals. For example, Netgear and Amazon were able to secure exemptions for their foreign-made models through October 2027. TP-Link also applied for an additional approval in April but has yet to receive one until now.

It’s been said that the FCC wants to head off these Chinese components before they become more prevalent in U.S.-based AI data centers. This is what happened with Huawei, which was already so entrenched in the U.S. when it was banned that it became an expensive, years-long process to remove and replace all components made by the company from all its systems.

The Chinese embassy in Washington told the publication that it’s urging the United States to “heed the objective and rational voices of the business communities in both countries" and "stop smearing Chinese companies and threatening them with sanctions.” It also warned that it will take “necessary measures in response to any action that causes material harm to its interests.” Beijing has already done this last year, when it banned rare-earth exports to the U.S. in response to Washington’s EDA software ban, causing the White House to backtrack on its decision.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) just announced a moratorium on all data center approvals through the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) until the agencies have completed an audit of data centers seeking approval to connect to Texas’s electric grid. According to The Texas Tribune, the governor wants to ensure that data center applicants provide the following: tax break information, power use and generation, water use and cooling operations, community impact reduction measures, and facility ownership. Applicants that haven’t submitted these details will not be allowed to connect to the grid.

“Our top priority is to protect Texans’ safety and quality of life,” Gov. Abbott wrote in his statement. “Any project that fails to comply with the requirements set forth by the PUCT and ERCOT, and by state law, must be denied connection to the Texas grid. Simply put, Texans must come first.”

This review reportedly stemmed from several data centers’ failure to comply with a PUCT survey to determine water and power usage. The agency says that it asked 377 data center companies to send the required information, but only 28 have submitted so far.

While this is not a statewide moratorium, it nonetheless affects the progress of many data center projects going through ERCOT approval. More than 1,800 projects are awaiting the go-signal from the regulator to connect to the grid, 90% of which are data centers. The combined demand that these applications will put on the grid is expected to hit 474 gigawatts, which is five times that of the current peak demand that ERCOT has recorded and is much higher than forecasted data center demand by 2035.

This will put a dent in a lot of data center build-outs in Texas, but it still does not affect all projects, unlike the statewide ban that New York imposed. For example, El Paso, Texas, is outside the jurisdiction of ERCOT, so data center developments in the country can still continue unimpeded. Projects that are also bringing their own power are unaffected, as they do not have to connect to the ERCOT grid.

Data center opponents say that this measure isn’t enough, although some agree that this is a step in the right direction. They say that the state legislature needs to pass a law to regulate the industry, which is already the second biggest in the U.S. after Virginia. “Without legislative action, this directive is all hat and no cattle — empty political rhetoric wrapped in meaningless fluff,” Commissioner Sid Miller wrote on the Texas Department of Agriculture’s official Facebook Page. “Texans need laws with teeth, not another press release designed to make it look like something is being done while hyperscale projects continue moving forward.”

State Representative Gina Hinojosa Abbott’s opponent in the gubernatorial race in November 2026 had harsher comments for the governor. “So nice to see another strongly worded letter from Abbott after he proudly made Texas the wild west of data centers. Abbott’s call for a ‘pause’ could be for one day – and no one buys it,” she wrote in a statement. “He’s taken millions from data center CEOs while giving Texans lip service to non-existent restrictions.”

Although the majority of Americans oppose data centers going up in their backyards, several local governments still support similar developments as they believe that these will bring investments and opportunities for their constituents. However, the passionate but peaceful resistance of some people has resulted in their arrests, with Futurism reporting that 37 regular people have been arrested so far this year.

What’s more interesting is the wide demographic diversity of those who have been detained and charged. The two arrests Tom’s Hardware previously reported on included a farmer who went a few seconds over the allotted speaking time during a town hall meeting in Oklahoma discussing an AI data center project and a teacher who was dragged out of a community meeting in Kansas for clapping after a speaker finished giving their statement opposing another similar development. The protesters also crossed ideologies and party lines — the only common thing among them was the fact that they were concerned about the impact of a data center in their community.

The publication also noted that there were 12 other instances where the police were called because of a confrontation between politicians and protesting individuals. One example of this is when police intervened after a Utah senator got physical and slapped the phone out of a reporter’s hand, who was only there to cover the harassment by anti-data center protesters against his business.

“In my opinion, I was kicked out to prove a point that the law is on their side and if people continue to try and express themselves and speak, they will also be intimidated or arrested by law enforcement,” Pablo Payan, a maintenance manager who was arrested in Indiana after he refused to identify himself on the record, told Fox32. “So, I think it was a flex of power.”

Data centers have become a hot topic among the American public recently, especially as there have been widespread reports of these developments causing massive increases in electricity costs, negative impacts on the local water quality, 24/7 noise pollution, among other issues. The federal government has taken steps to reduce some of the impact through its “ratepayer protection pledge,” which includes AI hyperscalers, utility companies, data center operators, and even state governors. However, some experts say that this is just a promise that has no legal bearing, meaning companies necessarily don’t need to follow it.

Even though a few jurisdictions are pushing forward with data center projects despite local opposition, there are also some local and state governments that have paused their development. These include multiple Tennessee counties, Seattle, Washington, which is home to the headquarters of Microsoft and Amazon, and the State of New York. Most of them said they will use the one-year delay to study the effects of data center developments and how to best mitigate against them. One Pennsylvania town even took a different approach by listing 43 specific demands for a proposed data center, which its developer allegedly shot down as “too difficult.”

This is likely what made these protesters emboldened in their fight against data centers — the fact that other communities have successfully lobbied against data center developments means that they can push back, too.

Data centers on land are facing increasing opposition and having a hard time getting off the ground — from power connection issues that can take months or years to resolve, to neighborhood concerns about noise and air pollution, as well as their impact on the local water supply. One startup called Atomarine wants to solve this by building nuclear-powered data centers on barges and deploying them at sea.

There have already been various proposals to put data centers out at sea (or even submerged) from established names and startups. We’ve seen conventional examples from companies like Samsung Heavy Industries and Japanese shipping company MOL who to put the servers on dedicated ships and are powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). There are also more innovative solutions from startups that want to put them in the bases of ocean-based wind turbines or in wave energy converters.

Atomarine differs by building data centers as floating barges, similar to floating oil platforms, which can be deployed anywhere — even in international waters. This should help cut down on the permitting process, and it doesn’t have to worry about disturbing neighbors. The electricity needed to run the infrastructure is then delivered by a power ship moored alongside the barge supplied by LNG ships. Once small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) become commercially available and certified for shipboard use, operators can then swap out the conventionally powered electricity suppliers with a nuclear one relatively quickly. And because these data center barges are modular in nature, it would be relatively easy to upgrade and scale the floating data center.

While this project sounds promising, building a megastructure like this comes with several challenges. The biggest one is that the ocean is massive and unpredictable, so these barges must be engineered to face extreme weather conditions, making them quite expensive to deploy. It must also be connected to high-speed internet (unless the operators plan to ship tons of drives daily), so they’ll have to lay undersea cables, as well. Furthermore, data servers are particularly sensitive equipment, so they must be upgraded to ensure that they can withstand the continuous rolling motion and the salty environment of the sea. There’s also the question of an SMR’s viability in shipborne use, although the U.S. Navy already has a good track record of running nuclear reactors aboard massive vessels.

The mounting opposition against data centers, both by the general public and politicians, is making it harder and more time-consuming to build new projects across the U.S. While an ocean-based data center like this is likely going to be significantly more expensive and technically challenging than land-based developments, this might become the fastest option in the future if the idea proves to be viable.

The largest utility company in Georgia is conducting a massive upgrade of its grid, and part of this project requires the connecting its Ashley Park Substation to Plant Wansley, which is currently undergoing an upgrade. The 35-mile stretch between the two facilities will go through Fayette, Heard, Fulton, and Coweta Counties, and require the removal of 30 residential properties along its path, reports Fortune. This included Ansley Brown’s family home, who took to Instagram to share her story.

“Georgia Power is forcibly taking people’s homes, okay? They have no choice in this matter,” Brown said in her IG post. “As you can see behind me, these are the power lines, and this is my childhood home. My childhood home is being taken by Georgia Power — they’re going to bulldoze this entire property to the ground. We don’t have a choice in this. They’re going to be expanding these power lines. Why? For the data centers. All of this is for the data centers.”

Thankfully, her family was able to get in touch with their representative, Brian Jack (R-GA), who sent people on the ground to take stock of the situation and connected the two parties. Brown said in her last update that they’ve already settled with Georgia Power, with the company telling Fortune that the family has agreed to a settlement for an undisclosed amount.

While this ended up on a somewhat positive note for the family, this is an example of what one report previously warned about government using eminent domain to seize land for the AI infrastructure build out. Georgia Power isn’t exactly building the transmission line to connect a power plant directly to a data center, but AI data centers’ massive power demands have caused massive opposition to projects like this to appear nationwide. It also doesn’t help that an AI data center, which is being accused of secretly using up 29 million gallons of water, sits less than five miles to the southwest of the substation.

The current administration has been pushing for AI data centers, believing that it needs all that infrastructure so it can win the “AI race” against China. However, the U.S. power grid is sorely lagging behind its Asian rival, meaning U.S. power utilities and electricity providers are spending billions of dollars to upgrade the grid. This, in turn, is being passed on to every power consumer, which is heavily affecting the average American. President Donald Trump instituted and expanded the “ratepayer protection pledge” in attempt to control the spiraling costs.

California has been trying to pass a law that will codify these promises, but the same tech companies that signed the pledge are also reportedly lobbying against the bill. At the moment, Oregon is the only state that has a regulation that forces big consumers (like data centers) to pay their fair share, with industries using 20MW or more getting slapped with a 30% increase in their power bill while residents and commercial users get their costs slashed by 1.3%.

Plymouth Township, which sits roughly 13 miles to the north of Philadelphia, said that it will approve a new data center project on the condition that it meets 43 specific demands. While Pennsylvania state law prohibits blocking a landowner from using their property lawfully, Ars Technica says that townships can impose zoning restrictions and health and safety regulations. Because of this, Plymouth created a nine-page plan that covers everything from noise, light, and air pollution, to water and power use, as well as land use, taxes, and even future decommissioning of the data center.

Many jurisdictions would have just outright rejected or delayed the data center project, which is owned by Brian O’Neill, but Plymouth Township decided to go in a different direction. It still allowed the application to go through, as not doing so would expose the local government to legal action, but gave the developer the outlined demands (listed in pages 4 to 12 of this PDF) that it needs to meet to get the green light from its people. The township said that the applicant initially showed that they would implement that township’s provisions, which were derived from the demands of its residents.

“The Council can, should, and will do everything in its power to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the Township, our environment, and our residents. This is always our top priority,” Council President Lynne Viscio said in a statement. “We understand that a hyperscale data center raises numerous significant concerns, issues, and questions. Accordingly, we spent considerable time researching and developing a comprehensive set of requirements to address the concerns raised by residents, our own concerns, and the issues raised by other subject matter experts.”

Unfortunately, the data center developer rejected the concerns after seeing the breakdown of demands. It then filed a second application challenging the provisions set in the zoning ordinance, saying that they make building the project “too difficult” for the developer. Plymouth Township did not look kindly upon this, saying it “is a blatant attempt by the Applicant to demand approval by tantrum.” It’s currently unclear how Plymouth Township will move forward with the issue, with the application currently awaiting approval from the Zoning Hearing Board.

As for O’Neill, he told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the accusations of was part of a “misinformation campaign” against his project, and that he has been “negotiating in good faith” with the township’s attorney and had even agreed to most of the provisions. “We are sympathetic to the fact that they are under tremendous political scrutiny from people outside the township, as well as residents inside the township, and that makes giving a landowner their property rights … challenging,” he told the local newspaper. “However, I am a landowner, and I do have rights, and it is their job to be impartial and fair in their analysis and response.”

These requirements are meant to prevent the various challenges that other communities face with data center deployments. Examples of these include a Michigan data center generating noise 24/7 that has been affecting residents for over two years, PJM Interconnection, the U.S.’s largest power region, hiking electricity prices by 76% due to AI demand, a Meta data center contaminating a city’s reclamation water supply, and Elon Musk’s Colossus 2 data center facing a lawsuit for its unpermitted natural gas turbines spewing nitrogen oxides and other pollutants.

Police from Emporia, Kansas, arrested a teacher for applauding a speaker who was speaking out against a proposed zoning change to accommodate a planned data center in the area. According to 12 News, the police dragged 37-year-old Lux Claridge from the community meeting and charged him with disorderly conduct and interference with law enforcement. The commissioners had reportedly repeatedly warned against clapping and making other reactions while someone was speaking.

A video circulating on the internet shows Claridge clapping five times after a speaker closed their statement. We can hear in the clip below someone saying, “Ask him to leave,” followed by a second voice confirming, “Can I?” The voice then asked a police officer, “Chief? Will you ask-will you take the next person out that claps or anything, please? Thank you.”

The cops then approached Claridge, who said, “I have a right to speak.” The police were nonetheless insistent, which is when he said, “Drag me out.” Four officers then proceeded to cuff the teacher and hoisted him off to Lyon County Jail.

The data center’s critics warned against the project, saying that it could strain the local power supply and negatively impact the residents’ water quality. Their concerns are not without merit, as AI data centers have caused a massive 76% increase in electricity costs in the U.S.’s largest power region, while a Meta site is accused of muddying an entire town’s water supply.

Despite that, Emporia, located about 100 miles Southwest of Kansas City, approved the zoning changes needed for the Flint Hills Digital Campus project to move forward with the permitting process. This does not mean that the data center will immediately start construction, though, as it probably still needs to go through several more steps before it can break ground.

This isn’t the first time that a data center dissenter was hauled off to jail for reasonably pushing back against the said project. An Oklahoma farmer was arrested back in April for trespassing after going a few seconds over his allotted time and handing paperwork to the commissioners. Pushback against projects like these have been happening across the country, with several jurisdictions like Seattle and New York State enacting one-year moratoriums to study the potential effects of these infrastructure projects and how they could be mitigated.

President Donald Trump created the “ratepayer protection pledge” to force AI hyperscalers to “pay their own way” when it comes to electricity costs. He has even expanded this recently to include states and utility companies, with 23 governors and 187 firms signing up on the promise. Unfortunately, this is just a piece of paper and has no legal or regulatory power over the signees, with tech companies pushing back against a California bill that wants to turn this into law.

At the moment, Oregon is the only state that has passed and enacted a law that forces electricity consumers that used 20 MW or more to cover their fair share. Because of this, Portland General Electric, the state’s biggest power generator, has increased data center bills by 30% while cutting residential electricity costs by 1.3%.

Claridge is currently out on bail and is awaiting his hearing in September. "I'm glad to be out, but this is an inconvenience, really," Claridge said to local media. "It's not really deterring me from speaking out or, I guess, clapping."

OpenAI is in advanced talks to lease SB Energy's 10 GW data center campus in Piketon, Ohio, with Nvidia in discussions to guarantee roughly $250 billion of the financing behind it, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The site would be OpenAI's first as a tenant rather than a customer of Microsoft, Amazon, or Oracle, and Nvidia is separately discussing financing the accelerators going inside, which could run to another $350 billion. Terms haven't been settled, and the arrangement could still collapse.

OpenAI has no investment-grade credit rating, and Nvidia's involvement would let SB Energy raise debt against Nvidia's balance sheet instead of its tenant's. Nvidia has already put $30 billion into OpenAI, which has raised its projected compute spending to around $750 billion through 2030, up from roughly $600 billion earlier this year, according to the Journal. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick controls allocation of the site's power, and Anthropic, Microsoft, and Google have all spoken to him about it in recent weeks.

Nvidia's Q1 FY2027 10-Q caps maximum gross exposure across all of its partner facility lease guarantees at $3.5 billion, shrinking as partners pay their lessors, with $712 million sitting in escrow against it. Nvidia took the guarantees in exchange for warrants and carries them as credit derivatives, describing their fair value as immaterial.

The first one, disclosed in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, was capped at $860 million with $470 million of escrow behind it. The partner separately contracted to sell the data center cloud capacity, and Nvidia retained the option to assume the lease for internal use or sublease it if the escrow and that contract came up short. Neither remedy has an obvious equivalent at a 10 GW campus on federal land.

Nvidia held $62.6 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities when fiscal 2026 closed on January 25, against full-year revenue of $215.9 billion and net income of $117 billion. A $250 billion guarantee works out at roughly 71 times the guarantee book Nvidia has disclosed, more than a year of revenue, and about four times its cash.

SB Energy broke ground at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant on March 20 alongside Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Lutnick, and SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son. The site enriched uranium for the U.S. weapons program from 1954 until 2001 and is still being decontaminated. The Department of Energy had listed it among 16 federal sites opened to data center construction, and SB Energy leases the land rather than owning it. Powering the campus takes 9.2 GW of new natural gas generation plus $4.2 billion of transmission work with AEP Ohio, funded by $33.3 billion Japan committed under its trade agreement with the U.S. The first phase, roughly 800 MW, is expected in 2028.

OpenAI gave up on building its own data centers last year in favor of leasing capacity, and SoftBank carries more than $130 billion of debt while funding buildouts in Ohio, France, and elsewhere.

Residents of Dowagiac, Michigan, just filed a lawsuit against a data center that allegedly generates a high-pitched whining sound — and has done so 24/7 for the past two years.

The data center, which is owned by Alliance Cloud Services LLC, a subsidiary of Hyperscale Data, used to be an industrial building that sat behind a row of pine trees across the street from the most affected residents, according to ABC-affiliateWXYZ. The site started development in 2018 and was eventually turned into a cryptocurrency mining center in 2021. But in 2024, something changed drastically when the building started emitting noise pollution around the clock. Residents say it sounds like a vacuum cleaner in their living room, and the company has offered to buy up homes from unhappy residents.

“It sounds like someone set up a vacuum, like in your living room. And the vacuum is just... that thing needs to be cleaned ... the filter is clogged up, so it’s a high-pitch whining. And they just left it on and walked out," said Lindy Valenzuela, one of the residents living across from the data center. Billy Finn, who also lived nearby, added, “You’ve seen movies and stuff where they have somebody in a cell torturing them with sound. And that’s basically what it is."

Dowagiac has recently instituted an industrial noise ordinance, with a daytime limit of 65dB during the day and 55dB at night, and it has fined the data center for violations. However, Hyperscale Data is challenging the city’s readings and methodology. The company said that it’s planning to expand its operations in the footprint in the area, but the city said that it hasn’t received any permit applications.

Hyperscale Data CEO William Horne told the residents directly in a special council meeting that the site is pivoting away from cryptocurrency operations towards AI computing and advanced robotics, and that it’s spending $100 million to achieve this. It has also bought acres of adjacent properties for use as a natural buffer to reduce the noise that affects residents in the future, alongside other efforts that will reduce sound levels. "If they still aren't happy, and feel that their home isn't enjoyable, then we'll buy their property from them,” Horne said.

Still, this statement did not sit well with the affected residents. One of them said that their family has been living in the area for close to a hundred years, with their friends and support system, while another has a 17-month-old baby and another on the way, meaning moving for them is going to be difficult, if not impossible. Because of this, the residents asked the CEO why they didn’t act on the complaints as soon as they started and accused the company of not being a good neighbor.

This isn’t the first noise pollution lawsuit that a data center is facing in the country. A Microsoft data center is facing a similar class-action lawsuit in Wisconsin from residents who live within 1.5 miles of the facility. One non-profit organization also said that inaudible vibrations, called infrasound, that these industrial sites emit can be heard and felt for hundreds of feet in surrounding areas and could potentially have negative health effects on anyone who can feel it.

After decades of charging only a one-time fee for undersea cables along its coast, Oregon's lawmakers have recently been discussing a missed opportunity for tax revenue. The state is set to charge cable operators a one-time fee for cable installations within three miles of its coastline, and will be funneling that money into its Common School Fund.

The currently existing fee structure dates back to 2001 (25 years ago), and is simply a $5,000 application fee. The new pricing is still undergoing discussion, but the simplified version is $3 per linear foot of cable, plus $7 per each section of bore pipe — the protective structure that covers the portion closest to shore. Oregon's Department of State Lands (DSL) estimates that on a 20-year lease, this would bring in millions per undersea cable over that time span. The DSL did some rough math with Amazon's Bitfrost cable, and came up with a grand total of $1,450,380 for two decades, paid in one lump sum.

It's worth noting that the aforementioned rates were revised from an earlier, more expensive proposal that would take bore cross-section into account (a calculation that was dismissed as too complicated and, presumably, too onerous). The state wants to continue attracting investment to its tech sector, which includes around 140 datacenters and 16 undersea cables of various types. Oregon also doesn't have sales tax, and its enterprise zoning incentives has made it an attractive location for players like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

The DSL calls the revised rate "competitive-to-low," reinforcing the notion that Oregon is trying to stay competitive with its southern neighbor, California, which charges an estimated $5 per cable foot on an annual basis.

It's worth noting that spending a million or two over two decades is peanuts compared to the initial outlay required to put an undersea cable down in the first place, especially one coming from across the world. These reportedly ring in at around $250 million for a transatlantic connector — and a whopping $400 million to cross the Pacific.

Although it's not set in stone, it seems that already-approved cables might be almost entirely exempt from the new fees. Some recent contracts, such as the one for Amazon Bifrost, did include a clause that said that any fees applied by new state laws must be paid for. However, the contract also included a specific $300,000 "out" for this clause — which Amazon paid at the time.

U.S. data centers are on track to consume about 20% of the nation's electricity by 2035, up from 5.9% today, according to a new BloombergNEF forecast The research firm raised its 2035 demand projection to 194 GW, an 83% increase on the forecast it issued in December, and calculated that even a record pace of grid connections sustained every year for a decade would leave a 19 GW supply shortfall.

BNEF's December outlook put 2035 demand at 106 GW, and that figure was itself 36% above the projection the firm published in April 2025, which works out to roughly 78 GW. The 2035 number has increased around 2.5 times in 15 months, with the latest jump reflecting the volume of new AI facilities entering the development pipeline rather than capacity actually under construction. Many other forecasters are moving in the same direction, with the electrical industry nonprofit EPRI more than doubling its 2024 estimate and S&P raising its projection by more than a third between October and April.

Nearly half of the projected capacity will serve AI training and inference workloads, and the U.S. is expected to host 64% of the world's AI chips by power demand in 2033. BNEF estimates that data centers will account for around 12% of U.S. electricity consumption in 2030 before reaching 20% five years later, with Virginia and Texas running above the national average. Gartner separately forecast that global data center electricity consumption will grow 26% this year, reaching 565 TWh in 2026.

The most data center capacity ever connected to the U.S. grid in a single year is 7.1 GW, according to the report. Holding that pace through 2035 still produces a 19 GW shortfall under BNEF's base case, even after accounting for on-site gas generation. Lloyd Arnold, a BNEF analyst and one of the report's authors, told Bloomberg that of the output from "every coal plant, every gas plant, every solar farm in the U.S.," one unit of energy in five will go to data centers.

PJM Interconnection, the 13-state grid operator whose territory includes Northern Virginia's data center corridor, will send 34% of its electricity to data centers by 2035, with ERCOT in Texas at 22%, per reporting from TechCrunch. PJM's independent market monitor has already attributed a 75.5% increase in regional power costs directly to data center demand.

Close to half of planned U.S. data center builds this year are projected to be delayed or canceled, with lead times for high-power transformers stretching to as long as five years. BNEF's own December revision was driven primarily by early-stage projects that entered utility queues to secure power before construction began, so a meaningful share of the pipeline behind the 194 GW figure remains speculative.

Amazon’s Bahrain data center was reportedly once again hit by missile strikes after the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) conducted an attack against the site. Iran state media claimed that the IRGC launched cruise missiles against the AWS facility and “destroyed it” in response to the U.S.’s bombing of a nuclear plant being built in Darkhovin, Iran, which is close to the Iraqi border.

This isn’t the first time that the American tech giant’s data centers have been attacked in the area. In fact, Iran used drones and missiles to hit several AWS Middle East regional data centers just days after the U.S. began its air strikes against the country. The damage to the sites has gotten to the point that Amazon put them in “hard down” status between late March and early April, with the last update on the AWS Health Dashboard saying that the Middle East (Bahrain) Region (ME-SOUTH-1) “is currently unavailable.”

It isn’t clear if Amazon has begun work on restoring its services in the region. The U.S. and Iran agreed to a ceasefire on June 17, 2026, but the entire thing collapsed after the latter allegedly attacked three ships in the Strait of Hormuz that were sailing in Omani waters on July 7. This led to an escalating series of retaliations, with one of the recent Iranian strikes resulting in American casualties in Jordan. Aside from hitting the nuclear powerplant that’s still under construction, U.S. Central Command said that it also “targeted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces that launched attacks against U.S. service members in Jordan on July 17.” The IRGC said that this is what led to its most recent attacks on AWS Bahrain.

Despite the strikes, it seems that it had no effect on Amazon’s services — the company has long moved its customers to sites unaffected by the conflict, ensuring service continuity. While it’s possible that the tech giant is trying to repair the damage to its sites, it hasn’t released any updates about the AWS Bahrain data center. As long as the war between the U.S. and Iran hasn’t resulted in lasting peace, American infrastructure in the region is in grave danger of being attacked, especially as the IRGC has directly threatened American tech companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and even OpenAI’s $30-bilion Stargate data center in Dubai.

Elon Musk’s Colossus 1 and 2 data centers are in hot water for allegedly using unpermitted mobile natural gas turbines to generate the power they need. But even though he also owns a solar power generation and large-scale battery storage business through Tesla Energy, Electrek reports that he instead doubled down on mobile generators after purchasing APR Energy. It’s not exactly known how much Musk paid for the company, but disclosures revealed that he spent more than $50 million on the 5% stake held by a minority shareholder. This meant that he likely poured at least a billion dollars into the entire firm if every shareholder received the same amount.

Deals of this magnitude often come with press releases, but it was only made public because of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) early termination notice that approved it without requiring further review. It’s unclear why Musk did not publicize it, but SpaceXAI is currently facing allegations that its data centers in Memphis, Tennessee, are generating massive amounts of pollution that mostly affect nearby black communities. It makes financial sense for Musk to acquire APR Energy, especially if he’s spending millions of dollars renting these generators. However, he’s also trying to win over his data centers’ neighbors, like giving a 50% discount on all residential Starlink plans in Memphis and Southaven, and news like this would certainly undermine his efforts.

It’s understandable why SpaceXAI wants to continue using these mobile turbine generators instead of connecting directly to the grid. The massive amounts of power that these data centers demand, with Musk aiming for a 1-gigawatt capacity, means that the infrastructure behind that must be upgraded. It would also take months, if not years, before his sites could get approved to connect to the grid. Aside from having to go through several regulatory hoops, it would also likely face stiff resistance from the community who is afraid of experiencing the same “irreversible” 76% price spike that PJM imposed that’s being blamed on data centers.

But even without a fixed powerplant (which Musk is reportedly importing), SpaceXAI is already facing opposition from the community. The residents surrounding the sites have already filed a lawsuit against SpaceXAI and Elon Musk, but it will likely be an uphill battle, especially as the Department of Justice (DOJ) has weighed in, saying that Colossus 2 “supports mission-critical operations” for national security. We still don’t know what will happen to Elon Musk’s turbines, especially as the hearings are yet to take place; but in the meantime, nearby residents have no choice but to accept the alleged additional risk and pollution that these mobile generators bring.

Elon Musk's Colossus 2 xAI data center, which runs independently of the power grid through on-site natural gas turbines, is said to be releasing thousands of tons of nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide every year. According to Reuters, the company has installed 59 temporary, mobile natural gas turbines without permission, and these unpermitted portable units mostly heavily affect the communities surrounding the site, which happen to be predominantly black and are already suffering disproportionately high lung disease rates. xAI has claimed that it’s running 27 turbines without any permits, saying that it’s exempted because of their temporary nature.

Elon Musk’s alleged use of illegal turbines isn’t a new issue, with the community discovering that it’s been using over 30 gas turbines on the site, despite only having an ongoing application for 15 in July 2025. The company said that these turbines are exempted from the permitting process, as they are not permanent installations and will be moved within 364 days. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a ruling earlier this year that removed all exceptions, but told Reuters that “it’s considering changes allowing ‘regulatory flexibilities’ for portable units while continuing to protect public health.”

The Colossus data centers were put up in record time, and Musk had to bring his own energy sources to achieve this. That’s because connecting to the grid could take years, especially if the grid must be upgraded to deliver his 1-GW capacity target. However, the Clean Air Act permitting process could take a similarly long time, with the report suggesting xAI bypassed it completely just to achieve its goal. Adding to the complexity, while the data center is located in Tennessee, Reuters reports that "at least" 57 of the 59 turbines are actually located just over the state line in Mississippi, which issued a permit for 41 permanent turbines in March. xAI and Mississippi environmental regulators claim the turbines are mobile and therefore don't need permits, but they also aren't covered by the permit for 41 permanent turbines.

This did not sit well with the communities surrounding the data centers, especially Colossus 2, which sat near the border of Tennessee and Mississippi. Because of this, xAI (now called SpaceXAI after its recent merger with Space X) is facing a lawsuit from the NAACP, which alleges that the operation of these unpermitted turbines resulted in an 111% increase in nitrogen oxide exhaust, an 83% increase in PM2.5 airborne particles, and an 88% increase in formaldehyde emissions. The Reuters investigation says that just 30 of the 59 turbines listed could emit 2,500 tons of nitrogen oxide, 4,000 tons of carbon monoxide, and 22 tons of formaldehyde annually — way above the 100-ton nitrogen oxide threshold that the Clean Air Act set for turbines to operate without a permit.

These pollutants are proven to have adverse effects on the health of the people living within a five-mile radius of the source, and census data showed that the residents living in the affected area are predominantly black. Since Colossus 2 straddles a state boundary, the publication listed the data for two counties — DeSoto County, Mississippi, and Shelby County, Tennessee. Statistics show that about 46% of the population in the former and 94% in the latter are black, which is significantly higher compared to the 33% and 52% in the rest of the counties.

While the report did not say that these communities were deliberately targeted, it also pointed to a 2022 study that showed that areas once redlined by banks still suffer in the present day from higher air pollutant emissions. SpaceXAI recently announced an automatic 50% discount and free hardware rentals on Starlink plans for people living near Colossus 1 and 2, with SpaceX VP for Starlink Michael Nicolls saying on X, “The unique capabilities of the Colossus datacenters could not be accomplished without the partnership and support from the local Memphis community.” While this may bring some benefit to already existing Starlink users, some say that this is merely a PR stunt to help give the company a better image as the community is battling the air and noise pollution they bring to the area.