ALEXANDRIA, VA. (AP) — The sprawling, windowless warehouses that hold rows of high-speed servers powering almost everything the world does on phones and computers are increasingly becoming fixtures of the American landscape, popping up in towns, cities and suburbs across the United States.

Demand for data centers ballooned in recent years due to the rapid growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, and urban and rural governments alike are competing for lucrative deals with big tech companies.

But as data centers begin to move into more densely populated areas, abutting homes and schools, parks and recreation centers, some residents are pushing back against the world’s most powerful corporations over concerns about the economic, social and environmental health of their communities.

In Northern Virginia, more than 300 data centers dot the rolling hills of the area’s westernmost counties and butt up against wooded bike trails winding through the suburbs. But one of the latest proposals in the area, Plaza 500, would see a 466,000-square-foot facility and adjacent electrical substation built a few hundred feet from townhomes, playgrounds and a community center.

The pitch from Starwood Capital Group, the private investment firm founded by billionaire Barry Sternlicht, to Fairfax County officials promised jobs and a significant property tax boost. But data center critics say the incentives aren’t enough to counteract the consequences of building the facilities so close to homes.

Tyler Ray, a leader in the fight against the Virginia project, worries that more data centers in the area could compromise the already stressed power grid: Over 25% of all power produced in Virginia in 2023 went to data centers, a figure that could rise as high as 46% by 2030 if data center growth continues at its current pace. Some estimates also show a mid-sized data center commands the same water usage every day as 1,000 households, prompting concerns over the cost of water. Ray also frets over air quality, as the massive diesel generators that help power the data centers’ hardware send plumes of toxic pollutants into the atmosphere.

Ray and his neighbors tried to stop the development, but their efforts were largely unsuccessful. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in September said all newly proposed data centers must adhere to stricter zoning rules, but the Plaza 500 project was exempt.

“I don’t know how a general resident, even someone who has been engaging intently on an issue, has any chance to go up against the data center industry,” Ray said the night the supervisors voted.

For local governments, attracting data centers to their municipalities means a financial boon: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in 2024 that Virginia’s current data centers brought in $1 billion in tax revenue.

For average-sized facilities, data centers offer a small number of direct jobs – often fewer than 100 positions. Google announced recently that its investment in nearby Loudoun County, which included two data centers, created around 150 direct jobs, a figure that data center opponents say isn’t worth the hassle. But data center advocates argue that the number of indirect jobs like construction, technology support and electrical work make the projects worthwhile. In that same announcement, Google said their investment spurred 2,730 indirect jobs.

Kathy Smith, the vice chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, voted in favor of the Plaza 500 proposal because, in her estimation, data center growth is inevitable in the region, and Fairfax County should reap the benefits.

“I have a responsibility to step back from what we do and look at the big picture,” Smith said. “Data centers are not going away.”

On the other side of the country, in Morrow County, Oregon, Amazon Web Services has built at least five data centers surrounding the 4,200-person town of Boardman, nestled among vast stretches of farmland flecked with mint patches and wind turbines, next to the Columbia river.

Last year, AWS paid roughly $34 million in property taxes and fees stipulated in the agreements after receiving a $66 million tax break. Those payments, in addition to $1.7 in charitable donations from the company in 2023, have been instrumental in updating infrastructure and bolstering services. These funds have gone toward a new ladder fire engine, a school resource officer and $5,000 grants for homebuyers so far totaling at least $2.8 million.

“This road right here? Wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for AWS,” said Boardman Mayor Paul Keefer, riding in the passenger seat of Police Chief Rick Stokoe’s cruiser, pointing out the window at construction workers shifting dirt and laying pavement.

AWS has cultivated relationships with local officials including Keefer and Stokoe, who have both been in positions to vote on whether to authorize tax breaks with the company. Some former county commissioners and residents worry that those relationships are too cozy.

Kevin Miller, AWS’s vice president of global data centers, said in an interview with the Associated Press that “our interest is in being a model corporate citizen, to really be partners with those communities.”

Skepticism of the deals started years ago, when three formerly elected officials allegedly helped approve data center deals while also owning a stake in a company that contracted with AWS to provide fiber optic cables for the data centers. In June, they each paid $2,000 to settle an ethics complaint.

Those officials are no longer in office. But the latest data center deal struck between Morrow County officials and AWS, which gives the company an estimated $1 billion in tax breaks spread over the 15 years to build five new data centers, again raised eyebrows.

Two former Morrow County Commissioners, Jim Doherty and Melissa Lindsay, pushed unsuccessfully in 2022 for AWS to pay more in taxes in new data center negotiations.

“We didn’t want to blow it up. We didn’t want to run them off,” said Lindsay. “But there were better deals to be made.”

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) — A supplier of fuel for nuclear power plants announced a $60 million expansion in Tennessee on Wednesday, promising to resume and grow its manufacturing of high-tech centrifuges there to enrich uranium at its facility in Ohio.

The expansion by Centrus Energy at its massive facility in Oak Ridge comes as the U.S. ramps up its reliance on nuclear power as a climate change solution. The Tennessee facility, which stretches 440,000 square feet, is where they make and test 40-foot-high centrifuges that will be transported to the company’s enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio. The company gave reporters a tour Wednesday, showing off the centrifuges but covering other classified equipment with tarps.

Centrus is one of several companies working on enriching uranium in the U.S., which is currently dependent on foreign providers. Russia has about 44% of the world’s uranium enrichment capacity, supplying some 35% of U.S. imports for nuclear fuel, according to the Department of Energy. Just last week, Russia announced it would temporarily limit its exports of enriched uranium to the U.S. in response to the U.S. deciding to ban Russian uranium starting in 2028.

Western nuclear operators have been looking for suppliers of nuclear fuel other than Russia since it invaded Ukraine in 2022, S&P Global Commodity Insights said Wednesday.

Centrus President and CEO Amir Vexler told reporters Wednesday that the expansion was not due to Russia’s decision-making, saying that the company’s board approved the plans a few weeks ago. But he said the move illustrates why the U.S. can’t depend on other countries for its nuclear fuel.

“Nuclear is one of the key essential stabilizers in our sources on the grid. And nuclear fuel is a key essential element of that,” Vexler said. “Why would you not worry about the security of supply of that key ingredient to our grid?”

The company partners with the nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory, known for its role as one of the labs that helped develop the atomic bomb. Centrus is expanding in hopes of tapping into a fund of $3.4 billion from the Department of Energy set aside for domestic uranium enrichment. Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, the company currently has about 300 employees, including about 120 in Oak Ridge. The expansion could add 300 more in Oak Ridge.

In the same city, another company, Orano USA, plans to build a uranium enrichment facility.

The Biden administration set a target this month of at least tripling nuclear power in the United States by 2050 to help avoid the worst consequences of climate change. The United States will aim to add 200 gigawatts of new nuclear energy capacity, according to the administration’s new strategy. One gigawatt can power roughly 750,000 to 1 million homes for a year, though the exact amount varies by region and depends on energy use.

The United States currently has 94 operating reactors that produce power without emitting planet-warming greenhouse gases. Nuclear power has provided about one-fifth of the nation’s electricity since the 1990s.

Among the steps to expand nuclear power, the strategy recommends building large gigawatt-scale reactors, constructing small modular reactors and microreactors, extending the lifespan of some existing reactors and working to restart ones that retired for economic reasons. It also recommends improving licensing and developing the nuclear workforce.

President-elect Donald Trump has said he is also interested in developing the next generation of nuclear reactors that are smaller than traditional reactors.

For a company like Centrus, the business strategy includes producing uranium enriched to levels that are standard in the nuclear power plants operating today, plus at a higher level for the type of commercial small reactors that are being developed in the U.S., though none are under construction yet. Centrus’ subsidiary, American Centrifuge Operating, was one of four companies awarded a Department of Energy contract aimed at growing the higher-level uranium enrichment.

Some advocates have raised concerns about the more highly enriched uranium.

Edwin Lyman, the director of nuclear power at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said his group thinks the uranium is enriched enough in the process to make nuclear weapons, and worries about the security of keeping the material from getting into the wrong hands either at enrichment facilities, en route elsewhere or at some of the small reactors still in the works.

“The concern is that we believe that this material is more dangerous than is currently widely accepted,” Lyman said.

Asked about those kind of concerns, Vexler praised the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as “the best regulator in the business,” saying regulators ensure the material is safeguarded properly.

President-elect Donald Trump has selected Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in his upcoming, second administration. Additionally, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, his choice to head the Interior Department, will also lead a newly created National Energy Council that will seek to establish U.S. “energy dominance” around the world.

CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.

Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change, and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.

Frequently criticizing what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups, Wright has argued that the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” He has never served in government, but has written that more fossil fuel production is needed around the globe to lift people out of poverty.

Consideration of Wright to head the administration’s energy department won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm.

Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. Hamm helped organize an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to Trump’s campaign, with the expectation that Trump would curtail environmental regulations if reelected.

Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s top lobbying group, said Wright’s experience in the energy sector “gives him an important perspective that will inform his leadership” of the Energy Department.

“We look forward to working with him once confirmed to bolster American geopolitical strength by lifting DOE’s pause on LNG export permits and ensuring the open access of American energy for our allies around the world,” Sommers said.

Jackie Wong, senior vice president for climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, called Wright “a champion of dirty fossil fuels” and said his nomination to lead the Energy Department was “a disastrous mistake.”

“The Energy Department should be doing all it can to develop and expand the energy sources of the 21st century, not trying to promote the dirty fuels of the last century,” Wong said. “Given the devastating impacts of climate-fueled disasters, DOE’s core mission of researching and promoting cleaner energy solutions is more important now than ever.”

Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is expected to become chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Trump promised bold choices for his Cabinet, and Wright’s nomination delivers.

“He’s an energy innovator who laid the foundation for America’s fracking boom. After four years of America last energy policy, our country is desperate for a secretary who understands how important American energy is to our economy and our national security,″ Barrasso said.

If confirmed, Wright will join North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s choice to be interior secretary, as a key player on energy policy in a second Trump term. Wright will be a member of a new National Energy Council that Burgum will chair. The new panel will seek to establish U.S. “energy dominance” around the world, Trump said.

Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative group that supports fossil fuels, said Wright would be “an excellent choice” for energy secretary. Pyle led Trump’s Energy Department’s transition team in 2016.

Liberty is a major energy industry service provider, with a focus on technology. Wright, who grew up in Colorado, earned undergraduate degree at MIT and did graduate work in electrical engineering at the University of California-Berkeley and MIT. In 1992, he founded Pinnacle Technologies, which helped launch commercial shale gas production through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

He later served as chairman of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before founding Liberty Resources in 2010.

National Energy Council

Burgum, in his new role, will oversee a panel that crosses all executive branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, Trump said in a statement. As chairman of the National Energy Council, Burgum will have a seat on the National Security Council, Trump said.

“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” Trump wrote.

The Republican president-elect accused the “radical left” of engaging in a war on American energy, in the name of fighting climate change. His policy of energy dominance, which he also espoused during his first term, will allow the U.S. to sell oil, gas and other forms of energy to European allies, making the world safer, Trump said.

Trump’s policies, if adopted, would represent a near-complete reversal from actions pursued by Democratic President Joe Biden, who has made fighting climate change a top priority and has pushed for more electric vehicles and stricter regulation of carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants. Trump has pledged to rescind unspent funds in Biden’s landmark climate and health care bill and stop offshore wind development when he returns to the White House in January.

Trump, who has called oil “liquid gold,” said oil and natural gas, along with minerals such as lithium and copper, should be exploited to the maximum extent possible. “We will “DRILL BABY DRILL,” expand ALL forms of Energy production to grow our Economy, and create good-paying jobs,” Trump wrote.

Speaking to reporters at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort before his selection as interior secretary was announced Thursday night, Burgum said he and Trump are concerned about “the nexus between energy and inflation and the nexus between energy and national security.”

“Energy is a component of everything — it’s the clothes you wear, the food you eat,” Burgum said, adding that the U.S. needs to boost electricity production to meet increased demand from data centers and artificial intelligence.

“The AI battle affects everything from defense to healthcare to education to productivity as a country,″ Burgum said, referring to artificial intelligence. “And the AI that’s coming in the next 18 months is going to be revolutionary. So there’s just a sense of urgency and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration″ to address it.

Burgum, 68, was elected North Dakota governor in 2016, his first campaign for elected office. A former software executive, he led Great Plains Software, which Microsoft acquired for $1.1 billion in 2001. Burgum has also led other companies in real estate development and venture capital.

Burgum, a Republican, has taken a pro-business style as governor of a state where agriculture and oil are the main industries. He’s pushed income tax cuts, reduced regulations, and changes to animal agriculture laws and higher education governance. Burgum also emphasized a “data-driven” approach to governing, advocated for a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in the state and prioritized engagement with tribal nations.

He ran for president in 2023, but dropped out after his bid failed to resonate. He later endorsed Trump.

Industry groups welcomed Burgum to the new administration and said Trump’s creation of an energy council signaled renewed emphasis on spurring domestic production and streamlining regulations.

Burgum’s “deep understanding of American energy resources and public lands positions him to tackle critical issues such as enhancing energy affordability … and strengthening the U.S. in the global energy marketplace,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which promotes offshore drilling. Milito is a former vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s top lobbying group.

David Seabrook, president of The Wilderness Society, called Burgum “a longtime friend to fossil fuel interests” who played a role in an April event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to his campaign, with the expectation that he would curtail environmental regulations if re-elected.

“The first Trump administration treated (public lands) like they’re meant to be dug up, drilled or sold off for profit,” Seabrook said. “Gov. Burgum’s long track record of pushing for unchecked fossil fuel development sends a loud signal about which path they will take this time around.”

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese nuclear reactor which survived a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that badly damaged the nearby Fukushima nuclear power plant was restarted Tuesday for the first time since the disaster after a safety upgrade, as the government pursues a renewed expansion of nuclear energy to provide stable power and reduce carbon emissions.

The No. 2 reactor at the Onagawa nuclear power plant on Japan’s northern coast was put back online and is expected to start generating power in early November, operator Tohoku Electric Power Co. said.
The reactor is one of the three at the Onagawa plant, which is 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the Fukushima Daiichi plant where three reactors melted following a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, releasing large amounts of radiation.

The Onagawa plant was hit by a 13-meter (42-foot) tsunami but was able to keep its crucial cooling systems functioning in all three reactors and achieve their safe shutdowns.

All of Japan’s 54 commercial nuclear power plants were shut down after the Fukushima disaster for safety checks and upgrades. Onagawa No. 2 is the 13th of the 33 still useable reactors to return to operation. It is also the first restart in Japan of the same type of reactor damaged in Fukushima.

Tohoku Electric President Kojiro Higuchi said the reactor’s restart highlights the area’s recovery from the disaster.

Last year, Japan’s government adopted a plan to maximize use of nuclear energy, including accelerating restarts of closed reactors, extending the operational life of aging plants, and developing next-generation reactors, as the country struggles to secure a stable energy supply and meet its pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

“Nuclear energy, along with renewables, is an important power source for decarbonization,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tuesday. “We will maximize its use while ensuring safety.”

Restarting nuclear reactors is also increasingly important for Japan’s economic growth, Hayashi said.
Concern about the government’s revived push for nuclear energy grew after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit Japan’s Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1, 2024, killing more than 400 people and damaging more than 100,000 structures. Minor damage was reported at two nuclear facilities and evacuation plans for the region were found to be inadequate.

For the Onagawa No. 2 reactor, Tohoku Electric in 2013 began upgrading its safety, including tsunami risk estimates and anti-quake measures. It also built an anti-tsunami wall extending up to 29 meters (95 feet) above sea level, and obtained safety approval from regulators in 2020.

Twenty-one of Japan’s nuclear reactors, including six at Fukushima Daiichi and one at Onagawa, are currently being decommissioned because their operators chose to scrap them instead of investing large amounts for additional safety equipment required under the much-stricter post-Fukushima safety standards.

One of the largest solar projects in the U.S. opened in Texas on Friday, backed by what Google said is the largest solar electricity purchase it has ever made.

Google executive Ben Sloss said at the ribbon cutting, about two hours south of Dallas, that the corporation has a responsibility to bring renewable, carbon-free electricity online at the same time it opens operations that will use that power. Google expects to spend $16 billion through 2040 globally to purchase clean energy, he said.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who attended, said the solar project is a posterchild for the administration’s efforts to incentivize manufacturers and developers to locate energy projects in the U.S.

“Sometimes when you are in the middle of history, it’s hard to tell, because you are in the middle of it,” she said. “But I’m telling you right now that we are in the middle of history being made.”

SB Energy built three solar farms side by side, the “Orion Solar Belt,” in Buckholts, Texas. Combined, they will be able to provide 875 megawatts of clean energy. That is nearly the size of a typical nuclear facility. In total, Google has contracted with clean energy developers to bring more than 2,800 megawatts of new wind and solar projects to the state, which it says exceeds the amount of power required for its operations there.

Google, Amazon and Microsoft have all recently announced investments in nuclear energy to power data centers, too, as the tech giants seek new sources of carbon-free electricity to meet surging demand from data centers and artificial intelligence. Google has a commitment to get all of its electricity without contributing to climate change, regardless of time of day or whether the sun is up, but neither it nor other large companies are meeting those commitments with the rise of artificial intelligence.

The International Energy Agency forecasts that data centers’ total electricity consumption could reach more than 1,000 terawatt-hours in 2026, more than doubling from 2022. Estimates suggest one terawatt-hour can power 70,000 homes for a year.

The demand for power is also growing globally as buildings and vehicles electrify. People used more electricity than ever last year, placing strain on electric grids around the world.

In August, Google said it planned to invest more than $1 billion in Texas this year to support its cloud and data center infrastructure.

Google will use about 85% of the project’s solar power for data centers in Ellis County and for cloud computing in the Dallas region. In Ellis County, Google operates a data center campus in Midlothian and is building out a new campus in Red Oak. The rest of the solar power will go to the state’s electrical grid. Thousands of sheep graze in the area, maintaining the vegetation around the solar arrays.

“This project was a spreadsheet and a set of emails that I had been exchanging and a bunch of approvals and so on. And then you come over the rise over there and you see it laid out in front of you and it kind of takes your breath away, right? Because there’s this enormous field of solar arrays,” Sloss said during the ceremony. “And we actually collectively have done this. That is amazing.”

SB Energy said most of the solar farm components are made in the United States, and that’s only possible because the climate law formally known as the Inflation Reduction Act spurred clean energy manufacturing. The company expects the projects to be the first to qualify for an extra tax credit the law affords for using domestic content.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a Biden administration regulation aimed at limiting planet-warming pollution from coal-fired power plants to remain in place as legal challenges play out.

The court denied a push from Republican-led states and industry groups to block the Environmental Protection Agency rule. One justice, Clarence Thomas, publicly dissented.

Two other conservative justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, said they thought challengers would likely win on at least some of their claims eventually, but the court didn’t need to block the rule now because compliance work wouldn’t have to begin until at least June 2025. The case could end up back before the high court relatively quickly.

Justice Samuel Alito did not take part.

The rule requires many coal-fired power plants to capture 90% of their carbon emissions or shut down within eight years, though deadlines do not take effect for several years.

The power industry is the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change, and the rule is a key part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 2035 and economy-wide by 2050.

The high court earlier this month also left two other regulations in place for now, but other environmental regulations have not fared well before it in recent years. In 2022, the justices limited the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants with a landmark decision. In June, the court halted the agency’s air-pollution-fighting “good neighbor” rule.

Another ruling in June, overturning a decades-old decision known colloquially as Chevron, is also expected to make environmental regulations more difficult to set and keep, along with other federal agency actions. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce cited that ruling in court papers supporting the challenge in the coal plant case.

An appeals court had allowed the EPA’s new power plant rule to go into effect.

A panel of three judges — two nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama and one by Republican President Donald Trump — found that the states were not at risk of immediate harm because compliance deadlines do not take effect until 2030 or 2032.

Environmental groups have said the standards are reasonable, cost-effective and achievable, and well within the EPA’s legal responsibility to control harmful pollution, including from greenhouse gas emissions.

The National Mining Association argued that the rules threaten the reliability of the nation’s power grid by forcing the premature closure of power plants as demand for electricity surges.

The EPA projects the rule would yield up to $370 billion in climate and health net benefits and avoid nearly 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon pollution through 2047, equivalent to preventing annual emissions of 328 million gasoline-powered cars.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal appeals panel has temporarily halted two permits needed to begin construction on a pipeline project in Tennessee that will supply a natural gas plant.

In a split 2-1 decision, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel delivered a ruling Friday that, for now, prevents Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company LLC from starting to build its 32-mile (50-kilometer) pipeline through Dickson, Houston and Stewart counties.

The project would fuel the Tennessee Valley Authority’s combined-cycle natural gas facility at the site of the coal-fired Cumberland Fossil Plant that is being retired.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company could have begun construction as soon as Tuesday, according to the court records.

TVA, meanwhile, plans to mothball its two-unit coal plant in two stages — one, by the end of 2026, to be replaced the same year by the 1,450-megawatt natural gas plant; and the second, shuttered by the end of 2028, with options still open on its replacement.

“This pause is a crucial opportunity to rethink the risks of fossil fuel development and prioritize the health and environment of Cumberland and our region,” said Emily Sherwood, a Sierra Club senior campaign organizer, in a news release Monday.

TVA’s plans to open more natural gas plants have angered advocates who want a quick redirection away from fossil fuels and into solar and other renewables, as TVA plans to retire its entire coal fleet by the mid-2030s.

The case is set for oral arguments on Dec. 10. If additional appeals are filed and succeed, the timeline could be reset again.

“We do not agree with the court’s temporary stay and are evaluating our options to ensure this project can be constructed in a timely manner,” the pipeline firm’s parent company, Kinder Morgan, said in a statement Monday.

Spokespeople for the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Army Corps of Engineers declined to comment. Chad Kubis, a spokesperson for the state attorney general’s office, said officials there are evaluating their next steps.

The Southern Environmental Law Center and Appalachian Mountain Advocates, on behalf of Appalachian Voices and the Sierra Club, asked the appeals court in August 2023 to reconsider a water quality permit issued by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for the pipeline. In September, the groups requested an appellate review of another permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In the ruling, Judges Eric Clay and Karen Moore argued that the groups risk irreparable harm if pipeline construction begins before the judges decide their case. The company’s plans would cross scores of streams and wetlands, where construction could do long-lasting damage to waterways and wildlife, the plaintiffs contend.

Judge Amul R. Thapar, in dissent, contended the court lacks jurisdiction for the state agency claim, and that the plaintiffs haven’t shown they would suffer irreparable harm or that their case would likely succeed.

TVA’s plans for expanding its natural gas fleet have drawn additional lawsuits, including over the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of the Cumberland pipeline.

Another lawsuit claims that TVA’s environmental review of the Cumberland plant was perfunctory, in violation of the law. A separate challenge contests the decision-making for a planned 1,500-megawatt natural gas facility with 4 megawatts of solar and 100 megawatts of battery storage at the Kingston Fossil Plant, the site of a massive 2008 coal ash spill. Late last month, a judge dismissed a different lawsuit that challenged TVA’s process to approve plans for gas turbines at a retired coal plant in New Johnsonville.

The groups suing over gas expansion plans note that TVA is off track to meet the Biden administration’s goal of eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 to try to limit the effects of climate change, even with a majority of the board appointed by President Joe Biden. Several of TVA’s proposals for new natural gas plants have prompted criticism from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including a warning that its environmental review of the Kingston project doesn’t comply with federal law.

TVA CEO Jeff Lyash has said repeatedly that gas is needed because it can provide power regardless of whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. He added that it will improve on emissions from coal and provide the flexibility needed to add 10,000 megawatts of solar to its overall system by 2035. TVA has a goal of 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2035 over 2005 levels and net-zero emissions by 2050.

TVA provides power to 10 million people across seven Southern states.

The world is set to make abundant energy by the second half of the decade as the production of batteries and solar panels surges — but there’ll also be an excess of planet-warming fossil fuels, a report released Wednesday by the International Energy Agency said.

“We’re now moving at speed into the Age of Electricity,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a press statement marking the release of the annual World Energy Outlook. Energy worldwide will “increasingly be based on clean sources of electricity,” he said.

But the report also notes that the world is still way off what’s needed to cap warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial times — the limit set in the Paris Agreement — because emissions would decline too slowly. It expects demand for oil and gas to peak later this decade and puts the world on pace to hit 2.4 degrees (4.3 Fahrenheit) of warming.

China in particular — the world’s current biggest emitter of greenhouse gases but also the main manufacturer of solar panels and batteries — is driving global energy trends, the report said.

In recent years, China has accounted for most of the growth in oil demand, but electric vehicles now make up 40% of new sales of cars there, and 20% of sales globally, putting major oil and gas producers “in a bind.”

The report indicates that China’s emissions of planet-warming gases may peak by 2025, but “given the changes underway in China we think that might be a bit pessimistic,” said Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics.

Hare said “there’s every chance” China’s emissions have already peaked in 2023, but more data is needed to be sure.

China already accounts for half the world’s electric cars on the road. By 2030, it’s projected that 70% of new car sales in China will be electric. With its massive additions of new wind and solar power, China is aligned with its target for addressing climate change.

The report outlines a future where EV adoption continues to gain momentum, potentially displacing up to 6 million barrels per day of oil demand by 2030. The agency said based on current trends and policies and the availability of materials, EVs will reach 50% of global car sales in 2030.

The clean energy expansion, however, is happening alongside a rise in demand for energy, including power produced by burning coal, according to the Paris-based agency. “This has meant that even as we saw record growth in clean energy installations and additions, emissions kept increasing,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Electricity demand is growing even faster than expected, “driven by light industrial consumption, electric mobility, cooling, and data centers and AI,” the report said. The contours of switching heating, vehicles and some industry over to electricity, it said, are beginning to become clear.

Globally, the IEA said that the expansion of wind and solar power alongside the increasing adoption of EVs will ensure a peak in demand for coal, oil and gas within the decade, with carbon emissions also reaching their highest point and ramping downward.

As China’s rapidly switches toward batteries and renewable energy, oil companies find they can sell more of their product to India.

The IEA projects that India will add nearly two million barrels per day of oil to its demand by 2035, potentially offering a lifeline to oil producers looking to offset declining growth in other regions.

Laveesh Bhandari, president of the New Delhi-based think tank Centre for Social and Economic Progress, said India’s booming economic growth means it will take the energy it can get.

“While demand for EVs will rise exponentially, the growth will not be able to cover all of the additional growth in demand for vehicles,” Bhandari said. “So fossil fuel-powered vehicles use will increase for some time before leveling off and falling.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court left in place Friday two Biden administration environmental regulations aimed at reducing industry emissions of planet-warming methane and toxic mercury from power plants.

The justices did not detail their reasoning in the orders, which came after a flurry of emergency applications to block the rules from industry groups and Republican-leaning states. There were no noted dissents.

The high court is still considering challenges to a third Environmental Protection Agency rule aimed at curbing planet-warming pollution from coal-fired power plants.

The regulations are part of a broader effort by the Biden administration aimed at curbing climate change that includes financial incentives to buy electric vehicles and upgrade infrastructure, and rules tightening tailpipe pollution standards for cars and trucks.

The industry groups and states had argued the EPA overstepped its authority and set unattainable standards with the new regulations. The EPA, though, said the rules are squarely within its legal responsibilities and would protect the public.

An EPA spokesperson said Friday the agency is pleased that the Supreme Court denied applications to stay the final methane and mercury rules. EPA believes the rule tightening methane emissions from oil and gas drilling will deliver major climate and health benefits for all Americans, while the mercury rule will limit hazardous pollution from coal-fired power plants, spokesperson Remmington Belford said.

The methane rule will build on innovative technologies and solutions that many oil- and gas-producing states and companies are already using or have committed to use, while the mercury and air toxics rule “will ensure that the nation’s coal-fired power plants meet up-to-date standards for hazardous air pollutants,” Belford said.

Both rules are firmly grounded in the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act, he said.

The Supreme Court has shot down other environmental regulations in recent years, including a landmark decision that limited the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in 2022, and another that halted the agency’s air-pollution-fighting “good neighbor” rule.

The methane rule puts new requirements on the oil and gas industry, which is the largest emitter of the gas that’s a key contributor to climate change. A lower court previously refused to halt the regulation.
Methane is the main component in natural gas and is far more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term. Sharp cuts in methane emissions are a global priority — including the United States — to slow the rate of climate change.

The methane rule targets emissions from existing oil and gas wells nationwide, rather than focusing only on new wells. It also regulates smaller wells that will be required to find and plug methane leaks.

Studies have found that smaller wells produce just 6% of the nation’s oil and gas but account for up to half the methane emissions from well sites. The plan also calls for a phased-in requirement for energy companies to eliminate routine flaring, or burning of natural gas that is produced by new oil wells.

The states challenging the rule called the new standards “impossible to meet” and said they amounted to an “attack” on the industry.

The mercury rule, meanwhile, came after a reversal of a move by the Trump administration. It updated regulations that were more than a decade old for emissions of mercury and other harmful pollutants that can affect the nervous system, kidneys and fetal development.

Industry groups and conservative-leaning states argued emissions were already low enough, and the new standards could force the shuttering coal-fired power plants.

The EPA said the updates are needed to protect public health.

David Doniger, senior attorney at Natural Resources Defense Council, called the two rules critical safeguards and applauded the court order leaving them in place. He also looked ahead to the still-undecided challenges to the power plant rule.

“The court should do the same with the effort to block EPA’s power plant carbon pollution standards, which comply with the very directions the court gave it in 2022,” Doniger said.

The federal agency will be negotiating a lease agreement with Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources Development for nearly 3 square miles (7.8 square kilometers) of land surrounding the nation’s only underground repository for nuclear waste.

The project at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southern New Mexico is the latest to be announced by the Energy Department, which has identified more than 50 square miles (130 square kilometers) of government land that can be used for constructing solar arrays and battery storage systems that can supply utilities with emissions-free electricity.

Other lease agreements already are being negotiated for projects stretching from the Hanford Site in Washington state, where the U.S. produced plutonium, to national laboratories and other sites in Idaho, Nevada and South Carolina.

Andrew Mayock with the White House Council on Environmental Quality on Tuesday echoed a statement made earlier this year when the first negotiations were announced. He said federal agencies are using their scale and purchasing power to support the growth of the clean energy industry.

“We will spur new clean electricity production, which is good for our climate, our economy, and our national security,” he said.

At the nuclear repository in New Mexico, federal officials say there is potential to install at least 150 megawatts of solar and another 100 megawatts of storage.

While the amount of energy generated by NextEra at the WIPP site would be more than enough to meet the needs of the repository, none would feed directly into government operations there. Officials said the energy from the solar array would be sold to Xcel Energy by NextEra and put into the utility’s distribution system.

Xcel serves customers in parts of New Mexico and Texas, as well as other states.

Officials said there is no estimate of when ground could be broken, saying engineering and planning work would be needed once a lease is signed and regulatory approvals would be required.

The largest of the so called cleanup-to-clean-energy projects is slated for the Hanford Site, where Hecate Energy LLC has plans to deliver a gigawatt-scale system that would span thousands of acres on the southeastern edge of the property. It could be several years before that project comes online.