Brendan Gibbons
/
March 5, 2026

Power grab for Musk AI data center in Memphis sparks environmental justice fight

Over the past two years, billionaire Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company has turned South Memphis into ground zero for one of the most contentious energy and environmental battles in the country. The fight involves gas turbines for a data center operated without a permit, threats to the region's drinking water supply, and a scandal over the company's Grok chatbot generating sexualized images of women and minors. 

News Briefs

March 5, 2026
U.S. war with Iran is already driving up energy costs for Americans

With strikes on multiple Middle East energy sites and tanker traffic slowed due to threats, President Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday that the U.S.’s war with Iran is driving up energy prices.

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March 5, 2026
Liquified natural gas exporters could profit most from war with Iran

With Iranian strikes shutting down natural gas terminals in the Persian Gulf, U.S. natural gas exporters like Venture Global and Cheniere are seeing their stock price jump.

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March 5, 2026
Trump Administration poised to allow restart of California offshore oil pipeline

The federal agency in charge of pipeline safety is accepting public comments on a request by Sable Offshore to restart an oil pipeline that caused a huge oil spill near Santa Barbara in 2015.

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News Articles

Tom Pelton
/
February 26, 2026

Growing use of secrecy agreements between developers and local governments troubles advocates of open government

Developers and local governments across the U.S. that want to avoid public debates with local residents about controversial projects – from data centers to solar farms and chemical plants – in recent years have increasingly employed nondisclosure agreements as a tactic to keep things quiet and out of the press until deals are complete. For example, when local elected officials in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, began negotiating to remove an historically Black community beside the Mississippi River for a 17,000-acre industrial complex, the officials signed what amount to gag orders promising to “protect the secrecy” of the project.

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Ari Phillips
/
February 19, 2026

Massive gas-powered data center in Permian Basin is latest in string of Texas AI computing hubs

Texas’s environmental agency recently approved the latest in a string of large gas-fired power plants to support the state’s burgeoning data center industrial complex. The GW Ranch Project, set to be constructed in Pecos County, West Texas, in the Permian Basin, could generate up to 7.65 gigawatts of electricity, making it the largest power project in the U.S. One gigawatt of electricity can power about 750,000 homes, so this single data center complex could power over five million homes, or a large American city.

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Ari Phillips
/
February 12, 2026

Trump Administration sues California to block new law protecting schools and homes from nearby drilling

The Trump Administration's Department of Justice recently sued California to try to block a new state law designed to prevent oil wells from being drilled dangerously close to schools, homes, hospitals, and other sensitive locations where people live, work, and gather. The federal lawsuit comes after the failure of an expensive effort by the oil and gas industry to try to revoke the California law by voter referendum, which was rejected in a wave of community pushback and public outcry.

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Brendan Gibbons
/
February 5, 2026

Trump Administration gives pipeline companies a new way to sidestep safety rules

As companies plan a massive expansion of fossil fuel pipelines across the U.S., the Trump Administration is making it easier for operators to avoid following pipeline safety regulations. Under a new policy directive, the nation’s pipeline safety agency stated it would not take up enforcement actions against companies that receive waivers to avoid safety rules. Concerns of spills and explosions grow among environmental groups.

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In Depth Reports

The Lone Star State’s Gas Plant Boom

A wave of 130 natural gas power plant projects in the Lone Star State, proposed in part to feed the artificial intelligence boom, could release as much greenhouse gas pollution as 27 million cars and trucks driving for a year, according to a report from the Environmental Integrity Project.

Pollution from Oil Refineries with Outdated Boilers and Heaters

The Environmental Integrity Project examined publicly available data and records for the 20 petroleum refineries in the U.S. that reported emitting the most greenhouse gases in 2023. Out of the refinery boilers and heaters with age information, 87 percent of these units (739 of 845) are outdated.

Plastic's Toxic River

The Environmental Integrity Project examined the records of 70 U.S. facilities that make plastics or the main chemical ingredients in plastics and found they discharged almost 12 million pounds in 2023 of total nitrogen and phosphorus.

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