Federal regulators will allow tech companies to effectively plug massive data centers directly into power plants, issuing a long-awaited order Thursday, as the Trump administration urges them to help the U.S. lead the world in artificial intelligence and revive domestic manufacturing.
"Critics fear Georgia Power’s $16.3 billion investment in fossil-gas plants and batteries will jack up customers’ bills if data centers don’t show up as forecasted."
"More than $900 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants and loans are awaiting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s approval under her controversial policy of personally reviewing major expenditures, an agency source told The Hill."
"A federal judge on Wednesday blocked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ‘s attempt to shut down an aging oil pipeline running beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, finding that only the federal government can regulate interstate pipeline safety."
"Higher exports of liquefied natural gas in 2025 played a significant role in rising utility bills, an analysis of federal data found."
"Data center construction and clogged-up generation queues are driving costs — and political backlash — in the country’s biggest power market."
"The Trump administration has ordered another aging, costly coal plant to keep operating past its long-planned retirement date — this time in Centralia, Washington."
"The Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act, or SPEED Act, overcame opposition from environmentalists and many Democrats who oppose the bill’s sweeping changes to a bedrock environmental law."
"The National Park Service gave President Donald Trump the go-ahead to tear down the White House’s East Wing earlier this year after a streamlined environmental review concluded the negative effects of the president’s planned ballroom wouldn’t be too significant and despite the final design remaining a work in progress, new court filings show."
"Tech companies and lobbyists are investing millions of dollars to tackle a new political problem for the industry: Data centers, the lifeblood of the growing artificial intelligence economy, are becoming toxic with voters."
