"Justin Pearson, a Tennessee lawmaker, has become one of the loudest voices amid a growing national backlash against the pollution and politics of America's AI buildout."
The U.S. freight system delivers significant environmental impacts nationwide, especially in states that host major rail-and-road hubs and seaports. Meanwhile, new federal laws and policies are making it harder to curtail pollution generated by freight trucks, trains and warehouses. Journalist John Lippert looks at how the public, private and nonprofit sectors are rising to this challenge.
"Ten U.S. states have legalized systems that can be plugged into standard wall outlets. The technology typically does not require permits or electricians."
"Solar panels produced 51% of California’s electricity in May, the first time the clean energy source surpassed the halfway mark for an entire month. The data counts both large-scale installations and the state’s bounty of rooftop arrays."
"Democrats are reacting to the Justice Department’s move to drop its Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case against Olympian David Hearn, saying the move validated their longstanding criticism that the administration is weaponizing the Justice Department."
"The scope of cyberattacks on U.S. water systems has grown to include at least seven states and may be far wider, officials and experts warned, as the authorities raced to safeguard the nation’s water supply against an assault that increasingly appeared to be the work of Iran."
"The renewable energy industry is turning its attention to state-level races in the run-up to November’s midterm elections."
"The Trump administration is looking to reopen closed oil refineries, including an embattled one in the Virgin Islands, amid high gasoline prices caused by the Iran war."
"The U.S. Department of Energy is harnessing the artificial intelligence boom in its bid to convert another Cold War-era uranium enrichment site, tapping private equity to fund a $100 billion data center complex that will include its own new natural gas and battery storage power plant in Kentucky."
"Trump’s order keeping an Orlando coal plant online renews environmental justice concerns over who pays AI’s pollution bill." "The fight over Stanton Unit 1 illustrates how America's AI boom could prolong coal pollution that has historically fallen hardest on Black communities."
