OnEarth Magazine

TRENTON, NJ – The New Jersey legislature passed S731/A796, a bill that would ensure electricity remains affordable, reliable, and increasingly clean as data centers come online. The bill, which will now move to the Governor's office to be signed into law, requires that large data centers meet new criteria designed to protect ratepayers, strengthen grid reliability, and accelerate construction of new clean energy resources.

The Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget announced a disastrous proposal that would jeopardize $1 trillion in federal funding for lifesaving environmental and public health research and give President Trump’s hand-chosen officials total power over who receives federal grants. The Trump administration is accepting public comments about their anti-science scheme until July 13. Send a message of opposition right away. Submit your public comment NOW.

WASHINGTON D.C. — A dangerous heat dome is settling over much of the United States this week, with "feels-like" temperatures expected to top 100–110°F for more than 200 million people through the July 4th weekend — just as Europe emerges from what researchers are calling its worst heat wave on record. NRDC experts are available to discuss the health risks, who is most exposed, and the heat protections being weakened even as the danger climbs.

WASHINGTON– “Chemical recycling” facilities have large amounts of carcinogens and other toxic chemicals on site, according to a new analysis from NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), based on public records obtained from five of the largest facilities nationwide. “Chemical recycling won’t solve our plastic crisis,” saidRenée Sharp, NRDC’s director of plastics and petrochemical advocacy.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A bill that gives households the option to receive a financial incentive to electrify their homes instead of utilities defaulting to replacing aging natural gas service lines passed unanimously (11-0) out of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications.

VALLEY FORGE, PA  – PJM membership has voted on two consequential proposals related to managing the explosion in electricity demand from data centers: the Reliability Backstop Procurement (RBP) and Connect and Manage (CAM). The RBP governs contracting with new power plants while CAM dictates how PJM will handle situations where there is more demand for power than available supply.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of health and environmental organizations submitted comments – in addition to tens of thousands of individual public comments – urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw its proposed rule, “Begin Actual Construction in the New Source Review (NSR) Preconstruction Permitting Program.” The proposal would allow data centers, power plants and other industrial polluters to complete major construction on new facilities before obtaining the air permits...

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration announced it would be paying off another company not to produce offshore wind energy, the fourth time it has wasted taxpayer funds this way. Duke Energy abandoned a lease off the coast of North Carolina that could provide enough power for more than 300,000 homes. This follows three similar payouts, bringing the total U.S. taxpayer cost to more than $2.5 billion.

When the federal science system works as it should, guided by expertise and sustained investment, it delivers real, tangible benefits that improve people’s lives every day. Decades of federal research funding have led to breakthroughs in medicine, technology, and public systems, from innovations in organ transplant matching that save thousands of lives each year to advanced life-saving insulin therapies and foundational work that helped launch modern biotechnology.

Weakening the oil and gas leasing rule In December, the Trump administration started the process to repeal key protections contained in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 2024 Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Rule. Now, it has proposed regulations to make that happen, and to go even farther. The 2024 leasing rule increased financial and environmental accountability for oil and gas leasing on public lands. It updated severely outdated policies for the first time in nearly 40 years.