2020 to today

1. 2024June 26, 2024Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

   Morrow County officials settle Amazon ethics case for $2,000 each

   Three officials who voted $245 million in tax breaks for Amazon owned 20 percent each of the company laying its fiber.

   Source: Former Oregon officials will pay $2,000 each to settle ethics complaint over Amazon dealsRead the full story →
2. July 30, 2024Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

   PJM capacity auction rises from $2.2 billion to $14.7 billion

   The price cleared at $269.92 per megawatt day, from $28.92. The market monitor attributed $9.3 billion of the total to data center load.

   Source: Analysis of the 2026/2027 RPM Base Residual Auction, Part ARead the full story →
3. November 7, 2024Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

   Virginia auditors put the data center tax exemption at 48 cents on the dollar

   JLARC reported the exemption cost $683 million in fiscal 2023, the largest incentive in the state.

   Source: Economic Development Incentives 2024Read the full story →
4. December 19, 2024Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

   Energy Department lab reports data centers at 4.4 percent of national electricity

   176 terawatt hours in 2023, up from 76 in 2018, with 6.7 to 12 percent projected for 2028.

   Source: 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage ReportRead the full story →
5. 2025March 5, 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

   Harvard review finds utility deals with data centers hidden from the public

   Nearly 50 proceedings reviewed. When a data center underpays for what is built for it, the rest of the customers cover the difference.

   Source: Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers Are Paying for Big Tech's PowerRead the full story →
6. May 20, 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

   Maryland orders separate tariffs for data centers

   The Next Generation Energy Act, chapter 625, signed by the governor.

   Source: Senate Bill 937, the Next Generation Energy Act (Maryland, chapter 625 of 2025)Read the full story →
7. June 16, 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

   Oregon's POWER Act signed

   House Bill 3546 requires a separate rate class and contracts for facilities over 20 megawatts.

   Source: House Bill 3546, the POWER Act (Oregon Laws 2025, chapter 323)Read the full story →
8. July 1, 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

   Senate strikes the ten year ban on state AI laws, 99 to 1

   The provision had been tied to a $500 million broadband fund. Senator Tillis cast the one vote to keep it.

   Source: Senators Reject 10-Year Ban on State-Level AI Regulation in Blow to Big TechRead the full story →
9. July 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

   Ohio regulators make data centers pay for 85 percent of what they reserve

   AEP Ohio's tariff for customers over 25 megawatts, for up to 12 years, with exit fees.

   Source: Ohio regulators approve AEP data center interconnection rulesRead the full story →
10. July 22, 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    PJM auction clears at the price cap, $16.1 billion

    $329.17 per megawatt day. The monitor found data center load added $7.27 billion.

    Source: 2026/2027 Base Residual Auction ReportRead the full story →
11. August 6, 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    Tucson City Council votes unanimously against Project Blue

    The 290 acre campus tied to Amazon would have used about 6 percent of the city's water. The developer went ahead on county land.

    Source: Tucson City Council rejects Project Blue data center amid intense community pressureRead the full story →
12. August 20, 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    Louisiana approves three gas plants for Meta, 4 to 1

    2,262 megawatts at $3.2 billion, a 15 year contract with sealed terms, and a $550 million line.

    Source: Entergy gets green light for three controversial new gas plants to power Meta data centerRead the full story →
13. August 22, 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    Federal government takes a 9.9 percent stake in Intel

    $8.9 billion paid with CHIPS grants and a Defense Department program, with no vote in Congress.

    Source: Intel and Trump Administration Reach Historic Agreement to Accelerate American Technology and Manufacturing LeadershipRead the full story →
14. November 25, 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    Virginia approves Dominion's Chesterfield gas plant and a rate class for data centers

    944 megawatts at $1.47 billion; residential bills up $11.24 a month in January 2026.

    Source: SCC approves Chesterfield gas plant and Dominion rate hike, creates new rate class for data centersRead the full story →
15. December 11, 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    Executive Order 14365 signed against state AI laws

    A Justice Department task force to sue states, and broadband money conditioned on states dropping the laws.

    Source: Executive Order 14365, Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial IntelligenceRead the full story →
16. December 19, 2025Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    Georgia certifies 9,985 megawatts of new generation, 80 percent for data centers

    Unanimous vote. Five new gas units, and more than 1,000 miles of transmission line to carry it.

    Source: PSC unanimously votes to approve Georgia Power's data center plan without sufficient customer protectionsRead the full story →
17. 2026March 18, 2026Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    Microsoft ends nondisclosure agreements with local governments

    The company said it would find its active NDAs and terminate them.

    Source: Putting communities first: our decision to end NDAs with local governmentsRead the full story →
18. May 13, 2026Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    Gallup: 71 percent oppose a data center in their area

    48 percent strongly. More opposition than to a nuclear plant.

    Source: Americans Oppose AI Data Centers in Their AreaRead the full story →
19. May 27, 2026Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    Ohio pauses its data center tax exemption

    The exemption had cost $1.6 billion in 2025 against a $136 million forecast. Existing agreements continue.

    Source: Governor DeWine Announces Pause of Data Center Tax ExemptionRead the full story →
20. July 6, 2026Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    Spartanburg County residents sue over a $3 billion data center approved as a minor development

    Two applications, no planning commission review, no public meeting.

    Source: Concerned Citizens of Spartanburg County v. Spartanburg County and Valara Holdings LLC, summons and complaintRead the full story →
21. July 13, 2026Energy, Utilities & Data Centers

    Meta's Louisiana campus grows to 5 gigawatts and $50 billion

    Seven more gas plants, three batteries, and 240 miles of line, with a commission decision expected in December.

    Source: Meta expands data center campus in Richland Parish, Louisiana, to 5GW, will invest $50bnRead the full story →

Stories (9)

• 2024 to 2025How Household Electric Bills Are Paying $9.3 Billion for Data Center Power PlantsThe cost of generating capacity in PJM, the market that serves 65 million people in 13 states, went from $2.2 billion to $14.7 billion in one auction, and the market's independent monitor attributed $9.3 billion of that to data center load. In Louisiana and Virginia, utilities are building gas plants for Meta and for data centers under contracts the public cannot read. Maryland and Oregon passed laws in 2025 to put data centers in a rate class of their own.Energy, Utilities & Data Centers
• June to December 2025Project Blue: The Secret Amazon Data Center Deal Rejected by Tucson VotersOfficials in Tucson and Pima County signed nondisclosure agreements about a 290 acre data center campus known only as Project Blue. Public records tied it to Amazon. It would have used 1,910 acre feet of water a year, about 6 percent of the city's supply, in a drought. On August 6, 2025 the city council voted unanimously to end the negotiations. The developer kept the county's land and got its power contract approved in December.Energy, Utilities & Data Centers
• August 2025Billions in State Tax Breaks for Meta, Amazon, and Tech Data CentersAs household electric bills climb past $300 to $600 a month, state tax records show billions in public subsidies for tech company data centers: a Louisiana sales tax exemption for Meta estimated at $3.3 billion, a Virginia exemption that returns 48 cents in state revenue for every dollar given up, an 85 percent property tax abatement in Abilene for 357 jobs, and three Oregon officials who voted tax breaks for Amazon while owning a fifth of the company laying its fiber.Energy, Utilities & Data Centers
• 2024 to 2026Meta's $50 Billion Louisiana Data Center: Shell Companies, $3.3 Billion in Tax Breaks, and 10 Gas PlantsThe company applied for a water permit in Richland Parish as Leley LLC, for a project called Sucre. Its sales tax exemption was approved in July 2024 without a public estimate of its value; a later estimate is $3.3 billion. In August 2025 the Public Service Commission approved three gas plants at $3.2 billion, with Meta committed for 15 years and the plants built to run for 30 or more. In July 2026 the project grew to 5 gigawatts and $50 billion, with seven more gas plants.Energy, Utilities & Data Centers
• December 11, 2025Executive Order 14365: Ordering the Justice Department to Sue States Over AI LawsOn December 11, 2025 the president signed Executive Order 14365, which sets up a task force at the Justice Department to sue states over their artificial intelligence laws and lets federal agencies withhold broadband money from states that keep them. Five months earlier the Senate had voted 99 to 1 to strike a ten year ban on the same laws from the budget bill.Energy, Utilities & Data Centers
• 2025 to 2026Georgia Power's 1,000 Miles of New Transmission Lines and Eminent Domain for Data CentersGeorgia's largest utility plans more than 1,000 miles of new high voltage lines, up from 24 miles in its 2019 plan, to carry the 9,985 megawatts of new generation the state approved in December 2025, about 80 percent of it for data centers. The lines cross more than 330 private parcels. A homeowner who turns down the offer can have the land taken by eminent domain.Energy, Utilities & Data Centers
• 2006 to 2026How Cities and Counties Sign Secret NDAs Before Approving Data CentersErin Brockovich put up a map where people could report a data center near them and got 3,862 reports in a month from 49 states. The reports said the same thing: nobody was told, the officials had signed nondisclosure agreements, and the announcement was the construction. Elected officials in Louisiana have signed at least 54 NDAs since 2024. Microsoft ended its use of NDAs with local governments in March 2026.Energy, Utilities & Data Centers
• 2022 to 2026Ohio's $1.6 Billion Data Center Tax Exemption and Soaring Grid Capacity CostsOhio's sales tax exemption for data centers cost the state $1.6 billion in 2025, almost twelve times the $136 million the Department of Taxation had forecast, and the governor paused new applications in May 2026. The price of capacity in the regional power market rose more than nine times in one auction. A group of rural Ohioans is gathering the 413,000 signatures needed to put a ban on large data centers on the 2027 ballot.Energy, Utilities & Data Centers
• 2026Data Center Electricity Demand, Water Consumption, and Telecom Network ControlData centers used 4.4 percent of the country's electricity in 2023, up from 1.9 percent in 2018, and could use 12 percent by 2028. The industry has negotiated through shell companies and nondisclosure agreements since Google's first data center in 2006. The government has claimed the whole telephone network for military use since 1961, and in 2011 a transit agency turned off cell service to stop a protest. Seven in ten Americans oppose a data center near them.Energy, Utilities & Data Centers