As the AI frenzy continues, big tech companies are rapidly expanding data centers across the country to power them. But the enormous water and energy demands of these facilities (and the inequity that comes with them) are raising alarms—particularly in communities already overburdened by pollution, high utility costs, and climate risks. Hear from communities fighting back in this recent Verge article: https://www.theverge.com/exclusive/770650/data-center-ai-naacp-guiding-principles We support democratically-developed and democratically-managed technologies, ones that are health affirming and benefit the public good, not those that are undemocratic and unleash harm on frontline communities. Alternatives for Community and Environment, Just Transition NWI, Center for Coalfield Justice, Memphis Community Against Pollution , NAACP. #environmentaljustice #climatejustice (fb)

This morning, Congress is considering the SPEED Act in a hearing; bringing the #dirtydeal back from the dead. Amid ICE raids, national guard troops occupying Washington, D.C., and anti-democratic moves like gerrymandering underway, we have to be clear: now is not the time for any kind of federal permitting reform. It will only accelerate public health problems and the climate crisis. This Administration doesn’t want to expand the build out of renewable energy. What it really wants is for the Republican-controlled Congress to lock us into unfettered oil and gas expansion by slashing community participation and environmental reviews, paving the way for unfettered dirty energy development at the expense of the rest of us. This is not permitting reform, it’s massive deregulation that places polluters over people. With millions feeling the cuts to food and health programs and attacks on democracy growing every day, we need to be clear: this is an agenda of harm, not abundance. Let’s call this what it is: another attempt to repeal NEPA, not a serious conversation about reform. If passed, the SPEED Act would accelerate a public health crisis, undermine treaty rights, and erode democracy. Our communities have stopped Dirty Deal attempts from different congressional actors in the past and they need to stop beating this dead horse and focus on the harm in front of us: protect our democracy and the rule of law, defend human rights by ending militarization and ICE raids, and prioritize people’s survival by stopping Medicaid and SNAP cuts, funding disaster relief, and keeping the government running. For more, read our previous statement on the SPEED Act when it was first introduced here: https://climatejusticealliance.org/speed-act/ #ClimateJustice #environmentaljustice (fb)