EPA says [dedicated] power for data centers can sidestep pollution laws

cosmicgadget

Sounds like rural America is continuing to get exactly what they voted for - regulatory capture and business growth.

mey

Some thoughts for framing. Are data centers a national security risk? How is that different than the national electrical grid who h is already critical to national security. It sounds like the national grid is failing its purpose due to unplanned for/unexpected demands. This is a gradient, reduce demand/increase capacity. Is our health a national security issue? I would like to think so. We are making a choice, it is more important to the nation to acceleate power consumption support over health concerns and climate change. Even if allowing this exception, how much head room does that even buy us? 10 years, 1 year, 6 months worth of growth? How does that measure against bringing new cleaner energy production online? Either the bubble will pop, efficiency gains in models/tech/hardware reduce demand, or we hit the ceiling anyways. So is it worth paying this cost in the mid-term?

JohnFen

The EPA has become worse than worthless. It's overtly doing what it can to ensure environmental harms rather than environmental protection.