The Daily (NYT podcast)
(July 31, 2025)
After rolling back a slew of regulations aimed at reversing climate change, and pulling funding for the scientists who monitor it, the Trump administration is now taking its boldest action yet. It’s eliminating the scientific finding at the heart of the government’s ability to fight climate change in the first place.
Wired
(July 30, 2025)
A new report released by the Department of Energy purports to provide “a critical assessment of the conventional narrative on climate change.” But nine scientists across several different disciplines told WIRED the report mishandled citations of their work by cherry-picking data, misrepresenting findings, drawing erroneous conclusions or leaving out relevant context.
The Wall Street Journal
(July 29, 2025)
Utilities and technology companies are at odds over who should pay for electricity costs in unprecedented data-center build-out.
PEC's president Chris Miller is quoted in this article.
The New York Times
(July 29, 2025)
Mr. Zeldin said the E.P.A. planned to rescind the 2009 declaration, known as the endangerment finding, which concluded that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health. Without the endangerment finding, the E.P.A. would have no authority to regulate the greenhouse gas emissions.
Business Insider
(July 28, 2025)
After a decade of little to no growth, electricity demand in the US is expected to grow 2.5% annually through 2035, driven largely by data centers, according to the Bank of America Institute. Utility bills are rising faster than the pace of inflation, per the US Energy Information Administration.
Canary Media
(July 28, 2025)
Mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM is under intense political pressure to solve its interconnection backlog and other problems. But experts warn there are no easy fixes.
ProPublica
(July 27, 2025)
A new study by ProPublica, which examines the world’s total supply of fresh water — accounting for its rivers and rain, ice and aquifers together — warns that Earth’s most essential resource is quickly disappearing, signaling what the paper’s authors describe as “a critical, emerging threat to humanity.”
Hampshire Review
(July 30, 2025)
The Hampshire County Commission is urging the Monongalia County Commission to join it in publicly opposing two high-voltage transmission projects looking to feed power generated in West Virginia and Pennsylvania to Virginia to power massive data centers.
Culpeper Star-Exponent
(July 28, 2025)
Every summer, tens of thousands flock to the shores of Chincoteague Island to see the wild ponies swimming across the Assateague Channel.
WTOP News
(July 28, 2025)
Fans of Maryland blue crabs know they've been difficult to find in recent years, and that many of the crabs at fish markets and restaurants are from North Carolina and Louisiana. Now, North Carolina is considering restrictions that could drop the annual harvest by 21%.
Canary Media
(July 28, 2025)
Mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM is under intense political pressure to solve its interconnection backlog and other problems. But experts warn there are no easy fixes.
The Washington Post
(July 27, 2025)
Form Energy makes batteries to stabilize the electrical grid, including by strengthening solar- and wind-energy sources. The company, which benefited from tens of millions in investments and clean-energy tax credits during the Biden administration, has already hired 440 people, including dozens of former Weirton Steel employees. But its leaders don’t want it to be typecast as green, as the Trump administration takes aim at clean-energy initiatives.
The Washington Post
(July 27, 2025)
The data centers required for Big Tech are driving up electricity demand — and prices. This summer, across a vast stretch of the eastern United States, monthly home electric bills jumped.
Canary Media
(July 25, 2025)
A controversial bill to unravel North Carolina’s climate law would cost the state more than 50,000 jobs annually and cause tens of billions of dollars in lost investments, a new study finds. The research comes days before the Republican-controlled state legislature aims to override a veto of the measure by Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat.
Garden & Gun
(July 24, 2025)
American chestnut trees once dominated the Appalachian Mountain forest-scape, covering an estimated 200 million acres of land from Mississippi to Maine. An invasive blight in the early 1900s felled the giants – by 1950, they were functionally extinct.
Smart Cities Dive
(July 31, 2025)
Procedural missteps can derail even well-supported measures to eliminate single-family zoning — a problem Charlottesville, Virginia, is now addressing.
29 News
(July 31, 2025)
Though the County Board of Supervisors created an ordinance that established a 40,000 square foot cap on data centers in industrial districts, there are exceptions in the overlay districts that are potentially problematic.
This clip features PEC's Senior Land Use Field Representative for Albemarle & Greene Counties, Rob McGinnis.
29 News
(July 27, 2025)
The Rivanna Conservation Alliance is spotlighting a project in Charlottesville that calls on the community to report otter sightings. According to the RCA and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, seeing otters is a good sign because they only live near clean water.
Information Charlottesville
(July 25, 2025)
While Charlottesville seeks permission to restore a new zoning code adopted in 2023, there are still several projects that are allowed to be evaluated under the zoning code in 2003. One of them is an apartment building with 267 units planned for 1185 Seminole Trail.
Culpeper Star-Exponent
(July 26, 2025)
Featured on the cover of PEC's "Buy Fresh Buy Local" guide distributed to 82,000 households this past spring, Culpeper resident Don Haight farms six acres in Batna, a farming hamlet in the Stevensburg District. He also promotes healthful eating and nutrition, contributes to local food pantries and is part of a coalition providing healthy local food to neighbors.
PEC's "Buy Fresh Buy Local" publication is mentioned in this clip.
Fauquier Times
(July 29, 2025)
The event will include a presentation by The Virginia Conservation Assistance Program, which provides financial, technical and educational help for residents to make their properties more resilient to heavy rain, including paying for things such as rain barrels and permeable pavement that decrease runoff.
The event will be held on Saturday, Aug. 16 from 1 to 2 p.m. at Schoolhouse #18, 7592 John Marshall Highway, Marshall.
Fauquier Now
(July 27, 2025)
The developers of a proposed 2.2-million-square-foot data center outside Remington say they are considering reducing the project’s physical scale in response to public opposition and input from the project's end user— a change that could impact projected tax revenue for Fauquier County.
NBC Washington
(July 24, 2025)
What began in 2017 as a project neighbors were told would grow sod for lawns has transformed into a major dumping operation, with some mounds across 56 acres reaching 40 feet high.
Bloomberg
(July 29, 2025)
Northern Virginia housing developments that will soon be walled in by data centers exemplify the tensions over unfettered growth, as calls increase for regulation.
RealRadio804
(July 29, 2025)
The prestigious recognition highlights the organization’s outstanding efforts in supporting wildlife conservation, enhancing community engagement and promoting the preservation of natural habitats within the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Rappahannock News
(July 26, 2025)
To specifically manage the data center growth without exposing traditional members to risk, REC created Hyperscale Energy Services to provide data centers with market power from PJM. Hyperscale also allows REC to manage financial risk effectively by ensuring that very large users pay their fair share of system costs.
Virginia Pilot
(July 31, 2025)
Virginia has yet to meet its goals of reducing nitrogen and phosphorus in the Chesapeake Bay. Experts say nutrient management in agriculture can help.
Free Lance-Star
(July 31, 2025)
A group of Fredericksburg-based volunteers wants to do the same thing with food that the Little Free Library system has done with books. The newly formed nonprofit FXBG Fridge & Food Rescue is looking to put refrigerators, as well as small pantries, in communities where neighbors could give or take some food, just as patrons of the Little Free Library do with mysteries or romance novels.
Virginia Mercury
(July 30, 2025)
Since the Chesapeake Bay watershed agreement was signed in 2014, more than 2,200 acres of oyster habitat have been restored. A new agreement will focus on restoring new tributaries for oyster reefs, potentially adding an additional 1,800 acres of habitat restoration.
Bay Journal
(July 28, 2025)
In Northern Virginia, the water comes from the Potomac River basin — a source that also supplies drinking water to residents before flowing to the Chesapeake Bay. Each new large AI language model that comes along now accounts for substantially more water consumption than its predecessor, and experts are predicting a future in which the water-cooling needs of AI could compete with the region’s other water needs.
The Washington Post
(July 26, 2025)
The surcharge will affect 556,000 customers in much of Northern Virginia from August to October, and the average residential customer in Virginia may pay roughly $10 more per month on their gas bill. The surcharges are not capped and will be based on each customer’s natural gas use.
WTOP News
(July 25, 2025)
Hypoxia levels in the Chesapeake Bay were triple the normal level in June, which is the largest volume measured in Maryland since the program started monitoring it. The condition can cause stress to the organisms, as well as reduce the size of their habitat.
WTOP News
(July 24, 2025)
Researchers at the University of Maryland, along with the Environmental Protection Agency and Chesapeake Conservancy, used high resolution photos and AI to study the watershed so closely that they could detect changes in elevation along every square meter.
Cardinal News
(July 30, 2025)
State inspectors said they found environmental violations at Energix Renewables’ Sunny Rock Solar. This marks the fourth year in a row that the company has faced such civil penalties.
29 News
(July 30, 2025)
The butterfly house is a project of the Fluvanna Master Gardeners and Rivanna Master Naturalists and is an extension of the Wildlife Habitat Restoration Project at the park. With native plants, larvae, and fluttering, the house works to foster a hands-on learning experience for children and adults.
Parkersburg News & Sentinel
(July 29, 2025)
Consumer advocates argue that West Virginia electric customers should not be held financially responsible for bad business decisions by two American Electric Power subsidiaries when purchasing more coal than needed for their power plants.
Bay Journal
(July 29, 2025)
Virginia Natural Gas plans to install a compressor station in Chesapeake, VA, that the company says is needed to ensure gas reaches its northern customers. But the local community is concerned about the additional air pollution such a project could bring.
Roanoke Rambler
(July 29, 2025)
With the chance of a major data center, the Roanoke region faces one of the most territorial tests over water since Roanoke and Roanoke County formed the water authority in 2004.
Virginia Mercury
(July 28, 2025)
Members of the Louisa community railed against a now-halted fourth proposed data center but concerns remain over the three to come.
This clip features PEC's Land Use Field Representative for Culpeper County, Sarah Parmalee
E&E News
(July 28, 2025)
Mountain Valley Pipeline wants to build a new natural gas pipeline in the Southeast. But Williams Cos. says its planned pipeline is all that’s needed.
Free Lance-Star
(July 27, 2025)
The study is being described as a critical step toward understanding how both permitted and non-permitted water withdrawals affect fish eggs and larvae; and will help determine if cumulative withdrawals cause higher salt levels upriver and what impact that could have on agricultural and seafood industries..
Engage Louisa
(July 27, 2025)
In the wake AWS' withdrawal for a third campus, residents continue to share their concerns about the community’s data center boom. Two groups who led the opposition held a community meeting last week to provide information about data centers to others in the community.
This clip features PEC's Land Use Field Representative for Culpeper County, Sarah Parmalee
Cardinal News
(July 25, 2025)
The company’s plan – “MVP Boost” – would boost the pipeline’s natural gas capacity by 25% and could employ a new compressor station near the border of Montgomery and Roanoke counties.
ABC 8 News
(July 25, 2025)
Two AWS data center campuses are currently under construction in Louisa County as part of a $35 billion data center expansion project. The third campus was proposed for construction in the Mineral District.
Cardinal News
(July 31, 2025)
The Spanish blackout apparently wasn’t caused by solar power, but not even a left-of-center government in Britain can figure out how to avoid using natural gas. Here’s what those situations mean for Virginia.
Virginia Pilot
(July 31, 2025)
Dominion Energy’s Integrated Resource Plan projects that Virginia will require more than 300 million megawatt hours of electricity by 2036, as well as a continuing demand increase of 5.5% per year from the current 140 million megawatt hours to 2045.
Cardinal News
(July 29, 2025)
The actual share, according to those who have studied such things, is probably closer to 22%. Still more than anybody else, though.
Cardinal News
(July 29, 2025)
The money – earmarked for infrastructure, timber, and plasticulture losses, as well as market losses and future economic losses – is part of a block grant program run by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and aimed at farmers and foresters who have not already received assistance through other programs.
Cardinal News
(July 28, 2025)
When federal policy changes to reflect energy reality but state law remains frozen in ideology, ratepayers pay the price. Virginia must revisit the Virginia Clean Economy Act and bring its energy policy back in line with grid reliability and economic stability.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(July 25, 2025)
Failure to realistically plan for the commonwealth’s future energy needs would be a detriment to our generation and to those after us. Fortunately, it’s not too late.
Utility Dive
(July 25, 2025)
Coal- and gas-fired power plants have a new best friend: data centers
The data center boom is here to stay, but so is climate change. Load growth is not an excuse to reverse progress and renew dependence on fossil fuel energy.
ABC 8 News
(July 24, 2025)
Inspectors discovered the pest, Cydalima perspectalis, at four locations in Clarke and Loudoun counties. Known as the box tree moth, the pest poses a serious threat to boxwood plants (Buxus species), a popular ornamental shrub in Virginia landscapes.
Heatmap
(July 31, 2025)
Some 100 low-income housing providers that won more than $760 million in grants and loans from the IRA’s Green and Resilient Retrofit Program to make critical safety and energy upgrades to their buildings are still in limbo.
Heatmap
(July 31, 2025)
In a secretarial order on Tuesday, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum directed his department to eliminate policies that give “preferential treatment” to wind and solar.
Nucnet
(July 31, 2025)
The Orion plant is set to deliver power to Microsoft data centers in the state by 2028, should development remain on track. The project is the world’s first power purchase agreement (PPA) for nuclear fusion, with the company expected to offtake up to 50 MW of capacity following a one-year ramp-up period.
Associated Press
(July 30, 2025)
The data center, a joint effort between regional energy infrastructure company Tallgrass and AI data center developer Crusoe, would begin at 1.8 gigawatts of electricity and be scalable to 10 gigawatts. A gigawatt can power as many as 1 million homes – that's more than Wyoming has people.
Notus
(July 30, 2025)
A new report from the Trump administration casts significant doubt on the risks of climate change, citing scientists’ studies from major research institutions around the world. At least ten of those scientists told NOTUS that the report misrepresents their findings and research.
The Washington Post
(July 30, 2025)
After reviving Three Mile Island, Silicon Valley races to lock down more contracts at aging reactors, alarming some regulators and consumer advocates.
Latitude Media
(July 30, 2025)
Senator Martin Heinrich asked the agency to explain the legal justification behind its decision to cancel the $5 billion loan guarantee.
Utility Dive
(July 30, 2025)
In Texas, where renewable energy is booming, data center emissions fell by up to 40% in the MIT modeling of flexible data center workloads. In other regions, however, emissions rose.
Heatmap
(July 30, 2025)
Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill took a huge bite out of the climate economy. One segment that emerged largely unscathed, however, is advanced climate tech. EXCEPT for the growing ecosystem of electric vehicle charging startups. Not only did OBBBA take a hammer to consumer EV tax credits, Trump also paused funding for key federal charging initiatives.
Volts (Podcast)
(July 30, 2025)
It's extremely expensive to build public transit in the U.S. And it's simply impossible to have sustainable modern cities without public transit.
Virginia Mercury
(July 30, 2025)
To support the proposed increases in AI use, the plan outlines a streamlined permitting process for data centers, which includes lowering or dropping environmental regulations under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and others. It also proposes making federal lands available for data center construction.
Wired
(July 29, 2025)
New AI regulations suggested by the White House mirror changes to environmental permitting suggested by Meta and a lobbying group representing firms like Google and Amazon Web Services.
The Washington Post
(July 29, 2025)
The severe homeownership gap in the United States demands urgent bipartisan action. With an estimated shortage of more than 4.5 million homes, the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA) is a pragmatic and widely supported proposal that would help build and restore homes in the communities that need them most.
The Wall Street Journal
(July 29, 2025)
With Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern deal, a single company would control coast-to-coast rail shipments for first time in history.
EcoRI News
(July 28, 2025)
Critics of the plan, including some members of Congress, are concerned that the push will come at the expense of the environment and public health because of the vast network of data centers needed to develop the emerging technology.
PEC's director of land use, Julie Bolton, participated in the roundtable and is quoted in this piece.
Heatmap
(July 28, 2025)
Legislators tasked with negotiating appropriations in both the Senate and the House of Representatives last week proposed fully funding Energy Star at $32 million for the next fiscal year.
Canary Media
(July 28, 2025)
VPPs built out of home solar and battery systems could bolster the overtaxed power grid, lower energy costs for consumers, and help invigorate a struggling industry.
E&E News
(July 28, 2025)
The rule would suspend a Biden-era mandate for oil and gas operators to step up monitoring and repair of natural gas leaks. It would apply to both new oil and gas operations that are already required to comply with the standard, as well as to the states writing implementation plans for their existing facilities.
Grist
(July 25, 2025)
Cuts to climate and justice related programs have gone deep into services communities rely on to survive, like food aid in rural areas or improvements to failing wastewater infrastructure. While farmers have lost grants and support that help keep them going through increasingly volatile weather.
Open Circuit (Podcast)
(July 25, 2025)
In a moment of cognitive dissonance in Washington, policymakers are talking about building energy faster, while quietly dismantling the tools to do so – from slashing clean energy deployment by as much as 60% over the next decade to bringing back hard tax credit sunsets, introducing tight construction deadlines, and imposing strict foreign entity restrictions. All against a DOE reliability report that warns of a 100-fold increase in blackout risk in high-renewables scenarios.
Inside Climate News
(July 25, 2025)
City officials showed little interest in the details in one of the largest development projects in Alabama's history—one that could clearcut more than 100 acres of land, threaten endangered species and lead to large increases in water and electricity usage. Instead, they many relied on assertions made by the developer behind the $14.5 billion project.
The Washington Post
(July 25, 2025)
Most of the items flagged by parks staff highlighted references to slavery, the Civil War or civil rights without commenting on what should be done about them. Some employees flagged signs that reference climate change.
Bisnow
(July 25, 2025)
The rise of AI is pushing data centers to their limits. Calls for bigger, denser facilities are increasing and tenant power requirements are surging, but it’s not enough to meet the needs of today’s market or tomorrow’s users. A developer looking to build a data center in a hot corridor may find itself staring down a waitlist of seven years to get power.
Morning AgClips
(July 24, 2025)
The Strengthening Local Food Security Act of 2025 will fund USDA cooperative agreements to purchase food from local producers and distribute it to hunger relief organizations and schools participating in school meal programs.
The Washington Post
(July 30, 2025)
In Pacific Ocean trenches, scientists found creatures that expand the limits of where we know life can live on Earth.
Financial Times
(July 30, 2025)
A visual presentation: The quest for superintelligence is spurring a data centre boom — but critics question the cost, environmental impact and whether it is all needed.
The Washington Post
(July 27, 2025)
Tuvalu has sold foreign fishing licenses to help support its budget and its efforts to adapt to the rising seas of a warming world. But with the fish leaving its regulated waters, that source of income is declining.
Mongabay
(July 24, 2025)
In 2023, Colombia – a major oil-producing – halted all new oil and gas exploration contracts. The country’s goal is to strengthen local renewable energy and storage capacity. Lena Yanina Estrada, the new environment minister and first Indigenous person to hold the position, argues that it’s a model that helps bring long-term stability in a turbulent world.
Wired
(July 21, 2025)
Long before TikTok and probiotics, animals were teaching each other tips on feeling better, from swallowing leaves to get rid of parasites to using icebergs for exfoliation.
If this digest helps you stay informed about the issues impacting our region, please consider supporting the work that makes it possible. Your contribution helps us continue to provide these sorts of resources.
