Last September, a coalition of data-center-industry front groups demanded “permit reform” legislation to hypercharge the data-center-industry construction bubble “this Congress”:

BAAJA—the data-center-infrastructure fast-tracking bill that the White House and the GOP are hoping to fast-track in the lame-duck session before new data-center opponents are sworn in to Congress—meets all of the AI accelerationists’ demands.

The data center coalition’s letter has three top-level requirements: pass the provisions of Rep. Bruce Westerman’s (R-Ark.) fossil-industry SPEED Act; restrict the Clean Water Act’s State Water Quality Certification process; and fast-track transmission permitting and approval with provisions that assign costs to the customers who benefit from new infrastructure. These demands are exactly met by BAAJA, in Division A Title I and Title IV, Division A Title II, and Division B Title I respectively.¹

Understandably, most of the co-signatories have publicly embraced BAAJA; none have expressed opposition.²

Of course, this letter is simply one instance of the ongoing campaign to direct “permit reform.”

At the United States Energy Association's annual State of the Energy Industry conference in January, the industry’s top lobbyists agreed with fracking executive and Trump Secretary of Energy Chris Wright “that delays in energy permitting threaten the United States’ ability to expand data centers, deploy artificial intelligence at scale, and support the broadband infrastructure underpinning the digital economy.”

The passage of BAAJA is financially critical for the industry, whose building spree is built on a massive debt load that will crumble if the construction pace slows. Power is a “critical constraint” and new energy infrastructure is a “central consideration” for the bubble.

The warning signs of the industry’s potential collapse without BAAJA are hiding in plain sight.

For example, Oracle’s buildout has already outpaced the energy infrastructure. At great expense, it’s trucking in liquefied natural gas to feed its data centers in Salt Lake City and in Shackelford County, Texas, and is now preparing to do so for its 2.45 GW methane-powered AI hyperscaler Project Jupiter in New Mexico, because that project’s “dedicated gas pipeline has been delayed by state permitting problems.” Oracle is also planning to backstop onsite methane combustion with a hook-up to the local electric grid. Because of risks that the hyperscaler’s methane pipeline might not be completed by 2028, Oracle asked for permission to delay construction payments, leading its stock to fall by 3 percent.

UK bird populations have fallen to their lowest levels on record.

In July, a Microsoft data center ran backup diesel generators full blast for 24 hours, creating a giant cloud of toxic smoke that choked its human neighbors in Virginia. The government claimed there was nothing they could do during the event. In September, Virginia proposed a $2.499 million fine “to recover the profit Microsoft gained by operating after exceeding its permit limits.” Public comment on the proposed settlement closes tomorrow.

Oklahoma’s Alan Armstrong, a pipeline CEO turned senator, wants to limit states’ power to block pipelines.

“It would be highly ironic if the first action Congress took after an election largely defined by opposition to data centers would be to make it easier to build them,” Bill McKibben comments, as part of a broad coalition opposing BAAJA.

It would be highly ironic if LCV and NRDC, who just launched a midterms push against dirty data centers, fail to oppose BAAJA.

Tribal nations call for a “more honorable alternative” to the lame-duck BAAJA.

The fossil-fueled Hurricane Isaias knocked out power for 800,000 Americans and killed at least four people in the Southeast, while fossil-fueled Hurricane Rachel killed five people in Mexico, battered southern California, trapped Moab ultramathoners, then flooded Las Vegas.

The National Guard troops illegally occupying DC are now patrolling neighborhoods with ICE agents and loitering next to ballot drop boxes.

“The melting of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica will contribute up to 30 millimeters of sea level rise by 2100—twice previous estimates—even without additional climate warming.”

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