Many residents are concerned about the health and environmental issues a datacenter could bring to the community. Many residents are concerned about the health and environmental issues a datacenter could bring to the community. Inside the long, bitter fight over one man's quest to build the biggest AI datacenter in California Sat 17 Oct 2026 09.00 EDTLast modified on Sat 17 Oct 2026 09.01 EDT Sebastian Rucci zoomed in on a map in late 2024, looking closely at a large block of brown earth. The barren plot sandwiched between sprawling alfalfa fields and sleepy desert suburbs was exactly what he'd been searching for - the perfect place to realize his dream of building the largest artificial intelligence datacenter in California. It was in the Sonoran desert, just north of the Mexican border, where temperatures regularly rose past 100F (37.8C). Water was scarce in the once-booming agricultural area, which gets its supply from the beleaguered Colorado River.

Google has been ordered to temporarily stop work on two datacentres in Finland after failing to do the necessary environmental impact assessments on its construction sites. The planned datacentres in Muhos and Kajanni are part of a €13bn (£11bn) project across multiple sites in northern Finland by the technology company amid huge demand for space to house online infrastructure. It comes after it emerged that Tuike Finland Oy, the company representing Google, had felled 330 hectares (815 acres) of forest in Muhos without completing an environmental impact assessment (EIA). In Kajaani, the company has reportedly been logging across just under 200 hectares (494 acres) of land. The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation said the sites had been reduced to "sand", blaming the oversights on the "overheated" market for new datacentres.

Conservative shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith has said his party, if it was returned to power, would take £50,000 off the cost of building a new home in England and Wales by cutting back on regulations. The £50,000 figure claimed by Griffith reflects estimates by the housebuilding industry of the costs of new regulations and taxes. However, construction and housing experts warn that some of the savings could ultimately lead to higher government spending on schools, roads, and affordable housing. And some analysts also warn the Conservative plans to scrap environmental regulations could potentially push up household energy bills in future. Where does the £50,000 figure come from?

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Image caption, Juan López was one of the environmentalists killed in Latin America recent years. The anti-mining activist was shot in Honduras in 2024. Colombia has again topped the list of countries with the highest number of killings of land and environmental activists, according to an annual report by campaign group Global Witness, external . Out of at least 124 activists killed globally in 2025, 39 were murdered in Colombia, followed by Brazil with 26. Global Witness says that 85% of the documented killings took place in Latin America, making it the deadliest region for every year since the group started publishing its reports in 2012.

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Donald Trump's EPA is repealing Biden-era greenhouse gas emissions standards for power plants, a move it says could save the industry up to $670 billion in compliance costs.

"Families shouldn't have to pay for the AI boom with their health." The Stargate Oracle AI data center in Abilene, Texas, a project with Open AI, will span roughly 4 million square feet. Completion is expected by year's end. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. While tech oligarchs grandstand about the existential danger AI superintelligence poses to humanity, former Environmental Protection Agency officials say we should be worried about a more immediate threat to our health: the data centers that power those AI models. The former EPA researchers, now working with the nonprofit Environmental Protection Network, are warning in a new report that since January 2025, Donald Trump's EPA has embarked on a systematic weakening of pollution safeguards, permitting processes, inspection norms, and other guardrails--at least 30 different actions--that could increase the health risks associated with the data center boom.

Environment Conservation Land Rare twin lemurs born at New York's Central Park Zoo The new Critically Endangered black-and-white ruffed lemurs are particularly fond of bananas. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Twin black-and-white ruffed lemurs, Maso and Tonga, explore their habitat at Central Park Zoo with their mother, Koa. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .