North-Country Matters

03/08/2025

Desperate for power, modern AI firms lean on a geriatric American nuclear fleet
The nation’s dwindling fleet of nuclear plants is being seized upon by tech firms such as Microsoft and Amazon as a foundation for their plans for an artificial intelligence-infused future. The aged but reliable survivors have emerged as one of the most viable ways to quickly feed tech firms’ growing thirst for electricity to power the giant data centers needed for AI projects.
Meta signed a 20-year agreement for the power flowing from a large legacy reactor in Illinois, Microsoft struck a deal to restart a reactor next to the one at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island plant that was shuttered in 1979 by a partial meltdown, and Amazon last month in the same state locked up power from a 42-year-old nuclear plant down the Susquehanna River.
Tech companies are scouring the nation for other geriatric nuclear plants to power their AI dreams, according to interviews with nuclear industry officials and company earnings calls. Their interest is focused on the roughly two dozen operating plants in unregulated markets, which are in many cases free to sell power to the highest bidder. They make up about half of the 54 plants still operating in the United States.
The tech firms say the deals give new life to plants at risk of going offline or that have already been shut down. Contracts that lock in rates for decades are attractive to plant operators, and the electricity flows without directly generating new carbon emissions.
But critics say Silicon Valley’s nuclear spree will make it more likely that consumers will face electricity rate hikes or shortages in coming years as the nation faces soaring demand for power — driven in part by new data centers.

Tech firms say deals for power give new life to nuclear plants at risk of going offline or that have already been shut down.

03/08/2025

Their Water Taps Ran Dry When Meta Built Next Door
In the race to develop artificial intelligence, tech giants are building data centers that guzzle up water. That has led to problems for people who live nearby.
After Meta broke ground on a $750 million data center on the edge of Newton County, Ga., the water taps in Beverly and Jeff Morris’s home went dry.
The couple’s house, which uses well water, is 1,000 feet from Meta’s new data center. Months after construction began in 2018, the Morrises’ dishwasher, ice maker, washing machine and toilet all stopped working, said Beverly Morris, now 71. Within a year, the water pressure had slowed to a trickle. Soon, nothing came out of the bathroom and kitchen taps.
Water rates in Newton County, Georgia, are expected to rise 33 percent over the next two years — compared to the average 2 percent annual increase — as concerns over water shortages mount. A water deficit is projected by 2030 if the county’s water authority’s facilities are not upgraded, which may force residents to ration the resource. Meanwhile, the effects of a nearby Meta data center, which broke ground in the county in 2018, are still reverberating. Residents say their water lines have become polluted with sediment and fail to work altogether. Many households have been forced to buy bottled water, as the cost of water line replacements and well upgrades total thousands of dollars.

In the race to develop artificial intelligence, tech giants are building data centers that guzzle up water. That has led to problems for people who live nearby.

03/08/2025

The Great Lakes – ground zero for data center growth
With artificial intelligence and the demand for cloud computing set to grow in the years and decades ahead, technology companies are increasingly eying up the Great Lakes region’s comparatively cooler climate and ample water resources. This is because a data center is filled with computers, and the more information those computers process, the more they generate heat. If that heat is not dissipated, it would lead to system failure. Water can act as a coolant by circulating through the system, and cooler climates help to reduce the energy burden to maintain these sensitive systems.
It’s an issue set to affect residents across all Great Lakes states and provinces at a time when federal protections for Great Lakes water are being slashed.
At the time of reporting, of the U.S.’s estimated 3,680 data centers, 847, or nearly one-in-four, are located in Great Lakes states, according to a count by Data Center Map. In Cleveland, there already are more than 20 data centers within 15 miles of Lake Erie, with many more set to come online around the region.
Data Center Map counts 264 centers in Canada, however, that number is disputed by other sources saying it’s much closer to 340. The Greater Toronto Area along the shores of Lake Ontario is home to 108 data centers, according to Datacenters.com.
Across the globe, Microsoft’s 300 data centers consume more than 33 million gallons of water per facility each year. That’s the equivalent of 15,000 Olympic size swimming pools filled with water at each data center. While Microsoft’s 2024 Environmental Sustainability Report references goals around construction waste and air filtration at its data centers, there is no reference to efforts to conserve the use of water.
https://www.circleofblue.org/2025/technology/are-data-centers-a-threat-to-the-great-lakes/

Explore the impact of a proposed data center in Benton Harbor, a city grappling with infrastructure challenges and poverty.

03/08/2025

03/08/2025

Trump’s AI push aims to bypass environmental rules for new data centers
The Trump administration unveiled an initiative to accelerate artificial intelligence development by waiving environmental reviews for new data centers, raising concerns among advocates about pollution, water use, and community impacts.
The AI action plan would exempt AI data centers from National Environmental Policy Act reviews and streamline permits under major environmental laws, while opening federal lands for their construction.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright framed the initiative as a “next Manhattan Project,” while groups like Food & Water Watch and the Southern Environmental Law Center warned it would extend reliance on fossil fuels and reduce community oversight.
Data centers already consume vast energy and water, and studies project their pollution could cause over 1,300 premature deaths annually by 2030, with disproportionate impacts in Black communities near facilities such as Elon Musk’s xAI site in Memphis.
“All too often, big corporations like xAI treat our communities and families like obstacles to be pushed aside. We cannot afford to normalize this kind of environmental injustice,” said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Artificial intelligence development depends on sprawling data centers that devour power and water, often tethered to fossil fuel grids. These facilities can release air pollutants linked to respiratory illness and greenhouse gases that drive climate change. Communities near such sites — frequently low-income or minority neighborhoods — face heightened exposure without clear avenues to challenge siting decisions. The federal move to relax environmental review could speed construction but risks sidelining public health protections as the industry’s energy demands surge. By 2028, projected electricity use and water needs for AI servers could rival those of entire nations, amplifying tensions between technological ambition and environmental limits.

The Trump administration unveiled an initiative to accelerate artificial intelligence development by waiving environmental reviews for new data centers, raising concerns among advocates about pollution, water use, and community impacts.Shannon Kelleher reports for The New Lede.In short:The AI action...

03/08/2025

The AI explosion means millions are paying more for electricity
This summer, across a vast stretch of the eastern United States, monthly home electric bills jumped. In Trenton, New Jersey, the bill for a typical home rose $26. In Philadelphia, it increased about $17. In Pittsburgh, it went up $10. And in Columbus, Ohio, it spiked $27.
Few customers were happy, of course, but even fewer knew exactly why the rates had climbed so quickly.
This time around, though, it is possible to trace the price hikes in these cities to a specific source: the boom in data centers, those large warehouses of technology that support artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other Big Tech wonders. They consume huge amounts of electricity, and, as they proliferate, the surging demand for electricity has driven up prices for millions of people, including residential customers who may not ever use AI or cloud computing.
The ranks of the companies building the data centers — Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon — include some of the nation’s biggest and most prosperous companies, and many affected residents resent having to pay more because of the tech companies’ rising electricity demand.
“The Big Tech companies suck up the electricity, and we end up paying higher prices,” said Carrie Killingsworth, who works in financial services. “I’m not comfortable with average customers subsidizing billion-dollar companies.”
“We are seeing every region of the country experience really significant data center load growth,” said Abe Silverman, a nonresident research scholar focused on energy markets at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s putting enormous upward pressure on prices, both for transmission and for generation.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/07/27/electricity-rates-ohio-data-centers-ai/

03/08/2025

Trump’s Medicaid Cuts Put the ADA, and Americans with Disabilities, at Risk
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)’s 35 year vision is not self-sustaining. Its promise is fulfilled through an ecosystem of vital support services, many of which rely on Medicaid funding. For millions of Americans living with disabilities, Medicaid is a lifeline that provides access to essential home- and community-based services (HCBS). These services include the most basic activities of daily living like bathing, dressing, eating, and more, as well as the residential programs, employment supports, and assistive technologies that allow people with I/DD to live with dignity in their own homes and communities. These services are at the heart of the ADA and crucial to making inclusion a reality.
Following the passage of President Donald Trump’s tax bill, which will cut aproximately $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next several years, these support systems are in jeopardy. This attack on Medicaid threatens to unravel decades of progress toward equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities, as access to these services will undoubtedly become more limited.
Cuts to Medicaid could mean fewer available care services, longer waiting lists for critical support, and potentially the loss of the very assistance that allows those with I/DD to live independent and fulfilling lives. Imagine losing the career coach who helps you get ready for work and makes it possible to maintain steady employment, or the direct support professional (DSP) who helps you bathe and brush your teeth, or the transportation service that connects you to your community. These cuts translate into a forced retreat from independence, pushing individuals back into isolation and dependency, often in hospitals or costly, state-run institutions, directly contradicting the ADA's core tenets.
The ripple effect extends to the dedicated community providers who are the backbone of the HCBS ecosystem. These organizations operate on thin margins, relying heavily, or solely, on Medicaid to fund their services. Cuts of this size may fall heavily on providers, who are already in crisis because of long-term underinvestment in community-based services, leaving them struggling to offer their DSPs competitive wages and benefits due to stagnant and insufficient reimbursement rates. Ultimately, these cuts could lead to reduced capacity, staff layoffs, and even the closure of programs.

"A nearly $1 trillion cut to Medicaid is not just a budgetary change. It will harm people with disabilities."

03/08/2025

National Sisters Day on the first Sunday in August celebrates the unique bond between sisters. This particular set of siblings embrace moments that make them laugh and cringe. While they don't always agree, sisters have each other's backs.
All siblings have the odd argument here and there, but deep down there’s little way around the natural connection between siblings. Even those who don't have a natural sister sibling know the bonds of sisterhood. Those who forge a relationship with their spouse's sisters understand. Also, women who support each other through difficult times form a sisterhood.

NATIONAL SISTERS DAY National Sisters Day on the first Sunday in August celebrates the unique bond between sisters. This particular set of siblings embrace

02/08/2025

Arctic winters are starting to look more like spring
The Arctic winter has changed. A season once defined by deep freeze and solid snow is now marked by rain, melting ice, and even patches of green.
On a research trip to the high-Arctic archipelago of Svalbard in February 2025, scientists were not met by deep snow and biting cold – but by puddles, blooming tundra, and rain. This isn’t just a freak event – it’s a sign of something bigger.
The findings confirm what climate models have warned about for years: Arctic winters are warming fast, and the shift is reshaping the entire environment.
Svalbard is warming six to seven times faster than the global average. Winter temperatures in the region are rising nearly twice as fast as those in other seasons.
This means the deep freeze once expected in January and February is giving way to strange, disruptive thaws.
“Standing in pools of water at the snout of the glacier, or on bare, green tundra, was shocking and surreal,” said Dr. James Bradley. “The thick snowpack covering the landscape vanished within days. The gear I packed felt like a relic from another climate.”

Arctic winters are melting fast. Scientists in Svalbard report rain, thaw, and rising risks in what was once reliably frozen terrain.

02/08/2025

The difference between palliative care and hospice
If a doctor diagnoses you with a serious illness and suggests palliative care, don't jump to conclusions.
It doesn't mean you have mere months to live, NIH News in Health emphasizes.
Palliative care, which is focused on comfort care and symptom management, may be recommended at any stage of a chronic or serious illness. But it is often confused with hospice care, which is comfort care for patients in the final months of life and requires that all treatments be discontinued.
"Embracing palliative care does not mean that you're giving up on treatment," said Alexis Bakos, an aging expert at the National Institutes of Health. "Ideally, palliative care should be offered at the very beginning of a diagnosis of any serious illness."
Diagnoses like chronic heart and lung disease, cancer and neurodegenerative illnesses like dementia and Parkinson's all fall under the definition of "serious."
These illnesses lower a patient's quality of life or ability to perform everyday tasks like cooking or bathing.
A palliative care team can help patients cope with physical, psychological, emotional or spiritual suffering associated with these diagnoses, according to News in Health. They can not only help patients manage symptoms but also assist providers in coordinating complex care.
Palliative care specialists can help patients understand their prognosis and their treatment options - and help them be comfortable. So NIH experts urge patients who are diagnosed with serious illnesses to ask their doctor about palliative care if it isn't offered to them right away.

Many tend to confuse palliative care, which is focused on symptom management, with hospice care, which requires that all treatments be discontinued.