Program Director @cacindiana | consumer & environmental advocate | protecting people from AI data centers | #YesCers | he/him | views expressed are mine
Indianapolis, IN
Joined July 2014
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Take a drive with me through the 1,000-MW, 1,500-acre Meta data center in Lebanon, IN that recently started construction.
No buildings completed yet but it has already completely transformed the area.
Indiana lawmakers approved a proposal by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to purchase 185 acres for Oklo at the LEAP District in Lebanon.
The project is purportedly for radioisotope production--but buried in the contract, it shows the site could host Oklo's nuclear SMRs!☢️
The richest person in the world is asking for a property tax subsidy for a giant AI data center and fossil fuel power plant
OUTRAGEOUS🚨: The Braun admin has cut a dirty deal with NIPSCO to sweep under the rug one of the biggest utility overcharging scandals.
NIPSCO will get to keep MILLIONS in overcharges on 6,800+ customers.😠
And it's killing its gas energy efficiency program for 800k+ customers!
UPDATE🚨: We @cacindiana submitted testimony with shocking findings:
NIPSCO has been DOUBLE-CHARGING >4,000 gas customers for usage, potentially for DECADES.
NIPSCO concealed this problem for >1 year from customers after discovering it.
NIPSCO is refusing full refunds! 🧵
An Indy City-County Council committee voted 11-2 last night to recommend the Council reject $113 million in tax breaks for a DC Blox data center that would have provided only 21 jobs.
That's a $5.4 million-per-job-created subsidy -- not including the sales tax exemption! 😱
UPDATE📢: @cacindiana got ahold of Raeden's application for a new polluting natural gas plant to power an off-grid data center planned in Pittsboro, IN.
It is proposing 36 reciprocating internal combustion engines generating up to 300 MW.
Off-grid gas is highly polluting ☠️.
RICE gas plants are particularly concerning because they can result in huge methane emissions (on top of other emissions like CO2, CO, formaldehyde, and NOx) due to "methane slip."
(Learn more about this issue in this good episode from @CatalystPod : latitudemedia.com/news/catal…)
Duke Energy Indiana's financial statements show nearly $1 billion in estimated future coal ash impoundment closure obligations.💰
Under Indiana's utility-friendly laws, Duke can make its ratepayers pay for coal ash cleanup, even though it unsafely disposed of the toxic coal ash.
Hundreds of Trump appointees have investments in Big Tech, including DOI Secretary Burgum, who has millions in AI investments and is pushing for data centers on public lands
NEW: Trump Official Who Wants Data Centers on Public Lands Has Tens of Millions Invested in AI Industry propublica.org/article/burgu…
📈Duke Energy is hiking residential utility bills to cover SOARING grid upgrades for a Meta data center and other big companies, per a new filing.💰
Duke is making all customers pay for the $687 million in Targeted Economic Development projects, plus profit, under its TDSIC Plan
My favorite analysis about the election results and the repudiation of Big Tech is from @jason_koebler at @404mediaco.
404media.co/there-is-one-fig…
A new MISO update details $8 billion in transmission projects by monopoly utilities for serving large loads (primarily data centers).
Who will pay for it?
Transmission projects for data centers are not transparently categorized and described, leading to cost shifting.
Great summary from @Earthjustice on why the "permitting reform" bill BAAJA should be opposed.
It would decimate bedrock environmental laws, while allowing the federal government to run roughshod over communities and the law, including building data centers on public land.
There is mounting evidence that natural gas fracking wastewater is polluting drinking water sources in Ohio--and the state could be covering it up.
We found the first evidence in Ohio consistent with fracking wastewater polluting a family's drinking water. The state denies it, though it did not investigate the nearby injection well that had been pumping 400 million gallons of waste. desmog.com/2026/10/30/ohio-d…
Of states with at least 10 candidates tracked, Indiana has the highest share (44%) of political candidates supporting a data center ban or moratorium in the nation, according to Data Center Watch.
Hoosiers are fed up with Big Tech running roughshod over our communities!
AEP utility Indiana Michigan Power's (I&M) carbon emissions TRIPLED from 2023 to 2025 as coal generation soared, according to its ESG reporting. 📈
I&M is now rapidly expanding its natural gas power plant fleet to serve new Google, Amazon, and Microsoft data center campuses.
Duke Energy has been overcharging Indiana ratepayers for 565 days and counting.
On 4/16/2025, the IURC denied Duke's challenge of the final order in its rate case. Duke ignored the order and continues to charge ratepayers rates that are tens of millions higher than were approved
🌊Amazon's New Carlisle data center was not in compliance with its wastewater pretreatment requirements for several weeks this summer, per a City of South Bend filing.
Equipment failure resulted in the omission of daily flow totals and Amazon failed to timely notify authorities
🏭IDEM has issued a draft air pollution permit for the Microsoft data center under construction in La Porte.
It would allow 50 backup diesel generators, plus 48 diesel storage tanks. (Note: it could request more at the site in the future.)
Comments are due 11/28.
Funny to read an op/ed by a former Indiana lawmaker-turned-lobbyist worried about our "regulatory environment" and utility investors not making high enough profits a mere 1 day after AEP's earnings call showed its Indiana utility has by far its largest earned return on equity!
