Plus, OPEC’s rose-colored glasses on oil demand ...

Message From the Editor

Elon Musk crashed and burned out of government, but his toxic fingerprints remain in a pollution-spewing AI center in Memphis, Tennessee, that he built in a hurry. 

DeSmog’s Nick Cunningham wrote about a shocking new video showing billowing clouds of pollution — invisible to the eye but glaringly obvious through an optical gas camera — spewing from xAI’s unpermitted gas turbines. 

Without waiting for grid upgrades or permits, xAI fired up 35 portable gas turbines to feed Grok, its chatbot. Local residents didn’t get a say, as Nick reports. Now they’re breathing the consequences: methane, nitrogen oxides, even formaldehyde — pollutants linked to asthma, heart disease, and cancer.

Ned writes that this isn’t an isolated case. AI’s massive energy demand is fueling a U.S. surge in gas infrastructure — federal officials project a tripling of data center power use in just three years.

Now, groups including the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center are threatening to sue Musk over the toxic brew his turbines release in the area, and demanding an emergency shutdown. For more on the story, read here.

Meanwhile, watchdogs warn the public about another major polluter: Australian energy giant Woodside. They say that Woodside’s polluting and safety disaster trail now stretches from Australia to Louisiana, with the go-ahead of a $17.5 billion LNG terminal in the southern U.S. state, as Sharon Kelly explains.

In just the past year, a worker was crushed in Woodside’s Stybarrow field; another was killed in a Texas tank collapse; and a 64,000-liter toxic spill poisoned the waters near Australia’s World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef.

Australian union leaders call the recent spill the worst safety crisis in 20 years. Environmentalists say it's proof of a company cutting corners — especially during cleanups.

This all comes about just as U.S. President Trump’s regulators are asking how they can weaken, not strengthen, LNG safety rules. 

Woodside says it’s committed to safety and climate performance. But with rising injury rates and mounting environmental damage, that promise doesn’t ring true. Read Sharon’s story to see what activists, union leaders, and regulators say about Woodside’s safety records and why we need to be vigilant as the big energy company expands around the world.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director
 
P.S. DeSmog continues to keep you informed about threats to our climate across the globe — from up-to-the minute reporting to essential database profiles that help others fight climate denial and delay. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?
 

Photo: Woodside Energy's Louisiana LNG facility in Calcasieu Parish. Credit: Tellurian

xAI Data Center Emits Plumes of Pollution, New Video Shows

— By Nick Cunningham (6 min. read) —

A massive data center at xAI’s controversial site in Memphis, Tennessee, is emitting huge plumes of pollution, according to footage recorded by an environmental watchdog group.

Safety Warnings Follow Australia’s
Woodside Energy to U.S. as $17 Billion
LNG Project Moves Ahead

— By Sharon Kelly (6 min. read) —

Just as Trump moves to weaken LNG rules, environmentalists are alarmed by the oil giant’s toxic spills, work violations, and a risky expansion.

Pioneers of Europe’s Citizen-led
Solar Revolution Sound Alarm Over ‘Corporate Capture’

— By Ana Muñoz and Jairo Marcos  (8 min. read) —

A third of energy communities receiving subsidies from the Spanish government are managed by subsidiaries of oil giant Repsol, DeSmog review of official data finds.

Alberta’s ‘Emissions Intensity’ Hasn’t Improved, Despite Government Claim

— By Mitch Anderson (4 min) —

The 26 percent reduction the Alberta government recently bragged about happened almost entirely between 2012 and 2016.

Mental Health Professionals Join
Calls For Boycott of Advertising Agencies
Over Work for Polluters 

— By Ellen Ormesher (2 min. read) —

Growing toll of climate anxiety shows it’s time to stop greenwashing fossil fuels, clinicians say.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Clay Higgins

Clay Higgins is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District. “Higgins believes in smaller government, less bureaucracy, free markets, a strong national defense and securing America’s sovereign borders,” his House bio reads. Consistently pushing for decreased energy industry regulation, offshore and onshore drilling, Higgins has indirectly compared those seeking alternative forms of energy as looking to a future powered “by rainbow dust and unicorn milk.” Higgens has opposed Earth Science research funding at NASA which would examine climate change, and has said climate models are “fraudulently manipulated.” 

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database, Ad & PR Database, and Koch Network Database.