Dear friends, Controversy over the nationwide data center boom is dominating today’s headlines, leading policymakers in states from New York to Texas to take action to limit the impact of data center development on the environment and consumers. At Frontier Group, we’ve been tracking the impact of the data center boom for the last two years. My report from January 2025, “Big data centers, big problems,” provided a bird’s eye view of the industry and the risks that data centers could pose to America’s air and water, as well as consumers’ pocketbooks. Since then, in October 2025, we documented how data center growth had given more than a dozen highly polluting power plants a new lease on life. Then, in April 2026, we found that 17 "zombie" power plants, kept alive (in part) by data center demand, emitted more climate pollution in 2022 than the entire state of Massachusetts. We’ve also flagged how data centers could increase diesel generator use, stress water resources, and drive up utility prices. Over the last couple of years, I’ve spoken to dozens of reporters and concerned citizens across the country about our work, and our data center resources have been covered by major national outlets like Politico and Inside Climate News. What I’ve learned in those conversations is that there is a lot of passionate and deep concern about data centers nationwide, as well as a lot of confusion and misinformation. We’re continuing to do what we can to inject solid facts and sharp analysis into the debate. In other recent highlights: -
Roadless rule at risk: The Trump administration has advanced a plan to rescind protection for 44 million roadless acres of our national forests, justifying the move as being necessary to “reduce wildfire risk and help protect surrounding communities and infrastructure.” We put that argument to the test, working with Environment America Research and Policy Center to analyze data from 160,000 wildfires in the U.S. Our online resource, “Removing the roadless rule won’t protect us from wildfires,” shows why eliminating roadless area protections won’t help and might even make the wildfire problem worse. -
Protecting Texas’ nature while harnessing clean energy: Renewable energy is great for Texas, but it does have environmental impacts, especially when it’s poorly sited or operated. There is a right way to build renewables, and in July we released a report with Environment Texas Research and Policy Center to show how solar, wind and batteries can work in harmony with the environment while helping to reduce severe pollution from the oil and gas industry. -
Are America’s lakes and streams safe for swimming? There’s still time this summer to take a dip in your local freshwater lake or stream—but is it safe? Policy analyst Nilou Yaar crunched the data on waterways in 17 states and found that the answer is too often “no.” “Safe for swimming: America’s rivers and lakes” finds that 69% of monitoring locations at rivers, lakes, and streams in the states we reviewed experienced at least one day when contamination levels reached potentially unsafe levels during 2024 and 2025. The new report has been covered by dozens of media outlets, including CBS Philadelphia, Axios, and WHYY News. Thanks for your support! Quentin Good Policy Analyst | |
