The boom in Artificial Intelligence (AI), like ChatGPT and other advanced systems, is revolutionary, but it comes with significant hidden costs for the planet and society that we all need to understand.
Power Demand & Climate Strain
The specialized computers that run AI (called AI Data Centers) are incredibly power-hungry. They can consume as much electricity as a small city, which is putting a huge strain on our power grids and infrastructure.
The Climate Impact: Because power grids still heavily rely on fossil fuels for stable, 24/7 electricity, the rapid growth of AI is directly accelerating climate change by increasing carbon emissions.
In addition, data centers can emit NOx, SO₂, PM) from fossil fuels.
The Thirst for Water
AI computers generate immense heat from all the energy they use. Data center servers, like our own personal computers, generate heat while operating. Unlike a personal computer, data center servers must operate 24/7. To stop them from overheating, they use sophisticated cooling systems, which often require millions of gallons of fresh water. This heavy water usage can drain local water supplies, putting stress on drought-prone areas and impacting the water available for local communities, farming, and ecosystems.
Electronic Trash (E-Waste):
To keep up with the competitive race for faster AI, companies replace their powerful, specialized hardware (like GPUs) every few years—sometimes even sooner.
This short lifespan creates a growing mountain of electronic waste (e-waste). Much of this waste is not properly recycled and contains toxic materials that pollute the environment.
Environmental impact and economic impact are disproportionate:
Few jobs are produced per facility. A data center proposal would have to include a large heavily polluting campus to produce a meaningful number of permanent jobs.
Backup Power Generation
Gas-powered data centers emit significant greenhouse gases (GHGs) like CO2, NOx, SO₂, and particulate matter (PM) from burning fossil fuels (coal, gas, diesel) for power and backup, contributing to climate change and poor air quality. Many of these pollutants have health impacts. The AI boom is expected to dramatically increase this demand and emissions.
Regulatory Lag
Because AI technology is evolving incredibly fast, governments and regulators struggle to create new laws and rules to keep pace with data center proposals. This means that many areas still have few building and land use regulations in place to specifically address data center projects, thus opening the door for projects to proceed with little public input or knowledge.
If a data center is proposed for your community, contact Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League at:
On August 1, 2024 North Carolina’s Division of Air Quality held a public hearing for Dominion Energy’s air permit application for the proposed Moriah Energy Center (MEC) in Person County, NC. The controversial MEC facility would initially be home to a 25 million liquified natural gas storage tank, with plans for a second 25 million gallon tank in the future.
When the hearing was announced in June, members of BREDL’s NoMEC chapter began to voice their displeasure with NCDEQ regarding the location of the hearing, which was two counties away from the location of the proposed facility. Numerous Person County residents and elected officials requested a change of venue, or an additional hearing, but those requests were ultimately denied. In response to NCDEQ’s denial, BREDL held an online “People’s Hearing” to coincide with the in-person hearing.
The in-person hearing at Vance-Granville Community College featured 39 speakers, 38 of whom asked DAQ to deny the permit. Speakers shared numerous concerns primarily focused on Dominion’s history of air quality violations and the need for onsite monitors.
More than 100 people attended the air permitting hearing for the proposed Moriah Energy Center. Several of those in attendance testified, requesting that the application be denied.
Rev. Christopher Fair of Granville County, NC expressed concerns about safety and Dominion’s failure to notify nearby residents of their plans. “I live a thousand yards east of the Person County line, however, I don’t think that gas and pollutants honor county lines. Yet, we were not even warned about this. I had to have a fellow pastor tell me that this was happening 3 miles from my house.”
Fair, who holds a master’s degree in Weapons Systems Engineering said that he assessed the site as an equivalent to 54 tons of TNT. Said Fair, “I see no studies, no emergency response plans. I see a lot of estimates of pollutants, but nothing reliable. They have other plants, so why can’t they give us numbers from those? I had to go through a massive groundwater study just to put in an 800-foot gravel driveway in Granville County because they were worried about the groundwater. They’ve done nothing here.”
Jeff Hammerquist, who lives on property that sits directly adjacent to the site, said that he’s concerned about the future of his family’s farm and for his own health.
“I underwent open heart surgery for a genetic heart condition in October 2022 and I don’t have to call my cardiologist to know that I don’t need formaldehyde in my diet. The detrimental impacts of these hazardous air pollutants is well documented and agreed upon by scientists.” He went on, “If the Department of Environmental Quality does not care to say no to energy conglomerates taking from the environment for financial gain, then what exactly does this department exist to do?”
BREDL’s online hearing allowed 4 additional speakers to publicly voice their concerns to DAQ. BREDL Executive Director, Kathy Andrews questioned why the plant, which by Dominion’s own estimates will operate approximately 8 days per year, is being built in this location in the first place. “Why build a dangerous gas facility where people don’t want it? The only thing I can think of is greed. There is no desperate need for this plant.”
Bob Brauer, who lives in Person County but could not attend the in-person hearing, also spoke during the online People’s Hearing. He said, “Given the state of our climate situation, we really need to start to migrate away from fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the Moriah Energy Center is just another step towards continuing our dependency on fossil fuels, when we need to be moving away from that.”
BREDL Strategic Advisor, Lou Zeller, spoke about the flawed permitting regulations employed by agencies such as DEQ. He said, “Air permit regulations contemplate so-called ‘major sources’ and ‘minor sources’ depending on the volume of pollution emitted. Synthetic minor permits are loopholes created to avoid certain regulatory requirements. The permit, as drafted, cannot and does not protect air quality as it is required under the law. It’s like crossing your fingers when you make a promise.”
The majority of emissions at the facility would come from combustion sources including heaters, generators and flares. Dominion has applied for a synthetic minor permit, rather than the more stringent Title V permit, even though their own projections suggest that the facility will emit more than 65,000 tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere each year. The facility would also allow tanker truck loading and unloading of liquid natural gas.
Person County resident Kris Clayton addresses DAQ staff during the August 1 air permitting hearing for the Moriah Energy Center.
Residents of the communities surrounding the proposed site of the facility have been fighting the proposal since the project was publicly announced in late August, 2023. In February of this year, several residents living closest to the facility filed a lawsuit against the Person County Commissioners, opposing the rezoning of more than 450 acres of land from “rural conservation”, to “general industrial”. As of now, the rezoning remains paused due to this litigation. Even if the air permit application is approved, the company will not be able to build the facility until the zoning issue is resolved.
Video of BREDL’s online hearing was submitted to the Division of Air Quality on August 2, as a part of the public comment process. For more information on NoMEC’s fight against Dominion Energy, please visit www.NoMEC.org.
The North Carolina Division of Air Quality has scheduled a public hearing for Dominion Energy’s air permit application for the proposed Moriah Energy Center (MEC) in Person County, NC. The controversial MEC facility would initially be home to a 25 million liquified natural gas storage tank, with plans for a second 25 million gallon tank in the future.
Residents of the communities surrounding the proposed site of the facility have been fighting the proposal since the project was publicly announced in late August, 2023. In February of this year, several residents living closest to the facility filed a lawsuit against the Person County Commissioners, opposing the rezoning of more than 450 acres of land from “rural conservation”, to “general industrial”. As of now, the rezoning remains paused due to this litigation.
Dominion has begun clearing land to prepare for construction at the MEC site. Since that time, unprecedented levels of sediment have been recorded in nearby creeks, which are also home to a number of endangered or threatened aquatic species.
One of the final hurdles for Dominion is the approval of their air permit application. The liquefaction process would separate heavy hydrocarbons from the natural gas stream before storage. The heavy hydrocarbon stream would either be routed back to the natural gas pipeline or burned off with flares. The majority of emissions at the facility would come from combustion sources including heaters, generators and flares. Dominion’s own projections suggest that the facility will emit more than 65,000 tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, each year. The facility would also allow tanker truck loading and unloading of liquid natural gas.
The air permitting hearing will be held on Wednesday, August 1, 2024 at Vance Granville Civic Center in Henderson, NC. Members of BREDL’s NoMEC chapter have voiced their displeasure with DEQ regarding the location of the hearing, which is two counties away from the location of the proposed facility. Numerous Person County residents have requested a change of venue, or an additional hearing. At this time, neither a change of venue, nor an additional hearing date has been announced.
NoMEC members are asking that DEQ deny Dominion’s air permit application, and that the facility be required to implement safety features that would reduce the threat of a significant leak and explosion. If you would like to submit a comment to the Division of Air Quality, please email DAQ.publiccomments@deq.nc.gov before August 2. Be sure to include ‘Moriah-Energy.23A’ in the subject line.
For more information on NoMEC’s fight against Dominion Energy, please visit www.NoMEC.org.
BREDL’s air monitoring trailer is scheduled to be collecting data in a Southeast community in early Spring.
STATE OF THE ART: BREDL’s BEAST trailer will collect data for NO, NO 2 , NO X , PM2.5, PM10, total VOCs, and weather, once every minute using state of the art equipment.
Our contract partner Wilbur Technical Services (Wilbur) is in the process of purchasing the equipment that they will install in the BEAST (BREDL Environmental Air Sampling Trailer). Wilbur expects to have all the equipment in their possession by the end of February.
CARE-4-AIR staff are working on the Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP), one of the last remaining EPA preliminary requirements. Our QAPP must be completed and approved by EPA prior to data collection. We have just completed our final draft. We will be sending it to Research Triangle Institute, EPA’s QAPP contractor, and Wilbur for their review. After that, we will make recommended revisions then submit to EPA for approval.
Once the trailer has been purchased, BREDL will complete DMV registration and acquire insurance. Wilbur will also outfit the trailer with a security camera system.
During the first week of December, staff held conference calls with participating chapter representatives to update them on our progress.
Soon we will be finalizing the first couple of sites that will collect data. The exact locations will not be made public out of privacy and security concerns.
The trailer is being constructed to run off one regular residential AC outlet.
Data for NO, NO 2 , NO X , PM2.5, PM10, total VOCs, and weather will be collected once every minute using state of the art equipment. Data will be captured on a central computer and sent via cellular service. Our Envidas software will use the minute data to calculate the one-hour averages for each parameter. A daily report with those one-hour averages will be emailed daily.
With the announcement of EPA funding for air monitoring in December, 2021, BREDL’s Grant Writer, Ann Rogers, initiated a process of researching various protocols available for measuring air pollution at strategic locations in the southeastern U.S. where BREDL chapters have confirmed a need for air pollution monitoring. Our research uncovered the fact that the EPA and a number of state agencies are using Teledyne equipment for this type of monitoring, and that the findings generated by this equipment is of highenough quality to be accepted as substantive by local, state, or federal government agencies.
BREDL’s CARE-4-AIR monitoring system will feature the Teledyne API Model T640 PM Mass Monitor, an EPA-approved Federal Equivalent Method (FEM) air monitoring instrument; and the Teledyne API Model T200 nitrogen oxides analyzer, an EPA-approved Federal Reference Method (FRM) instrument. These two units meet the EPA stringent requirements for National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) regulations. Wilbur will also add the Aeroqual AQS-1 Volatile Organic Compound air monitor. Several units will work in conjunction with the pollutant analyzers. These include: Teledyne units T700U Gas Dilution Calibrator and T701H Zero Air Generator, Vaisala WXT 530 meteorological station, and DR DAS Envidas Ultimate Data Acquisitions System.
BREDL has chosen to procure the CARE-4-AIR system through the Raleigh, North Carolina office of the J. J. Wilbur Co. This firm was founded in 1985 by John Wilbur, who has a background as an engineer and manager in environmental monitoring systems with the EPA, environmental consulting companies, and a large worldwide manufacturer of air quality instrumentation.
We hope that all BREDL chapters dealing with air quality problems will consider jumping on board with us in the CARE-4-AIR project to take advantage of this remarkable opportunity.
