The 'time-consuming' permits dozens of data centers are skipping

[highplainsdem]

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/08/trump-data-centers-water-supreme-court-00958383

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As a tidal wave of sprawling energy- and water-guzzling data centers are proposed across the country, opponents are finding that one of their strongest levers for challenging projects has all but disappeared.

That’s thanks to a 2023 ruling from the Supreme Court that dramatically shrank the number of streams and wetlands protected by the Clean Water Act. Once one of the most important permits that virtually all construction projects needed, now everything from subdivisions to oil pipelines to data centers can be built without federal water pollution permits if the streams and wetlands they are filling in or contaminating fall outside the law’s scope.

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Located where Canton’s suburban outskirts transition to open space and small farms, the Amazon-backed project is one of at least 26 data centers being built nationwide in sensitive streams and wetlands with streamlined water pollution permits, according to a POLITICO analysis of 95 Army Corps of Engineers documents and permit records from January 2024 to this past June.

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Now, the booming data center industry is reaping the benefits of the Supreme Court’s shrunken approach to which waters get federal protection as well as the Trump administration’s efforts to further restrict it, according to POLITICO’s analysis. The administration is proposing to only regulate wetlands and streams that physically touch a larger waterbody — like a major lake or river — and are brimming with water for at least part of the year.

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Much more at the link. All of it upsetting.