Howard Crystal

YouTube video by More Perfect Union Private Equity's Ruthless Takeover Of Public Power For Data Centers

"Blackstone has more more money than the state of New Mexico!"

youtu.be/K9PH7LVkEbU?...

Consumer Advocates Could Derail Blackstone’s Utility Acquisition - The American Prospect The private equity behemoth’s bid to acquire New Mexico’s largest electricity provider could be null and void. Will regulators be bold enough to apply the law?

This is a big uh-oh for Blackstone, the world's largest private equity firm, which is trying to buy a utility company in New Mexico. It bought the shares before getting approval for the acquisition. That could derail the whole thing—if regulators follow the law.
prospect.org/2026/02/19/b...

Trump just nominated a corporate stooge with no conservation experience to run the National Park Service.

It's another huge step in this admin's plan to hand America’s most cherished public lands over to extractive industries, real estate developers & corporate interests.

We're fighting back.

Michigan customers pay their utilities to argue for higher rates. Few realize Some advocates, including Michigan's attorney general, say utility customers shouldn't be the only ones paying millions for attorneys and consultants who argue for higher gas and electric rates.

New from @mlive.com: Few utility customers realize part of their bill goes toward helping pay lawyers and consultants to advocate on behalf of those utilities for *higher* rates. This is the case with DTE Energy... currently in the middle of a rate case. www.mlive.com/news/2026/01...

Now Trump EPA head, Lee Zeldin, enters the scene with rank dishonesty & theatrical indignation to dispute the NY Times' correct, accurate reporting.

But I've read the EPA smoking gun document, I'm a 30+-year clean air lawyer, I understand its meaning better than Zeldin, & I have the receipts. 1/

Trump to Congress, Climate, U.N., Rule of Law, World: DROP DEAD - Today's #BradCast

Guest: @ajeansu.bsky.social, Sr. Attorney at Center for @biologicaldiversity.org; Also: Halligan ordered to explain herself; Fifth U.S. Attorney ruled unlawfully serving...

FULL STORY, LISTEN: bradblog.com?p=15602

BREAKING: the Trump admin is green-lighting Utah's attempt to assert control over 8 million acres of public land without a vote, notice or public input.

After failing to seize public lands outright, Utah is chipping away at at public land ownership at large.
biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...

Lawsuit Challenges Trump Moves to Restart California Coastal Oil Pipeline LOS ANGELES— Conservation groups have sued the Trump administration for taking over the regulation of the Las Flores Pipeline System and rushing this week to approve Sable Offshore Corp.’s pipeline restart plan and application for an “emergency” waiver from federal...

Lawsuit Challenges Trump Moves to Restart California Coastal Oil Pipeline
->Center for Biological Diversity | #Coastal #Ocean #NoDecency #Pipeline #TrumpFascism | More from Lil Dr Glen EcoChat at BigEarthData.ai

@biologicaldiversity.org is suing to wipe Trump's face off the America the Beautiful National Parks pass.

By law, the pass must display the winning photo of a federal #PublicLands picture contest. Instead, Trump plastered his own face on it.

Trump's vanity pass is not American, beautiful, or legal

The Center today released video of detonations underway in the Huachuca Mountains -- in critical habitat for endangered jaguar and Mexican spotted owl -- for a double border wall that will block wildlife (but not people) moving between the U.S. and Mexico.

Link to PR, video tinyurl.com/y752jz55

Meet Shirleen, a 900-pound #leatherback turtle and an epic traveler.

Thanks to satellite tracking by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, we now know more about where she goes.

Leatherbacks are endangered – they need our help but, meanwhile, #GoShirleen!

Learn more ➡️ marinelife.mapotic.com

Trump expected to significantly weaken fuel economy rules The Trump administration is poised to announce new fuel efficiency standards for automobiles in a bid to undo requirements it has assailed for driving up the cost of new cars, according to people fami...

Our take: More gas guzzlers. "Dan Becker, @biologicaldiversity.org said weakening the standards would extend the manufacturing of gas-powered vehicles and prevent the US from countering China’s dominance of the global electric car market." @maxinejoselow.bsky.social www.spokesman.com/stories/2025...

Join The 51st The 51st is a worker-led nonprofit news source for D.C. Our reporting is rooted in our conviction that local journalism is meant to make people’s lives better — no paywalls, ever. But that's only poss...

Yo DC peoples:

Did you love the City Paper?
Did you subscribe to DCist?
Wanna get more of that in your life?

Subscribe to @51st.news!

5 stars. Do recommend.

Link: 51st.news/membership/?...

Federal judge: National Guard deployment in DC is ‘unlawful’ The 2,300 Guardsmen aren’t headed home just yet, though.

A federal judge ruled the Trump administration had “exceeded the bounds of [its] authority" in deploying the D.C. National Guard, and lacked the authority to call up out-of-state Guardsmen to patrol in D.C.

What does this mean? Don't miss @maustermuhle.bsky.social's reporting:

The #ESA is the world's most successful conservation law, and it's under attack again. The Trump admin. just proposed four new rules that would gut the Act and drive imperiled plants and animals closer to extinction.

We have fewer than 30 days to voice our opposition loud and clear ➡️ bit.ly/3LZAGe6

Behind AI Hype, Climate Consequences | Common Dreams AI’s massive energy use is giving fossil fuels a lifeline when they should be rapidly phased out in response to the climate emergency.

AI & data centers are getting tons of hype, but less discussed (but deeply important) are the AI boom’s dangers to our environment, health, & wallets:

op-ed by Jean Su & Dr. John Fleming of @biologicaldiversity.org

“Data Crunch”: AI Boom Threatens to Entrench Fossil Fuels and Compromise Climate Goals A new report titled “Data Crunch: How the AI Boom Threatens to Entrench Fossil Fuels and Compromise Climate Goals” from the Center for Biological Diversity warns the booming artificial intelligence in...

Jean Su warns that the booming AI industry’s high resource consumption threatens the world’s climate goals, despite rosy prognoses of AI’s projected benefits.

“Data Crunch”: AI Boom Threatens to Entrench Fossil Fuels and Compromise Climate Goals A new report titled “Data Crunch: How the AI Boom Threatens to Entrench Fossil Fuels and Compromise Climate Goals” from the Center for Biological Diversity warns the booming artificial intelligence in...

Here at #COP30, attendees are lauding AI as an antidote to the climate crisis. While AI can deliver benefits, countries must address AI’s grave costs to our climate, water, & planet.

Happy to unpack this w/ @democracynow.org @amygoodman.bsky.social

www.democracynow.org/2025/11/19/j...

The #COP30 heat is on again on fossil fuels. In 2023, countries agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels,” but with no follow-up. Now all eyes are on creating a roadmap to operationalize those otherwise hollow words. In 1 week, 60+ countries have supported the idea of making a game plan.

The UN recently created two new bodies to address AI but from an arms race and global access standpoints.

It’s imperative that the UN climate body not just acknowledge the potential benefits that AI can bring (eg grid balancing), but also the vast climate, water, and economic costs.

The incomparable @ajeansu.bsky.social breaking down why data centers are the devastating love child of big tech and the fossil fuel industry and why COP30 must tackle the climate impacts of AI.

Check out our latest report: biologicaldiversity.org/programs/cli...

AI is an elephant in the #COP30 room. While govts have touted AI as a climate solution, they have ignored its grave costs to our climate & planet. The global climate space must address how AI data centers are the new lifeline of the fossil fuel industry.

See presser👇

unfccc.int/event/center...

"The influx of CCS lobbyists at COP30 shows how the AI industry is using the false promise of carbon capture as a lifeline for fossil fuels. AI is the love child of Big Tech and the fossil fuel industry."

@ajeansu.bsky.social for @biologicaldiversity.org

Happy 50th Birthday, Monkey Wrench Gang • The Revelator Half a century after the novel’s publication, the Glen Canyon Dam still stands, now home to the world’s largest mud puddle.

We've published two articles at @therevelator.org looking back at the 50th anniversary of Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang. First came an essay by the real-world inspiration for one of the novel's characters, Bonnie Abbzug: therevelator.org/happy-50th-b...

Congratulations!

Neil Gorsuch Is Worried Tariffs Could Create a ‘Climate Emergency’ But this might all be moot thanks to the “major questions doctrine.”

Trump’s lawyer got one thing right: if Trump can do his Tariffs, the next President can declare a Climate Emergency: heatmap.news/climate/supr...

“This report shows how the U.S. is about to set off an explosion of dirty data center emissions, entrenching more fossil fuels when we need their rapid phaseout.” nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

Why one Ohio couple is suing their city over rooftop solar fees The city's utility says the charge is only fair to customers without solar, but the couple argues it’s an illegal penalty. The dispute echoes a nationwide…

A utility fee is making it twice as hard for this Ohio couple to pay for their rooftop solar-plus-storage system with power cost savings. So they’re suing their municipal utility, and it may be a preview of a statewide — and nationwide — fight to come.

AI Is Going to Kill Everyone You Love. The Surprise Is How. It’s not hostile super robots you should worry about—it’s the heat they’ll generate.

"The danger of AI is not that it will achieve consciousness. The end is much less flashy: [it] will increasingly overtax the grid, leaving us to cook alive in sweltering darkness. The AI hype is part of a larger, false narrative justifying fossil fuel expansion." www.thenation.com/article/envi...