New Mexico's land commissioner rejected the gas pipeline feeding the Oracle-OpenAI Project Jupiter campus for a second time on 15 July, blocking the power rather than the build. Alphabet raised its 2026 capital budget to $195-205bn the same week, and MISO hit its second grid emergency of the month. Virginia, lacking grounds to refuse, issued Amazon's Lake Anna cooling-water permit anyway.
Opposition has moved from the campus to the pipeline, grid and water that feed it, and the tactic bites only where the regulator has statutory grounds.
Stephanie Garcia Richard refused Energy Transfer's gas lateral to Project Jupiter for a second time on 15 July, blocking the power source rather than the campus over 10.1 million tons a year of emissions.
New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard rejected Energy Transfer's Green Chili gas pipeline for a second time on 15 July. She weighed $249,000 in trust revenue against 10.1 million tons a year of emissions.
The pipeline would have powered Project Jupiter, the Oracle and OpenAI data-centre campus at Santa Teresa. Construction continues regardless, so the veto blocks one power route, not the campus itself.
MISO declared its second maximum-generation emergency of the month on 15 July as a heat dome drove demand to a 122 GW peak, five days before FERC's grid-adequacy filing deadline.
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) declared its second maximum-generation emergency of July on 15 July. A heat dome had pushed demand across its 15-state Midwest territory to a record 122 gigawatts.
Data-centre load has grown 43% a year there since 2020. The emergency lands five days before MISO must tell federal regulators how it plans to keep pace.
Virginia's environmental regulator issued Amazon's final discharge permit for its Lake Anna campus, clearing 0.28 million gallons a day of cooling water into Sedges Creek with no forever-chemicals testing.
Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality issued Amazon's final wastewater permit for its Lake Anna data-centre campus on 1 August. It authorises 0.28 million gallons a day of cooling water into Sedges Creek.
The permit carries no testing requirement for PFAS (long-lasting 'forever chemicals'), extending Virginia's existing practice. Objectors say the creek's low, rain-dependent flow leaves little room to dilute anything harmful.
Alphabet raised its 2026 capital budget to $195-205bn at its 22 July results, the only big-four hyperscaler on the record this fortnight, as Google Cloud revenue jumped 82%.
United StatesAlphabet raised its 2026 capital-spending guidance to $195-205bn at its 22 July results, up from $180-190bn set only three months earlier. Google Cloud revenue grew 82% to $24.8bn.
Shares still fell over 4% on the call. Investors are weighing whether ever-rising AI spending is confidence in demand, or a sign the bill has outrun the returns.
Synergy Research counted a near-45 GW US build pipeline across 74 companies on 23 July, while GE Vernova's gas-turbine backlog climbed to 116 GW, twin readings of demand still accelerating.
Synergy Research Group counted a US data-centre pipeline near 45 gigawatts across 74 companies as of 23 July, enough to roughly double built capacity within three years.
GE Vernova's turbine backlog, the physical bottleneck behind that build-out, grew to 116 gigawatts. Orders already worth over $5bn this year show demand still outrunning supply.
Sierra County commissioners passed an 18-month data-centre moratorium on 21 July, New Mexico's third county to act, targeting a solar-powered proposal near Spaceport America.
Sierra County, New Mexico passed an 18-month data-centre moratorium on 21 July. It is the third county in the state to do so, targeting the solar-powered Green Data proposal near Spaceport America.
Resident group Project Consequences drove the campaign. State lawmakers now want to go further, pledging the first statewide moratorium bill in the US for 2027.
PJM's 2027/28 capacity auction cleared 6,623 MW below its reserve target, forcing a supplemental procurement with a 21 July deadline as the largest US grid hunts for power it has already sold.
PJM (the largest US grid operator) fell 6,623 megawatts short of its reserve target in its 2027/28 capacity auction. It now has until 21 July to buy extra supply.
The shortfall follows PJM's board asking all 13 governors in its territory in May how to split rising data-centre-driven costs. Prices for the affected years look set to climb further.
Montgomery County council committees advanced an 18-month freeze and a 25 MW zoning cap on 22 July, the first Maryland jurisdiction to move, with a full council vote on 28 July.
Two Montgomery County, Maryland council committees voted on 22 July to advance an 18-month data-centre moratorium and a 25 MW zoning cap. It is the first such move by any Maryland jurisdiction.
It builds on County Executive Marc Elrich's shorter June pause. The full council votes 28 July on whether to make the restriction binding.
A federal judge let a homeowner's private-nuisance suit against Amazon's Louisa County construction site survive dismissal, a rare tort route running alongside the permit fight.
US District Judge Jasmine Yoon ruled on 10 July that a private-nuisance lawsuit against Amazon's Louisa County, Virginia data-centre site can proceed. Yoon dismissed a separate injunctive-relief claim the same day.
Plaintiff Austin Newsom cites brown tap water, structural cracking and lost business from construction. Amazon faces a hearing next month on construction-practice changes, not a full halt.
Direction is up on both curves at once, not converging. MISO's response to FERC's show-cause order is due 17 August and public comments close 16 September, with any binding rule still 2027 at the earliest; in that gap, Microsoft's and Meta's capex figures on 29 July and Amazon's on 30 July will show whether Alphabet's $195-205bn raise is matched across the big four, and New Mexico's promised 2027 statewide moratorium bill is the next test of whether the Garcia Richard model generalises beyond one commissioner's trust-land title.
