Oracle had to shut down an incredibly polluting natural gas plant to power its AI data center

The tech industry is doing a poor job of hiding the environmental footprint of AI data centers that suck up electrons like nobody’s business. With America’s crumbling energy grid Struggling to keep upBillionaire technology industrialists are increasingly financing their energy solutions themselves.

This had predictable consequences, for example for Elon Musk’s xAI data center in south Memphis Residents suffocate with its shoddy fleet of portable methane generators courts a Clean air lawsuit from the NAACP.

Now Oracle, the AI ​​company led by tech billionaire Larry Ellison, announced that it will shut down a large natural gas power plant that powers its Project Jupiter plant in New Mexico. After To Business InsiderThe cancellation comes after both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the state of New Mexico…