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Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk @landdesk.bsky.social · 7d

It kind of makes you wonder: Is this new wave of nuclear reactors solving the data center energy demand problem? Or are data centers’ energy-gobbling habits "solving" the nuclear reactors’ cost and feasibility problems? www.landdesk.org/p/are-nukes-...

Are nukes the solution to the data center problem?

Or are data centers the solution to the nuclear reactor infeasibility problem?

www.landdesk.org

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

Sammy Roth @sammyroth.bsky.social · 14d

Big Tech invades Nevada's power grid (and desert) www.landdesk.org/p/big-tech-i... via @landdesk.bsky.social

Big Tech invades Nevada's power grid (and desert)

Data Center Watch; Trump Ticker; Messing with Maps

www.landdesk.org

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 22d

One pretty foolproof way to know your government is fascist is when your government tries to punish you for calling it fascist.

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Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk @landdesk.bsky.social · 22d

A team of Colorado River experts urges users to slash consumption ASAP to avoid a crisis. www.landdesk.org/p/experts-sl...

Experts: Slash Colorado River consumption ASAP to avoid crisis

Wacky Weather Watch: Tornadoes in Utah; no fruit in Capitol Reef

www.landdesk.org

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Sammy Roth @sammyroth.bsky.social · 29d

“Where the hell is the concern about federal overreach now?” www.landdesk.org/p/where-are-... via @landdesk.bsky.social

Where are the anti-tyranny, federal overreach folks when you need them?

🤯 Annals of Inanity 🤡

www.landdesk.org

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

Western Environmental Law Center @westernlaw.org · Sep 2

🌶️ You can’t grow chile without clean water. In Rio Arriba County, aging oil & gas wells threaten to poison what sustains us: land, water, and legacy. Op-ed from @vivarioarriba.bsky.social on why modernizing bonding will help make #NMPol safer and cleaner.

www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_v...

We are ranchers in Rio Arriba County. This is a place where land is heritage, where the native grass roots run deep into the soil, and community roots run just as deep.

It’s where our family and neighbors raise livestock, grow crops, and live by the principles of care, conservation and reciprocity. None of it is possible without clean, dependable water.

But that water is at risk.

Aging oil and gas wells dot the landscape across New Mexico and many sit unplugged and deteriorating. These wells leak and vent harmful, even toxic, gasses like methane and benzene into our air, and they threaten to contaminate the very aquifers that hold the clean water that nourishes our land, wildlife and families.

Here’s the hard truth: Oil and gas corporations are not required to set aside nearly enough money to clean up the mess they leave when the wells are no longer making them money. They are allowed to post a small bond and then many just walk away, leaving the real cleanup bill to us, the public.

If we don’t act now to protect our water, we’re not just threatening ranching and farming. We are threatening the cultural lifeways of rural New Mexico.

The Oil Conservation Commission has a chance right now to fix this. New bonding rules must ensure that oil and gas corporations pay up front for the true cost of cleanup. The full cost so the burden doesn’t fall on rural families, tribal communities and working lands.

This land gave us everything. We can’t pass down poisoned land and call it a legacy. We must protect what we’ve inherited. We must demand accountability from those who profit from our natural resources.

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

Sammy Roth @sammyroth.bsky.social · Aug 14

I also talked with Western environmental journalist Jonathan P. Thompson, author of the @landdesk.bsky.social newsletter, for this week's Boiling Point podcast. Great conversation about the Colorado River, coal plants and national parks. Listen in: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

The Colorado Plateau at a Crossroads

Podcast Episode · Boiling Point · 08/14/2025 · 39m

podcasts.apple.com

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

Erik Schlenker-Goodrich @riogranderift.bsky.social · Aug 12

Appreciate @landdesk.bsky.social covering the transition from fossil fuels to renewables -- oh, wait, I mean efforts to extend the life of antiquated coal-fired power plants & build new fossil methane pipelines to meet growing power demand from energy-intensive data centers.

Screenshot of text from article linked in first post reading: "The coal-burning extension is part of the state’s largest utility’s plan to shift its climate goal from becoming zero carbon by 2050 to carbon neutral. While that sounds like a mere semantic switch, its on-the-ground effects will be significant. Along with the coal plant news, APS and the state’s other largest utilities are going in on a new natural gas pipeline from the Permian Basin so it can increase fossil fuel generation rather than pivoting entirely to solar, wind, battery energy storage, and other carbon-free sources.

APS officials say the shift is necessary to meet growing power demand. While population growth and increasingly hot temperatures play a role in the ever-larger load on the grid, the crop of new energy-intensive data centers sprouting in the Phoenix area is a principle driver. The utility is also likely reacting to the Trump administration’s fondness for fossil fuels and disdain for renewables."

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

Justin Gerdes @justingerdes.bsky.social · Aug 5

"Interior Department has gone even further with a new order that threatens to kill all new renewable power development on federal lands." - @landdesk.bsky.social writing about the Interior Department's new "capacity density" order: www.landdesk.org/p/trumps-war... 🔌💡

Trump's war on energy

If we're in an energy emergency, why kill the cleanest, best, and fastest growing sources?

www.landdesk.org

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

David Roberts @volts.wtf · Jul 31

Morons.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Jul 31

Burgum: "When the sun goes down, you have a catastrophic failure called sunset and there's no solar energy produced, and yet we're subsidizing these things that are intermittent, unreliable, and expensive. We've gotta get back to base load."

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

Coyote Gulch @coyotegulch.bsky.social · Jul 30

No, there is not plenty of water for data centers
www.landdesk.org/p/no-there-i...

No, there is not plenty of water for data centers

And, yes, we should worry about it, along with the facilities' power use

www.landdesk.org

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

Faith Kearns, Ph.D. @fkearns.bsky.social · Jul 28

The West’s data centers suck (water and power). Lots of great information and visualizations here from @landdesk.bsky.social ‪@highcountrynews.org‬ www.hcn.org/issues/57-8/...

The West's data centers suck (water and power) - High Country News

From simple searches to chatGPT, the big digital buildup threatens the grid and water supplies.

www.hcn.org

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

Coyote Gulch @coyotegulch.bsky.social · Jul 16

The #RioGrande has gone dry in Albuquerque -- John Fleck (InkStain.net) coyotegulch.blog/2025/07/16/t...

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Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk @landdesk.bsky.social · Jul 16

In which I compare the Colorado River Compact to an inherited potato farm. www.landdesk.org/p/colorado-r...

Colorado River users come to their senses?

A supply-driven plan is on the table, but many sticky details remain up in the air

www.landdesk.org

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

Zak 🦦 Podmore @zakpodmore.bsky.social · Jul 15

@landdesk.bsky.social explains the Colorado River Compact of 1922 open.substack.com/pub/landdesk...

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Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk @landdesk.bsky.social · Jul 8

Kanab, Utah, used to be an out of the way, podunk town best known as a center of the Sagebrush Rebellion. Now it’s getting overrun by high-end luxury resorts and gated communities — despite the lack of water. www.landdesk.org/p/as-the-col...

As the Colorado River shrinks, desert towns grow

Kanab gets a bunch of new development, Imperial Irrigation District scoffs at farmland solar

www.landdesk.org

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Reposted by Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · Jun 30

These people are Nazis. I know that's well-understood by many people at this point, but not enough. They are Nazis and we need to keep saying it.

Nikki McCann Ramírez @nikkimcr.bsky.social · Jun 30

Karoline Leavitt indicates the administration is open to a denaturalization-oriented investigation against Zohran Mamdani

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Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk @landdesk.bsky.social · Jun 29

Sen. Mike Lee pulls his public land sell-off bill after serious backlash. That's what happens when you try to hand Americans' land to developers.

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Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk @landdesk.bsky.social · Jun 25

Mike MAGA Lee may have changed his public land sell-off bill, but it would still privatize/develop up to 1.9 million acres of your favorite BLM lands near Western communities www.landdesk.org/p/breaking-m...

BREAKING: Mike MAGA Lee changes public land sell off bill

Plus: The Colorado River emotional roller-coaster ride

www.landdesk.org

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Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk @landdesk.bsky.social · Jun 18

Yes. This is the revised proposed legislation. It says “not more than .75%” of the BLM/USFS land shall be sold. That caps it at 3.2 million acres. That's atrocious, and sets a terrible precedent, but there is nothing in the amendment that "authorizes" the sale of additional acreage.

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Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk @landdesk.bsky.social · Jun 18

Here's the revised text. Under the Land section: subscriber.politicopro.com/eenews/f/een...

subscriber.politicopro.com

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Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk @landdesk.bsky.social · Jun 18

It does not "authorize" significant additional land sales. The text of the bill says "not more than .75%" of Forest Service and BLM lands -- which adds up to about 3.2 million acres, give or take -- would be disposed of. There is no language authorizing any additional sales. Saying so is wrong.

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Jonathan Thompson at the Land Desk @landdesk.bsky.social · Jun 18

In which I try to clear up the confusion about public lands acreage for sale in the Senate's latest budget reconciliation bill. Spoiler: It's not 294 million, but it's still atrocious. open.substack.com/pub/landdesk...

Trump's DOJ takes aim at the Antiquities Act

Also: Cutting through the public land sell-off misinformation

open.substack.com

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Coyote Gulch @coyotegulch.bsky.social · Jun 9

MAGA intensifies its assault on public lands
www.landdesk.org/p/maga-inten...

MAGA intensifies its assault on public lands

🌵 Public Lands 🌲

www.landdesk.org

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Gabriel Zucman @gabrielzucman.bsky.social · May 23

A long long time ago, in a far away galaxy... the US used to tax the rich

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