Coal plants should be kept running to power the AI data-center boom

Platform regulation, artificial intelligence, surveillance, data privacy and the antitrust scrutiny of large firms, as they are argued in American politics. A domain where federal law lags well behind deployment, leaving states and the courts to set the boundaries instead.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s September 14, 2026, final rule repealed most 2024 Biden administration greenhouse-gas standards for coal- and natural-gas-fired power plants. A separate EPA proposal would rescind remaining power-plant greenhouse-gas standards and supporting findings, requiring notice-and-comment rulemaking before any broader repeal is finalized.