Here in Missoula County, inaction from the Sheriff’s Office looks like the failure to arrest anyone in the murder of an 88 year old woman with a pair of antlers. Back east, however, it looks more like this:
Developers of a controversial 70-mile, 500,000-volt transmission line cutting across three Maryland counties to power data centers in Northern Virginia’s “spy country data center alley” have faced mounting backlash from residents, prompting the project’s backers to request U.S. Marshals to escort survey crews after repeated threats from property owners, according to local media outlet WJZ 13.
PSEG Renewable Transmission, a New Jersey-based developer, is leading the Piedmont Reliability Project to install 70 miles of high-voltage lines through Baltimore, Carroll, and Frederick counties to supply power to AI data centers and ease strain on the regional grid.
In a motion filed in federal court last Friday, PSEG detailed new threats against survey teams, including gun violence, unleashed dogs, and an ATV that nearly struck private security guards. Local police and the sheriff’s office declined to intervene, dismissing the confrontations as civil matters.
Is this a dick move by the Sheriff? Yeah, I’d say it is, but considering other jurisdictions are getting realistic and doing things like trying to restrain the unending appetite of data centers for energy, maybe one day we will come to appreciate the forethought coming from those who wised up early and said FUCK NO to sacrificing humans on the psychotic altar of nerd-dork gods like Grok.
Texas Senate Bill 6, signed into law in late June of 2025, imposes mandates on large energy users (like data centers) to fund infrastructure upgrades, enable remote disconnection during emergencies, and register backup generators to bolster grid reliability. No less important is the goal that tariffs ensure data centers bear grid upgrade burdens, rather than passing them to residents.
SB6 will require significant disclosure from the data center industry. In its initial form, the bill applies to customers drawing 75 MW or more (a threshold that is adjustable by the PUC), including hyperscale data centers, crypto mines, and manufacturers. Probably the most significant, or at least the most noticeable requirement is setting infrastructure cost-sharing and connection standards.
Does using AI-generated images at the top of my posts make me a giant hypocrite? Right now it IS a tool I am using and will continue to use as I navigate being a pro se lawyer on top of everything else I’m doing, but AI could go away tomorrow and it wouldn’t bother me at all.
This post is a shorty today, and that’s only because the latest rabbit hole I’ve stumbled down is SO deep, I’m trying to get my bearings as I go.
That said, thanks for reading!
