A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to take flight over one of the country’s data center hotspots. Within the hour, I got a bird’s-eye view of what attracts data centers to an area like the Columbia River: hydroelectric dams, which provide plentiful energy, large swaths of land to house the large buildings and servers, and energy generation and grid infrastructure. 

But what was truly striking was the size of these data centers and the scale of the supporting energy infrastructure nearby. Like many others, I’ve heard considerable discussion about energy demands, but seeing the onsite generation gave me a clearer perspective on how much energy is required. 

The Larger the Growth, the Bigger the Impacts

Nearly 20 years ago, Oregon’s first data center was built in The Dalles by Google. Since then, the Lower Columbia River has grown into a data center hotspot. Columbia Riverkeeper, a nonprofit in the Pacific Northwest, estimates that there are more than 100 data centers being proposed, under construction, or operational in the Lower Columbia River basin in Oregon and Washington. 

Industry advocates will be quick to point out that we have had data centers for decades. While that is true, it is important to remember that the data centers built today are significantly larger than the ones built at the start of the internet. As a result, they require more resources to operate which further impacts our energy and water systems as well as the communities that depend on them.

Energy Use

Data centers consume a significant amount of energy and that is only expected to grow in the coming years. In 2024, data centers accounted for nearly 5 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption, and that consumption is expected to at least double by 2030.

In the Columbia River region, existing and planned data center capacity could reach four gigawatts, which could use enough energy to power 2.3 million households each year. 

To meet demand, utilities will often look to new fossil fuel generation and other infrastructure, producing harmful pollutants that endanger nearby communities and wildlife. Without strong guardrails, these financial and health costs can be passed on to households and businesses. Safeguards can include policies that require large energy users to pay more for electricity, pay for the extra electricity generation needed and related grid infrastructure, prioritize clean energy over fossil fuels, and prevent developers from stranding assets.

Last year, Oregon passed the Protecting Oregonians with Energy Responsibility (POWER) Act which put these protections into law in addition to requiring that new data center loads not impede clean energy and greenhouse gas emission targets. 

Water Use

Data centers also require substantial water, primarily for cooling. Large data centers can consume millions of gallons of water per day. In 2025, Amazon Web Services (AWS) reported withdrawing more than 240 million gallons of water from Oregon. It’s worth noting that AWS has initiatives that aim to return more water to communities than they use in direct operations.

Large water withdrawals can have significant impacts, and can affect drinking water supplies, groundwater levels, streamflows, and aquatic ecosystems, especially in areas that are experiencing droughts like Oregon and Washington. The impacts of the drought were evident during the flight. I had expected to see lush green fields and trees, but much of the landscape appeared brown and dry. 

However, it is difficult to know how much water is being used by data centers since there is no overarching requirement for companies to disclose water usage and for those who provide information voluntarily, it is not standardized. States across the country are working to tackle this issue with proposals being discussed in New Jersey, California, and Texas. In Oregon, Senator Wyden has sent letters to Google, Apple, Meta, and Amazon demanding information on how their companies are minimizing water usage and impacts to communities.

To protect our water resources, there need to be regulations on water transparency and consumption. At the very least, data centers should be mandated to report water consumption, and reporting requirements should be standardized. 

What We Can Do

The National Wildlife Federation calls for federal, state, and local leaders to strengthen wildlife, climate, and environmental safeguards for the planning, siting, development, and operation of data centers. Without robust policy and corporate accountability implemented across all levels of government, data center growth could threaten our communities and the environment, including reversing our progress on conservation, increasing threats to public health, and harming wildlife and natural ecosystems. With the gratuitous rise of AI-driven data centers, we must act now.

The anglers excitedly loaded their poles, coolers, and other gear onto the vessel before the sun was higher than the boom of the sailboats docked in the marina. With some light chit chat over bagels, coffee, and shared Dramamine for those who were less experienced with ocean fishing, we were on our way. 

The Block Island Inshore Fishing Tournament, our reason for assembling the group of 40 anglers, takes place every year over a weekend in late July off the coast of Rhode Island and in the ocean waters around Block Island. Nine species are included in the tournament: bonito, false albacore, bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, mahi mahi, fluke, black sea bass, bluefish, and striped bass.

This year, the National Wildlife Federation was a sponsor and chartered a boat for recreational anglers and conservationists to gather for a weekend of fishing, community, and camaraderie underneath the Revolution Wind, South Fork Wind, and Block Island Wind turbines. 

On the first day, we traveled out past Block Island to Revolution Wind, a 65-turbine offshore wind project that will generate 704 MW of clean, affordable, and reliable electricity for Rhode Island and Connecticut—the equivalent to powering 350,000 homes and businesses. 

The project will complete construction later this year, but began delivering power to the grid in March 2026. Power from Revolution Wind will help improve grid reliability. A study from Union of Concerned Scientists demonstrated that Revolution Wind and Vineyard Wind would have reduced New England’s blackout risk by 55% if it had been operational during the winter of 2024-2025. 

On the second day of the tournament, we traveled closer to the Block Island coast to fish near the Block Island Wind Farm, the first offshore wind project in the United States with five turbines that began sending power to the island in 2016.

Split into teams of five or six, the anglers put lines in the water to begin the competition. Soon, anglers were reeling in species like black sea Bass to log for their teams, and other species like Atlantic mackerel although they did not count for this tournament. 

Offshore Wind Up Close

Seeing offshore wind turbines for the first time, many of the anglers remarked on how the turbines differed from what they expected. 

“Seeing it up close puts things into perspective for sure,” said La’Tonya Blanding, an angler and Artemis Sportswoman Ambassador from South Carolina. “They are massive and the power they generate is immense but low sound.” 

Underneath the steadily moving blades of the turbine, it was easy to see how a single rotation of the blades could produce enough energy to power the average U.S. household for an entire day.

One participant even found an unexpected connection to their day job. Her workplace, specializing in electrical and power management, shared an article shortly after the trip about how a few of her colleagues participated in an offshore wind readiness program at the Revolution Wind substation. “I’m like wait, I was just there,” said the angler, “so freaking cool.”

“I have been a fan of using ‘green’ options for energy, after seeing these up close I was impressed by just how large they were!” said Jack Illingworth from the Massachusetts Striped Bass Association. “I don’t think my feelings about offshore have changed much, [but] I feel I can better explain my position now.”

Other local anglers said what they saw on the trip came as no surprise. One local noted on fishing in the project area: “I’ve been out there several times for tuna fishing trips, so I was not really surprised by the turbines’ size or the amount of life out there,” but added still, “I never grow tired of encountering whales out there.”

Whales, Dolphins, and Seabirds, Oh My!

And, across the board, the vast array of wildlife thriving around the offshore wind turbines awed the diverse coalition of anglers on the vessel. Within the project areas on our first day out, anglers saw pods of dolphins, various seabirds, and humpback whales breaching to feed near the turbines.

“Seeing the whales bubble feeding [was] just inspirational,” said one angler commenting on the strategy humpback whales sometimes use to catch krill or fish. The whales use ‘bubble-net feeding,’ or the exhalation of air from their blowholes while swimming in a circle, to encase their prey into a smaller underwater space that makes it easier to eat more at once. 

Research suggests that humpback whales learn this behavior from each other, but we are learning from it, too. A similar technology is used in the offshore wind industry to keep whales safe from the noise pollution created during the pile driving process of construction. 

The double ‘bubble curtains’ used during pile driving encase the monopile from the seafloor to the top of the water in a thick layer of bubbles, trapping sound waves inside and protecting whales and other marine mammals from auditory impacts. Developers ‘double’ the bubble curtains—or use two at once—to further prevent construction noise from disrupting marine habitats.

Under the Surface

The offshore wind project areas on the East Coast have become rich underwater ecosystems because of the structure the turbine foundations create for species. 

“I was amazed at the amount of marine mammals and bird life,” noted George Baldwin from the Connecticut Surfcasters Association. “It makes total sense, as fish (especially baitfish) are attracted to structure and the [turbine] bases provide that structure. Gamefish, seabirds, and marine mammals know to hunt around structures to find baitfish, so the windmills should prove beneficial in increasing the marine life in the area.”

Turbine reefs can create new opportunities for marine life across the food chain, including for anglers who can utilize the turbines’ reef effect for their own recreational fishing, and many of the anglers on the boat attested to the boon. 

“Last year, I caught most of my fish right at the base of the [turbines],” said Baldwin.

“The fact that nature and industry can coexist is always interesting to me, and demonstrating that to people is valuable,” said Johnny Marquez from Vanishing Paradise, a program of the National Wildlife Federation that unites sportsmen to advocate for the restoration of water ecosystems in the Gulf. “Seeing the whales was by far my highlight,”

James Riggs from the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association echoed the same admiration for the whales and added, “[I’ll] never forget it.”

Cameradie Across a Big Boat

The weekend ended on Block Island with an awards party at Captain Nicks Rock N Roll Bar with awards for shore, youth, and boat divisions, and best photos. A team from our charter won for best team photo in front of a turbine.

Many anglers noted incredible connections they made with new folks who brought differing perspectives to their engagement in the fishing community and conversation. With anglers coming from different day jobs, fishing clubs, parts of the country, and personal experiences, the boat was ripe for conversation during downtime—an experience that for some was just as, if not more, impactful than the fishing. 

“I had the chance to talk with people I would not normally come across in my daily life either at my job or recreationally, and enjoyed hearing about what they are doing and learned about many things going on around the country,” said Jack Illingworth from the Massachusetts Striped Bass Association. “Many of which I can share with my fishing club and hopefully generate additional support for their causes or work.”  

Another angler, from the West Coast, expressed a similar enthusiasm about connecting to anglers from different parts of the country to discuss fisheries and offshore wind: “Getting to connect with so many new people from across the nation who are invested in and care about the future of our oceans was inspiring and fulfilling. I appreciated the opportunity to connect and hear about East Coast fisheries—crazy fish that are so similar but also so different from the ones on the West Coast—and the recreational angling culture.” 

He added, “just seeing the wind turbines helped me understand what our West Coast may look like in the future.”

“The focused and shared time with a fellow angler and emerging friend from my town and local fishing club was precious,” said Christa Drew from the Cape Code Salties Sportsfishing Club, who recounted a particularly meaningful conversation with one of her tournament team members on policy in her state. “I was inspired to have time with some other anglers and non-anglers who also care about the environment and conservation in an informed and passionate way.”

Anglers walked away from the weekend feeling inspired to talk to others about how healthy ocean ecosystems can exist next to offshore wind, and spoke directly to how they were going to put this experience into action in their circles. 

“I do a lot of conservation work with our fisheries,” said Baldwin, “and am now more inspired to try and influence people to accept wind power as a valid and valuable component in plans to replace dirty fuels that change our atmosphere and our climate, endangering our world and our existence.”

Learn more about responsible offshore wind and recreational fishing and connect with other anglers at the Anglers for Offshore Wind Power website, and connect with them on Facebook and Instagram.

Critical minerals are a class of raw materials that according to the Department of Energy “ha[ve] a high risk of supply chain disruption” and or “serve an essential function in one or more energy technologies.” These include minerals such as copper, lithium, and many others. 

Clean energy infrastructure, from solar panels to electric vehicle batteries to wind turbines, requires more critical minerals to manufacture compared to fossil fuel based infrastructure. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), an electric vehicle requires six times the amount of minerals in comparison to a gas powered vehicle and an onshore wind farm requires nine times more minerals in comparison to a gas-fired plant. The IEA projects that given the accelerating pace of clean energy uptake, critical mineral demand could potentially triple by 2030.

Although meeting the rising demand for these materials is challenging, deploying clean energy is necessary to lower greenhouse gases, slow climate change, and secure a safe and healthy planet for future generations. According to the World Health Organization, air pollution from residential energy, vehicles, power generation, agriculture/waste incineration, and industry causes 7 million premature deaths annually. This loss of life is not only unacceptable, it is avoidable.  Expanding clean energy can improve our health and livelihood by reducing harmful air pollution from fossil fuels.  

This fundamental requirement for our clean energy future is even more complex given that the U.S. currently imports the vast majority of these minerals from other countries. Relying on other nations for materials that are so critical to our energy system leaves vulnerabilities if geopolitical conflict or economic uncertainty occur—but the same is true for oil and other imports. Additionally, many of the countries the U.S. imports critical minerals from have lower (or nonexistent) environmental and worker protection standards. 

This need for domestically supplied critical minerals is driving a renewed conversation around domestic mining and processing of these minerals. Supplying our own critical minerals could minimize the risk of price volatility and supply interruptions that we may face from internationally sourced minerals. However, many of these minerals have to be mined and processed, or recycled, before they can be turned into something useful.

Mining operations in the United States must be conducted with environmental and social safeguards to protect our lands, waters, and the communities and wildlife populations adjacent to mining sites. If these extraction processes are conducted with proper permitting to ensure wildlife protections and community input, the U.S. would be able to expand clean energy deployment while also providing a variety of new jobs in the mining and mineral processing sectors. 

Addressing the supply chain challenges are complicated and challenging, but solving these hard problems is both possible and necessary to slow the impacts of climate change.

Find out more about NWF’s work on critical minerals and clean energy here. 

With the gratuitous rise of artificial intelligence (AI), tech companies are quickly trying to build the infrastructure needed to power these hubs. New data centers are popping up across the country, with large-scale data centers requiring enormous amounts of electricity to run around the clock.

That growth presents a challenge. Without careful and thoughtful planning, this AI-fueled energy demand can put pressure on the grid and increase costs for families and businesses—in fact, it already is. Last year, utilities received requests from data centers for at least 700 gigawatts (GW) of power connection.

It’s important to understand this number because the entire country’s average power generation is only around 500 GW. Even if some of these projects are never built, the requests still lead to a ramp-up in energy infrastructure including power plants, transmission lines, and transformers. And those costs are passed on to households and businesses.

Clean energy has become the cheapest form of energy, but wind and solar still only account for 17 percent of the country’s energy generation. The biggest barrier to deploying clean energy is usually transmission. Without enough transmission to deliver cheaper clean energy to where it’s needed, over 900 GW of solar and wind projects sit waiting in queue, and utilities often default to more expensive fossil fuel generation instead.

In this moment where Americans are feeling the squeeze of rising electricity bills, expensive groceries, and high prices at the pump, we need to fully invest in an energy system that is more affordable, more resilient, and more reliable than the one we have today. Clean energy is central to that solution.

Renewables Remains the Cheapest Form of Energy

For years, clean energy was framed as something we should invest in for the future. Well, the future is here and we are unprepared.

The good news is that renewable energy like wind and solar, when paired with battery storage, remains the most cost-effective form of new-build energy generation even without tax subsidies. Plus, there’s no volatile gas price or imported fuel cost to worry about. The sun shines. The wind blows. And when they don’t, we can tap into the energy stored in the system’s batteries. That helps protect customers from the price spikes that fossil fuel markets and international conflicts bring.

Beyond wind and solar, emerging technologies like next-generation geothermal can play an important role. It taps into the Earth’s internal heat to generate electricity, using underground heat, instead of coal or natural gas, to drive steam to spin the turbines. That heat is free, non-emitting, and endlessly renewable.

What makes it “next-generation” is its potential to go beyond traditional geothermal resources which are limited to specific locations. New drilling technologies allow next-generation geothermal to be developed in more places and deliver power more locally. Continued research and development are needed, but the opportunity is clear—dependable, non-polluting power available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Clean Energy Gives Us More Options, Not Fewer

Extreme weather is becoming more frequent and more expensive. Heat waves, hurricanes, wildfires, and winter freezes are testing aging energy infrastructure across the country. A more resilient, well-connected grid is better equipped to respond.

Solar paired with battery storage can keep power flowing when the grid is strained during peak demand. Distributed energy resources like rooftop solar and community solar can reduce some pressure on the grid, especially at the local level.

Wind generation often complements solar production across seasons and times of day. Together, these technologies create a more flexible system that can adapt when conditions change.

Opponents of clean energy question whether it’s reliable enough. But reliability is about building a balanced system with multiple sources working together. That means combining wind and solar with battery storage, transmission upgrades, demand flexibility (especially from large electricity users like data centers), geothermal, and other cleaner, non-polluting technologies. It also means modernizing the grid so it can move electricity where and when it’s needed. 

A Healthy Environment and Economic Growth Can Co-Exist

It is a misconception that we have to sacrifice innovation and economic prosperity for a healthy planet. Clean energy is increasingly what makes economic growth possible. As electricity demand rises, we have a choice.

We can double down on outdated systems that pollute our air and water and drive up prices, or we can invest in the resilient energy solutions that have proven to be the cheapest, build the grid needed to deliver them, and ensure the largest electricity users pay their fair share of the costs they trigger.

Our future depends on it.

But why are prices rising? The short answer is supply and demand.

Economics 101: A Quick Refresher

Like concert tickets, prices are high when there is increased demand and limited supply. 

Energy prices are increasing because there is rising demand for electricity, in large part, from AI data centers. Plus, our outdated and aging energy grid was not built to handle this surging demand, creating bottlenecks that drive up electricity costs and delay new, low-cost clean energy sources from coming online. Recent analysis estimates grid load growth will increase by 25 percent by 2030 and more than 75 percent by 2050. 

Responsible clean energy can help fill this gap and bring prices down. Over the past decade, the cost of wind and solar have dropped, making them more affordable than other sources of energy.

However, recent actions from the Trump administration are preventing Americans from accessing affordable, reliable energy. Some of those actions include halting clean energy projects, rolling back incentives that make household and small business clean energy and efficiency upgrades more affordable, and delaying funding for families that need help paying for heating and cooling.

At a time when prices are rising, we need to add more electricity to the grid, not less. And we already have the solutions to do so in a way that’s both friendly to our wallets and our environment.

The Energy Bills Relief Act

A proposal responding to rising electricity costs and renewable energy shortages is the Energy Bills Relief Act (EBRA). EBRA was introduced by Representatives Sean Casten (D-IL-06) and Mike Levin (D-CA-49) earlier this year and aims to deploy responsible clean energy, lower energy bills for households, and reduce barriers for connecting cheaper energy to the grid.

The legislation spurs clean energy deployment by restoring tax incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) adopted in the previous Congress and Administration—which were weakened or prematurely ended by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

These tax credits make it cheaper to generate electricity and manufacture the technologies in America, while prioritizing job growth and investment in certain communities affected the most by the transition away from fossil fuels. EBRA also reinstates grants given to low-income and disadvantaged communities for affordable, clean energy solutions.

EBRA would also lower energy bills for households by supporting and expanding programs like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which increases access to heating and cooling assistance, and the Rural Energy Savings Program that helps consumers make their home or business more energy efficient.

Finally, EBRA tackles some of the challenges clean energy technologies face in connecting to the electric grid, including making it easier to use rooftop and community solar, increasing staffing at state public utility commissions (i.e., entities that regulate utility rates and services), and more fairly distributing costs from grid updates.

While EBRA offers needed policy solutions to help American households and a bold vision for furthering the clean energy transition, there are a few areas of improvement from a conservation perspective. Namely, to alleviate development pressure in important natural areas called “greenfields,” the bill could encourage deployment of responsible clean energy in existing energy corridors and on degraded lands, including brownfields, former mine lands, and contaminated agricultural areas.

It is also important that any energy policy proposal has strong safeguards for wildlife, public lands, and the communities that rely on them, such as using the mitigation hierarchy in siting and permitting, incorporating protections for sensitive wildlife habitats, and aligning with State Wildlife Action Plans.

EBRA is a step in the right direction and will improve our energy system by making it easier for affordable, healthier clean energy to be connected to the grid quickly.The National Wildlife Federation urges Congress to pass this legislation and to further strengthen it with robust protection and conservation measures for our wildlife and habitats.

Support for Clean Energy

We already have the solutions to lower energy bills while cleaning up pollution associated with fossil-fuel use. Clean energy is the cheapest form of energy and provides reliable, affordable energy to everyone. What we need is political will that prioritizes the health and wellbeing of people and wildlife.

• Vineyard Wind 1, an 800-megawatt (MW) project south of Martha’s Vineyard, MA,  completed construction on all 62 turbines. The last turbines still need to undergo commissioning (the process of inspections, safety system checks, grid connection verification, and blade rotation tests) before the wind farm is fully operational. Once finished, the project will power the equivalent of 400,000 homes in Massachusetts.
• Revolution Wind, which will deliver 704 MW of power for Rhode Island and Connecticut, started sending energy to the grid on March 13th. The project is the nation’s first multi-state offshore wind farm, and it is projected to provide power to about 350,000 homes across both states, or about 2.5% of the area’s power supply.
• Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) also began delivering power to ratepayers in Virginia in March. Once complete, CVOW will be the largest offshore wind farm in the U.S., generating 2,587 MW of offshore wind energy for the state. This will provide power to approximately 25% of Dominion Energy’s residential consumers.

All three of these projects suffered delays after the Trump Administration issued a stop-work order on the five offshore wind projects under construction last December. All five projects’ developers challenged the order in court, and all five were allowed to resume construction earlier this year. 

Power from these projects will help meet rising energy demand and improve grid reliability at the times when power is needed most. Vineyard Wind helped supply power during the recent Winter Storm Fern and performed better than some coal-fired power plants.

A study from Union of Concerned Scientists showed that Revolution Wind and Vineyard Wind would have reduced New England’s blackout risk by 55% if they had been operational during the winter of 2024-2025. 

Across each of these projects, NWF and many of our partners engaged at every step of the offshore wind development process to champion safeguards for wildlife and habitats for incorporation by developers and regulators. NWF is committed to advancing renewable energy goals that reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions alongside science-backed protections for biodiversity.  

The wind farms will not just deliver energy. Each of these projects has committed resources to support the communities that host their construction and operations sites, providing benefits like funding for local clean wastewater initiatives or exhibits to educate the public about offshore wind. 

Below are some of the wildlife protections and community benefits that have been implemented at each of the projects, some voluntarily and others based on requirements from the government.

Vineyard Wind 1 

Developer Vineyard Wind took particular care to ensure protections for the endangered North Atlantic right whale during its construction and site assessment processes. With only 380 individuals remaining and an estimated 70 reproducing females, it is vital to ensure that these whales are protected. 

Vineyard Wind committed, following feedback and recommendations from NWF and others as well as conditions of the government, to a suite of measures to address  potential impacts. These included restricting vessel speeds to 10 knots to reduce the danger of vessel strikes, a primary threat to right whales.

The developer used bubble curtains to limit underwater noise during the construction process. Turbine construction could not start in the winter and spring, when risk to the whales is highest, and construction had to stop if a whale was detected within 10,000 m (about 6 miles) of the site.

The agreement also included a $3 million commitment to develop and deploy technologies to protect right whales as the offshore wind industry continues to expand off the East Coast. 

For more information on whales and offshore wind, check out our factsheet here!

Vineyard Wind also made history with the first offshore wind Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) in the nation between the developer and the local nonprofit Vineyard Power. As part of the agreement, Vineyard Power can allocate funding to solar or battery storage projects on Martha’s Vineyard.

So far, the program has supported new solar projects for the local library, senior center, and for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, in addition to committing $200,000 annually to subsidize electricity costs for low-income residents. 

Vineyard Wind sought buy-in from other nearby communities as well. On the neighboring island of Nantucket, the company set up a $4 million fund to support projects related to climate adaptation, renewable energy, coastal resiliency, and historic preservation.

In Barnstable, MA, where the project’s subsea cables connect to the mainland grid, the town and Vineyard Wind committed to a Host Community Agreement that included payment to offset potential impacts from construction and funding for clean wastewater initiatives. 

With construction on the project now complete, Vineyard Wind 1 is helping to lower polluting emissions in Massachusetts. It is estimated that the project will eliminate 1.68 million metric tons of CO2 emissions, equivalent to removing 325,000 vehicles from the roads.

Revolution Wind 

Revolution Wind was also developed using robust protection measures, including adhering to vessel speed restrictions, restricting pile-driving when marine mammals are most likely to be present, and establishing exclusion zones for marine mammals, among other provisions. 

Of particular concern for this project was protection of Atlantic cod. The Revolution Wind lease area partially overlaps with the Coxes Ledge, a well-known spot for cod fishing. To address concerns about potential impacts on cod habitat and fishing, Revolution Wind was required to develop a plan to monitor for spawning Atlantic cod between November and March, including restricting construction during this season. 

As part of the development of Revolution Wind, developer Orsted invested over $100 million into upgrading Rhode Island’s ProvPort into an offshore wind construction hub. Forty local, union jobs were created to upgrade the port. Offshore wind operations now supply 40% of ProvPort’s revenue. Orsted also invested $35 million into constructing a Regional Offshore Wind Logistics and Operations Hub in Quonset, RI, adding additional capacity to support the offshore wind industry. 

In Connecticut, Orsted committed $100 million to revitalize State Pier in New London, CT, supporting Connecticut’s strategic plan for developing offshore wind energy infrastructure. The New London port project has contributed millions to the local economy. Orsted is also supporting research at the Mystic Aquarium tracking which species are present near offshore wind projects and identifying potential impacts of offshore wind on marine ecosystems. 

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind 

The CVOW project, developed by Dominion Energy, is expanding on a pilot offshore wind project completed off the coast of Virginia in 2020. That project, which consisted of two turbines generating a total of 12MW of energy, has been helping to avoid up to 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually and providing enough energy to power around 3000 homes. Now, when CVOW comes online later this year, it will become the largest offshore wind project in the country, powering around 600,000 homes. 

The CVOW project incorporated a range of mitigation strategies and developed plans specific to the species and habitats in its lease area. For example, Dominion avoided placing turbines in a part of the site that overlapped with a fish haven created by sunken World War II ships to protect important habitat. 

Dominion also committed to funding The Nature Conservancy and the Center for Conservation Biology to conduct a study on the whimbrel, a shorebird that uses the Virginia coastline as an important stopover during its fall and spring migration periods. The study is aimed at gathering more specific data on the whimbrel’s flightpath to inform the responsible development of offshore wind.

For more information on birds and offshore wind, check out our fact sheet here!

An economic analysis of the benefits of the CVOW project for Virginians included $210 million in annual economic output, $5 million in additional Virginia state tax revenue, and the creation of 900 jobs during construction and 1,100 permanent jobs during operations. 

The CVOW project has also helped to support the offshore wind supply chain elsewhere in the country. The project is being serviced by the ship Charybdis, the first offshore wind installation vessel that is U.S.-built, U.S.-crewed, and U.S.-flagged. The vessel was built in Texas, and the project employed over 1,200 workers at peak construction and used 14,000 tons of domestic steel. 

Importance of responsible development of offshore wind 

Climate change is one of the greatest threats to wildlife today, and addressing it is vital for protecting ecosystems and biodiversity. Projects like Vineyard Wind, Revolution Wind, and CVOW will limit harmful greenhouse gas emissions by delivering clean, renewable energy to the grid.

Offshore wind energy offers a critical opportunity to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and support species already under stress from a changing climate. Achieving these benefits requires thoughtful development that incorporates planning for wildlife and habitats.

NWF advocates for robust environmental protections—including careful siting, avoidance, and mitigation measures at every stage of the offshore wind process—to make sure that offshore wind is built in a way that protects and sustains wildlife.

Today, all 54 operating commercial nuclear power plants in the U.S. are conventional reactors, which provide approximately 19% of total annual electricity generation. Advanced nuclear technologies may offer improvements over these conventional designs.

What is Advanced Nuclear Energy?

Advanced nuclear energy is an umbrella term that refers to modern nuclear technologies and reactor designs still in development. These designs differ from conventional nuclear reactors through features such as enhanced safety systems, improved efficiency, smaller potential releases of radioactive materials in the event of an accident, and the ability to be manufactured in factories.

Despite these potential advantages, advanced nuclear energy still carries risks to lands, waters, and the health of people and wildlife.

The National Wildlife Federation’s report, Advanced Nuclear: Impacts and Considerations, provides a comprehensive analysis of advanced nuclear power in the U.S., including federal regulations and policies, as well as potential impacts on wildlife, Tribal Nations, and local communities.

Land Use and Water

While advanced nuclear requires a smaller land footprint than many energy sources, impacts across the nuclear fuel cycle must still be considered. Uranium mining, fuel processing, and waste storage can fragment habitat and pollute nearby waterways. Elements associated with uranium, such as selenium, may leach into ecosystems and harm aquatic organisms.

Throughout the nuclear fuel cycle, processes such as uranium conversion, enrichment, deconversion, and fuel fabrication, as well as spent fuel transportation and waste management, can generate additional radiological waste streams.

Water is also critical for cooling nuclear reactors. Many advanced designs use closed-loop cooling systems where heated water becomes steam to spin turbines and generate electricity before being condensed and reused. Although these systems reduce water withdrawals compared with once-through cooling systems that don’t recycle water, contamination risks from fuel or waste entering nearby water sources remain a concern.

Wildlife 

Nuclear energy development can pose multiple risks to wildlife across the fuel cycle. Uranium mining and milling may release hazardous pollutants, including heavy metals and radioactive elements, that contaminate nearby habitats and waterways, threatening fish, amphibians, and other aquatic species.

Pit lakes formed at uranium mines often contain highly toxic water, which can be fatal to wildlife. In addition, habitat fragmentation from mining and plant construction can disrupt migration routes, breeding areas, and foraging grounds.

While some impacts are smaller than those associated with fossil fuels or large-scale renewable installations, the cumulative effects on local ecosystems can be significant. Ongoing research is needed to better quantify the specific impacts of advanced nuclear facilities on terrestrial and aquatic species and to inform siting, design, and mitigation strategies.

Tribal Nations and Local Communities

The uranium mining industry has a long history of environmental harm, especially in western states and on Tribal lands. In 1979, a uranium mill dam collapsed on Navajo Nation land in Church Rock, New Mexico, releasing 93 million gallons of radioactive liquid and 1,100 tons of solid waste into the Puerco River, spreading contamination over 60 miles.

Nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities have historically faced more incidents than once-through reactors, including leaks at the UK’s Sellafield complex and worker exposure at Japan’s Rokkasho plant. Both high and low levels of radiation exposure can be harmful to humans, as high doses may cause acute effects like burns, hair loss, nausea, and organ damage, while long-term low-dose exposure can increase the risk of cancer, birth defects, or miscarriage.

Implementing reprocessing in the U.S. would require substantial investment, strong regulatory oversight, and careful engagement with affected communities to ensure public health concerns and risks are addressed and environmental safeguards are maintained.

Conclusions

Federal investment in advanced nuclear technologies is increasing. In 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy launched pilot programs to accelerate reactor development and strengthen domestic nuclear fuel supply chains, with hopes that projects will begin operating by July 2026. As industrial and political interest grows, continued research, oversight, and regulatory development will be critical. Policymakers must evaluate impacts across the entire nuclear fuel cycle to ensure environmental protection, wildlife conservation, and public safety.

Although I have worked on capture capture policy and advocacy for several years, this was the first time I had seen the technology up close. There were semipermanent trailers where the tour began, along with huge ducts, scaffolding stretching high into the sky, and a massive metal tower. It all looked like a standard industrial site. But the prospect of public-private partnerships in infrastructure projects to help in the fight against climate change is both noteworthy and important.

The Los Medanos Energy Center demonstration site, owned and run by the company Calpine, is testing and monitoring the success of Calpine’s carbon capture technology. Opportunities like this are important to scale up to commercial carbon capture—some of which will be necessary to meet our climate goals. 

NWF does not generally support carbon capture on power sector projects as there are better ways to decarbonize the power sector, primarily by expanding renewable energy and clean, firm power sources like next-generation geothermal. However, given the Trump administration’s hostility towards renewable energy and their preference for fossil-based projects, carbon capture may play a role in the power sector, especially with natural gas power plants, for the foreseeable future.

Calpine partnered with Ion Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to help fund the $25 million project. If successful, the project will capture about 10 tons of CO₂ per day during the 18-month demonstration period. Long term, the plan is for CCS technology at this 678-megawatt power plant to capture as much as 95 percent of carbon emitted. For context, a typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 tons of CO₂per year. 

That means every day this facility could prevent over a year’s worth of CO₂ emissions from two cars from entering the atmosphere. This captured CO₂ would then be transported via pipeline to a nearby site where it will be stored in geologic formations deep underground.

In 2024, California included CCS as a strategy in their climate action plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 and to cut emissions by 48 percent by 2030. CCS can help to reduce emissions from hard-to-abate sectors (like steel or cement) in the state and help reach carbon neutrality faster. That said, CCS projects are expensive to build and will require time to reach the scale where the technology is reliable and its impact is felt. This is one reason why federal funding for emerging climate technologies is important. Without the investment from the federal government, projects like this are much harder to get off the ground. 

The Trump administration has made dramatic cuts to federal agencies and grant programs that help invest in climate technologies like carbon capture. In May 2025 the administration canceled 24 clean energy and carbon capture projects worth $3.7 billion, projects that had already been approved by the DOE. The DOE office that awarded those projects has since been dissolved. 

Most recently, the Trump administration has taken funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act meant for carbon capture projects and redirected them to fund existing and formerly closed coal burning power plants. All these changes put the future deployment of carbon capture technologies at risk, and only add to the existing challenges that climate change presents. To meet the challenge of addressing climate change, we need to use every tool accessible to us, including carbon capture technology in hard-to-abate sectors. 

Projects like the one at Los Medanos show what is possible when the government and the private sector work together. Preventing these partnerships will only limit our ability to innovate and solve shared challenges, ultimately slowing our progress in the fight against climate change. 

New research from the Institute for Rural Collaboration, Clean Grid Alliance, Localyst, and a group of universities has reaffirmed what community groups have been saying all along: Collaborative and community-centered engagement is crucial to engender community support for renewable energy projects and support a just energy transition. 

Communities are not monoliths—every member of a community will have a different opinion when a clean energy project is proposed in their neighborhood. The Institute for Rural Collaboration found that community concerns around clean energy projects tended to center around the balance of risks and benefits, economic impacts, and aesthetics. 

Local opposition tended to grow when these concerns were not addressed adequately, but can also emerge organically from opposition based on ideological differences and lasting impacts from past harms. 

Applying community engagement tactics

How can we take this knowledge and transform it to a more informed and community-centered engagement style? According to the Clean Grid Alliance and Localyst, catering your engagement style to your audience is important. Tailoring engagement strategies to supporters, persuadables, and the opposition will make engagement more impactful and successful. Each of these audiences needs something different from engagement activities. 

For example, supporters may need help in mobilizing to grow support for the project. Persuadables may need additional information to help them come to a final decision. And project developers should listen to their opposition and limit agitation where possible.  

Quality engagement looks different in each community and there are a variety of tradeoffs to consider in each engagement strategy. Trade-offs include in-person versus hybrid meeting formats, small group exercises versus large group discussions, perceptions of incentives to participate, and the different types of speakers to include in community events. 

However, all effective and community-centered engagement includes opportunities for community participation and developer transparency. Participatory engagement practices such as interactive learning sessions should be used in tandem with deliberative processes. Deliberative processes allow for a variety of stakeholders to participate in the creation of recommendations or consensus around the project, potential project benefits, or community conditions for the project. 

Communities sense when the engagement is more than just a box to check for a developer. Setting aside time and space for communities to share their goals and understand project tradeoffs is a vital step in limiting project opposition and building a positive and trusting relationship with host communities. 

This suite of new research reinforces the fact that meaningful engagement matters, both for practical project related reasons (like limiting project delays) but also because it builds procedural fairness. It creates space for a community to share their hopes for the project and think beyond the binary of project approval or rejection. 

This sense of transparency and inclusion helps to build community trust and supports a more just and community centered energy transition. This research helps show why robust community engagement should be part of responsible clean energy development now and moving forward. 

Those emissions have been accumulating in the air since the Industrial Revolution, accelerating a warming planet and the consequences that come with it. But we have solutions to lower industrial emissions that will continue to meet the needs of our society while addressing climate change.

Capturing Carbon to Lower Emissions

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is one solution in a set of strategies that, if done with community input and wildlife mitigation methods, can help us tackle climate change. Various technologies have been developed and are in use across numerous industrial applications for decades.

CCUS is a three-part concept. First, carbon capture technology traps CO₂ before it reaches the atmosphere. Think of it like a filter at a polluting source like a smokestack. Second, utilization refers to potential market uses for captured carbon, such as its conversion into other products like sustainable aviation fuel or for curing concrete. Third, captured CO₂ can also be safely and permanently stored and monitored underground. It is commonly injected deep (3,000 to 7,000 feet below the surface) into retired oil and gas fields or saline aquifers, which are permeable rock formations containing non-potable water. The CO₂ held is in place by a thick layer of impermeable caprock.

At Heidelberg Materials’ cement plant in Mitchell, Indiana, an ambitious CCUS project has been unfolding over the past several years. While recent policy changes have put some of its federal funding at risk, the company remains committed to advancing the work, building on a foundation of engineering, geological research, and global experience.

A Multi-Year Process of Innovation

In 2024, Heidelberg was awarded a matching grant of up to $500,000,000 through the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP), a multi-phase project which was designed to ultimately move the Mitchell cement plant toward constructing and operating a full-scale carbon capture, transport, and storage system on-site. Prior awards from the DOE helped Heidelberg Materials successfully begin the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) needed to verify the project’s technical feasibility.

As David Perkins, Senior Vice President for Sustainability and Public Affairs at Heidelberg North America explained, IDP funding was never meant to be a blank check. “All of this builds on years of work and technical verification. It’s an incremental process, and nothing moves forward without demonstrating viability at every stage,” he said.

The Mitchell cement plant was rebuilt as a new facility in 2023 and is the newest and most modern in North America. This facility already incorporates features to minimize energy consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The CCUS project will build on this work towards decarbonization by capturing and diverting approximately two million metric tons of CO₂ each year and storing it permanently underground in a deep geological saline aquifer system directly underneath the facility—that’s about the equivalent of driving 467,000 gas cars for one year.

Benefits of Capturing Carbon Emissions

Beyond capturing and storing CO₂, the Mitchell cement plant project offers several potential co-benefits. In addition to the climate benefit of saving two million tons of carbon from entering our atmosphere each year, additional amounts of co-pollutants like nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide can potentially also be removed, further improving air quality and public health. This is part of the standard engineering process for carbon capture to make the process more efficient and lasting.

We can also build a circular economy with concrete. It’s durable, resilient, and 100% recyclable. When structures are demolished, that concrete can be processed and used again in new construction. What we need are mechanisms and policies like 45Q—a federal tax credit providing financial incentives for capturing and storing or utilizing CO₂ from industrial sources or directly from the air—to realize that closed-loop system.

In Indiana, construction of the CCUS system at the Mitchell plant could also generate up to 1,000 construction jobs over a multi-year buildout, while long-term operations would support roughly 30 permanent technical positions. With ample land and existing infrastructure, the site could also become a hub for carbon-related research, pilot projects, or industrial co-location. 

Federal Grants Revoked

Heidelberg Materials is among many companies seeking to lower their emissions through innovative strategies. DOE’s Industrial Demonstrations Program provided $6 billion in funding to companies demonstrating industrial-scale decarbonization solutions. Then, in May 2025, the DOE quietly cancelled over 300 awards, including the IDP grant for the Mitchell cement plant.

It’s unclear why projects that would be so valuable to the country’s economic prosperity and environmental future would be cancelled. Today, the United States is a net-importer of cement. We currently do not produce enough to meet the demand each year, and this will grow over time.

By investing in emissions reductions strategies at domestic plants, we can expand production and build back our manufacturing sector. Perkins added, “Do we want to let other countries innovate and drive this, or do we want to do it here?”

Innovating the Future

With the looming question of funding, Heidelberg Materials continues in the appeal process for the award cancellation while reaching out to the DOE to keep working toward a solution.

Additionally, the One Big Beautiful Bill gutted a lot of incentives that would help make climate and clean energy a reality, but it did preserve 45Q. Heidelberg Materials will continue to explore private marketplace partnerships since there is a growing demand and interest in the space for this technology, regardless of political will.

Despite uncertainty, one truth holds firm: there are countless people and companies continuing to address climate change and work toward a low-carbon economy that will ultimately improve the air we breathe and the water we drink.