Sign in

Ben Inskeep

@beninskeep.bsky.social
810 followers 562 following 107 posts

Program Director at Citizens Action Coalition | Working on a clean, affordable, and just energy transition | He/Him | Views expressed are mine

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
It takes a certain kind of…narcissistic nihilism to look across the country at people self-organizing against something that is generally a fairly good material symbol of the intangible class warfare that has alienated them and say, “what a silly distraction from what *really* matters.” And yet…
121144189
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
📰Update: Citizens Action Coalition and other organizations, represented by Earthjustice, have filed a challenge to overturn the illegal DOE orders that directed NIPSCO and CenterPoint to keep unreliable, dilapidated coal plants open and raise our rates to pay for them. My thoughts:
162
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
New: Our analysis finds Big Tech is planning nearly 11,000 MW of AI data centers at 10 locations in Indiana. (There are 40+ non-Big Tech data center proposals, too.) Each Big Tech data center will receive 🚨billions🚨 in subsidies under our lucrative sales tax exemption.
054
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Cut through the noise on AI data centers by joining experts, including myself, today at 11:30am for a webinar on their impacts. I will present on the energy, sustainability, and affordability impacts of the 49 AI data centers proposed in Indiana, based on our research.
296
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
In Indiana, the cost of IMPA's 260-MW combustion turbine coming online in 2028 has increased from an estimated $337.9 million ($1,300/kW) to $464.4 million ($1,785/kW), a 37% budget increase since the project was approved by state regulators in April 2025. iurc.portal.in.gov/docketed-cas...
iurc.portal.in.gov
Docketed Case Details  · IURC Online Services Portal
122
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Join me and other experts on January 21 for a webinar on how AI data centers impact our energy ⚡️, water🌊, and communities🏘️. I'll provide an update on the ~50 proposals in Indiana and their impacts to energy & affordability. purdue-edu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
163
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
🚨NEW🚨: DOE has issued illegal orders forcing two Indiana coal plants, Culley Unit 2 (CenterPoint) and Schahfer Units 17 and 18 (NIPSCO), to stay open. Both were scheduled to retire at the end of this month. These costly orders will raise our bills. We can't afford this!
152
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
I’m sorry, but it is disgraceful to be an academic who uses this technology to conduct research. It should be prohibited in all of our scholarly institutions, including universities and journals.
16568231795
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
4 of 92 counties have now enacted data center moratoriums in Indiana
032
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
More than 400 people turned up to a data center developer's open house earlier this week in Indianapolis. 👀 Hoosiers are fed up with AI data centers steamrolling their way into our communities and cutting secret backroom deals with utilities & decisionmakers.
120
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Kentucky Lantern @kentuckylantern.com · 17/11/2025
Most states offering incentives to data centers, including Kentucky, don’t disclose which companies benefit, according to a new report. @stateline.org kentuckylantern.com/2025/11/17/m...
kentuckylantern.com
Most states don’t disclose which companies get data center incentives, report finds • Kentucky Lantern
Most states offering incentives to data centers don’t disclose which companies benefit, according to a new report.
64224
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Wildstyle Paschall @wildstyledaproducer.threads.net.ap.brid.gy · 17/11/2025
Martindale-Brightwood Press Conference Community leaders blasted MetroBloks and vowed to keep fighting (the data center company) for offering their community: - a "pocket park" (In a neighborhood full of real parks) - a mural - vague promises of job training […] [Original post on threads.com]
Photo by Wildstyle Paschall on November 17, 2025. May be an image of text that says 'ALERT 24 4HOUR HOUR VIDEO URNEILLANCE RVTILLANG CC Ho CИT OOH MLATUCSLAS ពត DATA PATALENTER [ENTER DATA CENTER N DUMPING VIOLATORS WILLBE PROSECUTED ng ngorAIR our AIR un invstraint Comrrinity Brightuen NO DATA Center NO DATA CENTER AL1317HIPHOP'.Photo by Wildstyle Paschall on November 17, 2025. May be an image of one or more people, crowd and text that says 'mo III AeHT 1 24HOUR SUTWVOLLANC STVOL ANCE RAEA DATA CINTER NO DUMPING VIGLATORS DE MILLBE PROSECUTED NO DATA Center ស្ងេត") NO DATA CENTER ALL317HIPHOP'.Photo by Wildstyle Paschall on November 17, 2025. May be an image of crowd and text.Photo by Wildstyle Paschall on November 17, 2025. May be an image of text.
122
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Mutable Joe @mutablejoe.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
🎶 old mcdonald replaced his farm with an energy intensive data center, a i a i o 🎶
1184041716
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
HEART-WARMING🥰: A new unifying issue: Just about everyone hates AI data centers. “The MAGA crowd and the Bernie bros have both figured out that they’ve been getting duped,” said Kerwin Olson of CAC. Opposition is widespread across political affiliation & geography.
130
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
maybe some people don't think our goal as a society should be more efficiently computed slop from a plagiarism machine that jacks up our utility bills while poisoning the environment and making us dumber
180
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
New🔴: NIPSCO is requesting IURC approval of a 15-year special contract with a 2,400 MW data center customer, whose identity is not revealed but is "one of the largest corporations in the world." The data centers will be served with gas, batteries, and possibly coal.
110
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
A new 500 MW customer -- most likely, another data center -- is proposing to come to Fort Wayne, according to a new AEP submission. Its ~10 miles away from a 1,200 MW Google data center under construction.
011
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
We (Citizens Action Coalition) are now tracking more than 10,000 MW of data centers being planned and constructed in Indiana by the Big 4 tech companies. These facilities could use more than 80% of our electricity. Dozens of additional large data centers have also been proposed by others.
184
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
DeSmog @desmog.com · 05/11/2025
🔴 NEW 🔴 Lomborg for years has argued in op-eds, lectures, and the media that there are more important global issues to prioritize than climate change, writing in April that “it is not the existential threat that some would have us believe.”
buff.ly
Bill Gates Gave $3.5M to Think Tank Run by Climate Crisis Denier Bjorn Lomborg
Tax records reveal that the billionaire’s foundation has donated for years to Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Center.
44225
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
onion person @junlper.beer · 07/11/2025
i'm very glad this technology is being forced onto us everywhere on all levels
obama
1035358752
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
The ink isn't even dry on AES Indiana's IRP, which found SMRs are not cost effective under any scenario, and the utility is announcing it is doing a study on siting SMRs at its power plants!? More imprudent and wasteful spending that will result in rate hikes for Indy residents.
110
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
AI and Crypto data centers need to be the first ones to lose power in a brown out.
934288450
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
A data center development recently caught ignoring environmental laws in Indiana is also being picketed by union workers for relying primarily on out-of-state labor. Not only do data centers provide few permanent jobs, they aren't even using local labor to build 'em! local150.org/news/local-1...
3124
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
New: Duke Energy Indiana is proposing to force ratepayers to subsidize a transmission project to serve a Meta data center and other C&I customers at River Ridge. The cost of the project just 🚨doubled🚨 to $216 million. Data centers are making your utility bill go up📈
122
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Ben Sears @bensears.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Went to a community input meeting for new data center zoning Everyone hates data centers, it’s pretty great
28810
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
DTE is teaming up with big AI to raid Michiganders’ wallets, jacking up utility bills so billionaires can power a massive data center that will suck up 25% more power than DTE customers already use.  Tell me, how does this help the rest of us? www.mlive.com/news/2025/10...
mlive.com
DTE inks deal to serve big data center that will demand 25% more power from grid
Amid worries data centers powering artificial intelligence could inflate utility bills in Michigan, DTE promises the deal will help with affordability for other customers.
95718
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
molly taft @mollytaft.com · 05/11/2025
spanfeller makes an oblique data center reference in her speech about making big energy users pay their fair share, to thunderous applause
0497
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
CenterPoint has proposed a $29.9 million transmission project to serve "Project Raider" located along the transmission line stretching between two coal plants in southwest Indiana. Project Raider will use 600 MW of power, suggesting it is a data center or very large industrial customer.
021
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
New analysis by AES Indiana shows that new nuclear SMRs are wildly uneconomic and would significantly raise utility bills for Hoosiers, even assuming big price declines by 2035 and lavish subsidies by federal and state government.
022
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Lauren Rosenthal @laurenthal.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Electricity now costs 267% more (!!) for 1 month vs. what it cost 5 years ago near data center hotspots. Awesome reporting from Josh Saul @dinabass.bsky.social Leonardo Nicoletti @naurtorious.bsky.social Demetrios Pogkas (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
bloomberg.com
AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring
Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.
312186
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
You should read the whole piece from @edzitron.com but if you only read one paragraph, make it this one: OpenAI has burned so much money that there is no more money. Read that again: it's not just OpenAI that's broke. All of VC is broke. www.wheresyoured.at/the-case-aga...
Venture Capital Will Run Out At The Current Rate of Investment In Six Quarters, And OpenAI Needs More Investment Than Ever: The Information recently published some worrying data from venture capitalist Jon Sakoda — that “at today’s clip, the industry would run out of money in six quarters,” adding that the money wouldn’t run out until the end of 2028 if it wasn’t for Anthropic and OpenAI. In a very real sense, OpenAI threatens the future of available capital for the tech industry.
26575223
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
PennFuture @pennfuture.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Tell the PA Department of Environmental Protection to DENY the Homer City fracked gas plant air permit! This will be one of the largest fracked gas plants in the country and it will power an energy-sucking data center. Take action by Sept. 29th: secure.everyaction.com/DztxH0ymAUW5...
secure.everyaction.com
Ask DEP to Deny the Homer City Air Permit
Take action now to tell the PA DEP to deny the air permit for the massive Homer City fracked gas plant which could power a massive data center. This project would threaten the health of surrounding co...
067
Ben Inskeep @beninskeep.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
The moment Google withdrew its petition for an AI data center in Indianapolis last night.🎉 Organizing works! We can win when we fight back against Big Tech! AI data centers are NOT inevitable. This is the ninth one stopped in Indiana thanks to communities organizing in opposition. 💪
151
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
LR Detherage @lr-detherage.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
It’s important for everybody to understand that when your electricity bill doubles, it is doubling to pay for data centers which will be housing mainframes to operate AI using your electricity and your water, and you will pay through the nose to develop a technology to replace you
64415
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Wildstyle @mrwildstyle.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
The IBJ - Indianapolis Business Journal just layed out the whole Google data center proposal in ONE article Whew 😲😲😲 www.ibj.com/articles/faq...
4239
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Joe Sonka 😐 @joesonka.lpm.org · 02/09/2025
ICYMI: LG&E wants to spend $3B on 2 new gas plants & extend the life of two new coal plants, largely due to future data center demand. Other states have higher energy bills now because of data centers, but LG&E says it has a mechanism to protect KY ratepayers... which some are very skeptical of.
lpm.org
LG&E says $3B expansion will protect Kentucky ratepayers from data center costs, others are doubtful
Kentucky’s largest utility company is proposing a mechanism to make new data centers pay their fair share, but first wants approval to build $3 billion of new gas plants.
82513
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Jenét Morrow @jenetallday.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
"A secretive appropriations process killed or reined in three bills regulating the use of pricing algorithms. A bill to monitor data center electricity use was also culled." #California calmatters.org/economy/tech...
calmatters.org
California lawmakers kill plans to curb AI-manipulated prices
Three bills to regulate AI price discrimination died or were scaled back in the state legislature during a secretive appropriations process.
368
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Evan Sutton @evansutton.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Your power bill is going up, your water is being poisoned, your air is polluted, and if you live near a data center you just get used to the non-stop humming of the place. But look on the bright side: AI is making a tiny handful of billionaires even richer so Google can get basic math wrong.
17030
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Bryn on the Streets; Bryn in the Sheets, too 🏳️‍⚧️ @brynstone.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
We live in a version of the universe where a mega corporation needs more power than a major American city so that an AI data center can run a chatbot of John Cena sexting a kid.
06627
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 22/08/2025
HEY friends: recently seen heaps of "disclosures" from AI companies of the energy cost per question you type into chatbots (most recently from Google)? Presenting per-query 'efficiency' is part of big tech's efforts to hide its extremely real and happening-right-now climate impacts! NEW POST -->>>
ketanjoshi.co
Big tech’s selective disclosure masks AI’s real climate impact
Google claims to have disclosed new information proving its own efficiency. But it has hidden the bigger picture. Guess what: I’ve got the bigger picture for you right here in this big old po…
33896417
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
gurleygg @gurleygg.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Data center deluge: Towns are “just so in the dark about how big these facilities are going to be, where they’re going to get their power from, where they’re going to get their water from." prospect.org/environment/...
prospect.org
Beating Back Data Centers
Desperate for ‘free money,’ most of the communities that approve these facilities are outmatched by developers. But these water-guzzling, power-hungry projects have major downsides.
03313
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 22/08/2025
Louisiana has to build three new natural gas power plants to accommodate the "AI" data center that Meta just crammed through because said center will use *Three Times* as much electricity (and, thus, attendant resources) as the *Entire City Of New Orleans*, every year. Y'all this isn't sustainable.
kplctv.com
La. regulators approve Entergy power plants for Meta’s AI data center
Louisiana Public Service Commissioners voted four to one to approve Entergy’s three new gas plants to power Meta’s largest-ever data center.
10024311297
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Clean Air Council @cleanaircouncil.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
What happens when a massive data center is built 1,000 ft. from your house? For one couple, it meant their water ran dry and their electricity bills doubled. @nytimes.com interviewed Beverly & Jeff Morris, who live in New County, GA, about what it’s been like living across from a Meta data center.
nytimes.com
Their Water Taps Ran Dry When Meta Built Next Door
012
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
Semafor @semafor.com · 22/07/2025
Surging data center demand fuels US power price hikes www.semafor.com/article/07/2...
semafor.com
Surging data center demand fuels US power price hikes
Over the past decade, PJM Interconnection has paid about $6.5 billion annually to power generators, costs that are ultimately borne by homes and businesses.
034
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
R.M. Lowery @lowery.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
“A data center like Meta’s … typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day … Because electricity is more costly for data centers than water, companies often prioritize building their facilities in places with cheap power, even if the area is drought stricken.” Paywall-free gift article:
nytimes.com
Their Water Taps Ran Dry When Meta Built Next Door
0109
Reposted by Ben Inskeep
John Kostyack @kostyack.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
OH's energy regulator sides with everyday ratepayers and utility AEP in their battle with Big Tech over who covers the costs of the data center boom. Ratepayer's comment to PUCO captures it nicely: “citizens should never be asked to financially subsidize the largest companies in the world.”
washingtonpost.com
Energy costs are rising. This state says tech companies must pay more.
Ohio energy regulators sided with consumers over data centers Wednesday, increasing up-front electricity charges paid by Amazon, Google and other tech firms.
1209