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Tony Dutzik

@frontiertony.bsky.social
600 followers 296 following 1.2K posts

Assoc. Director/Sr. Policy Analyst, Frontier Group, part of The Public Interest Network. Transportation, climate and energy policy, mostly.

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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 3h
One shocking but sad realization over the last five years is that, to a sliver of clean energy advocates, "biodiversity, endangered species & other non-climate environmental issues" really don't seem to matter. That's detrimental to clean energy b/c, to most Americans, those things do matter.
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Josh Lappen @jlappen1.bsky.social · 20h
In the year I've been working w/ air pollution regulators on data center on-site emissions, I've seen almost no acknowledgement of this trend from energy-side advocates of data center buildout. This isn't just bad actors-it's a corporate playbook and a roadmap to a future of unconstrained emissions.
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PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Each Year Worldwide @tkovach.bsky.social · 22h
'“Our best estimate is that the generators emitted about 140 tons of NOx,” said Xiaomeng Jin, an assistant professor at Rutgers department of environmental sciences. Her analysis would rank DataOne in the state’s top five NOx polluters of 2025, per EPA data.'
theguardian.com
US datacenter discharged large amounts of pollution for almost a year with no permits
Records show Vineland facility in New Jersey emitted health-harming pollution before regulators stepped in
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The upshot: "By targeting areas newly exempt from federal drilling rules, and ... engaging in creative geometry w/ regard to the size and shape of spacing units – oil and gas producers could ramp up drilling in vast areas of the West with less regard for the environment and ... surface landowners."
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Manuel Salgado @manuelsalgado.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Poor drilling techniques present immense danger to water sources and the environment at large regardless of if they are used in geothermal or fracking. We’re not going to protect anything with less oversight.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is one of those seemingly minor provisions in "permitting reform" that is actually a big deal. We wrote back in 2024 about how this change would open up large areas of the West to poorly regulated drilling. frontiergroup.org/resources/mo...
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Keep in mind: Anyone who tells you they know whether, and to what extent, “permitting reform” will increase or decrease carbon emissions, and by how much, doesn’t. Know, that is.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Meaningful climate action is never going to be “backlash-proof” because it involves real change. But a good first step toward minimizing backlash is to avoid political/policy/messaging choices that provoke it.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We'll know the details soon, I guess, I would love for someone who supports "permitting reform" to tell me how the combination of streamlining and permitting certainty doesn't lead to a 2-year-long fiesta of enabling the worst, most extractivist stuff imaginable with no recourse to walk it back.
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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 29/09/2026
Hiding value judgments and ideology behind a veneer of sciency-looking graphs and statistics is almost the defining feature of energy system modeling as it exists today. I much prefer papers that use simple, auditable models, clearly state their assumptions, and honestly characterize uncertainties.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The fact that humanity has backed itself into a corner on climate change does not turn bad ideas for addressing the problem into good ones.
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Erik Schlenker-Goodrich @riogranderift.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
FWIW, this isn't a throwaway line but the foundation of the permitting reform argument. Development is presumed self-justifying progress & any objection is castigated as "saying no." Even if the objection seeks to affirm natural assets such as watershed integrity essential to climate security.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It's a bit of a throw-away line in this piece from @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social, but this is false. The primary function of "federal permitting laws" is to protect the public interest from private actions that threaten it. NEPA, specifically, is only a partial exception. heatmap.news/daily/wright...
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Erik Schlenker-Goodrich @riogranderift.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“Renewable energy is unstoppable because it’s cheaper!” Folks, hate to break it to you, but the *cost* of electricity is not decisive, especially AI data centers. And that’s a major problem given the hundreds of billions of dollars being shoveled into AI’s “speed to power” push.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Real abundance. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/c...
nytimes.com
Salmon Are Thriving After Klamath Dam Removals, Study Finds
The first fall runs of chinook salmon since the project in California and Oregon was completed have surpassed researchers’ expectations.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Vermont has the best/most consistent signage of public EV charging of anywhere I’ve been in the U.S. Not necessary for EV drivers if you’re using an app/nav system but important for reinforcing to the broader public that EV charging exists.
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Jeff Goodell @jeffgoodell.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Heartbreaking. Joe told the hard truths when others told soft lies and he fought when others were silent. He inspired me and many, many others. RIP, my friend.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
New report based on my analysis of New York State data for lead testing in school drinking water that makes the case for a preventive approach to keeping every student at every school safe from exposure to lead.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The magic of depaving.
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Seth D. Michaels @sethdmichaels.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Everybody’s talking about this shocking Sankey diagram
a “Sankey diagram,” a graphical display of information, in which there are inputs on one side and outputs on the other. The diagram is labeled “Transportation Funding Flows from Public and Private Interests to Auto and Oil Industries.” Of money spent by consumers on vehicles, fuel, and maintenance, and various sources of government funding, a large share ends up in the aforementioned industry.
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Nicolas Hénin @nicolashenin.net · 17/09/2026
Nice campaign by the Norwegian Consumer Council about the declining lifespan of products. Enjoy!
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A small point in an otherwise worthwhile piece, but abundance has never been a reform “movement”, much less a major one, by the normal standards of what we’ve considered a “movement” to be. It’s an elite persuasion project by its own admission. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/o...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 15/09/2026
This is very cool. NYC chose this company to put curbside chargers in. They use power from the buildings they are adjacent to, run beneath the sidewalk, which avoids the need to dig up the street & connect to the main power line. They are also BYOC -- bring your own cable. Light, fast, unobtrusive.
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Josh Lappen @jlappen1.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I think the only way to avoid this spillover at this point is to offer the public a clear path to rejecting data centers while supporting more socially beneficial infrastructure. If clean energy policy world doesn't draw a distinction, then neither will many voters.
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Nick Cunningham @nickcunningham.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Gas pipeline replacement driving up customer bills gasoutlook.com/analysis/gas...
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Encourage climate/energy folks to read the full report of this public opinion research. It's not long and the conclusions run counter to much of what climate/energy groups have been doing for the last decade. heatmap.news/daily/why-sa...
heatmap.news
Why Saying ‘Climate Crisis’ Falls Flat
A new study suggests skeptical voters don’t respond to such urgent language — while climate-concerned voters find it depressing.
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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Doesn't sound good. "And from what I understand, some of the trucks that transport that material from the frack sites, wherever they are in Pennsylvania, actually do register fairly radioactive even after they've dumped their fluids at the injection site."
wbur.org
Why is toxic wastewater bubbling up from underneath this Ohio city?
Highly toxic wastewater from America’s fracking boom is buried in deep underground wells. But in some places that toxic waste is bubbling upwards -- threatening local drinking water. How Marietta, Ohi...
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Won't soon forget how people questioning the wisdom of this approach to meeting New England's clean energy needs were attacked as NIMBYs or stooges of the gas industry. commonwealthbeacon.org/energy/massa...
commonwealthbeacon.org
Massachusetts utilities, Canadian hydro company file dueling lawsuits over new transmission line
The unfolding legal drama marks a major pivot point for a project intended to provide 20 percent of Massachusetts’s electricity — and exposes just how fragile and volatile the state’s energy mix conti...
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"[A]ccording to a very rough estimate, $1.4 billion [the cost of a single Interstate interchange rebuild] could fund 5,000 miles of sidewalks." www.strongtowns.org/journal/2026...
strongtowns.org
An Interstate Highway Program — but for Sidewalks? | Strong Towns
What if communities had more control over their transportation priorities?
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Glen Peters @glenpeters.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
US fossil CO2 emissions are on track to decline 1.8% in 2026, after rising 2.7% in 2025. Though, it is expected emissions will rise 0.5% in 2027. US emissions are really levelling out, after declining for more than a decade! More figures here: robbieandrew.github.io/USA/
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
If you wonder why communities are inclined to be skeptical of data center builders' promises of economic benefits and lack of environmental impact, the history of polluting boondoggles like this one is pretty instructive.
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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
This plant was going to be clean and create economic prosperity for everyone. Sound familiar? They gave the plant $1.65 billion in tax breaks. Looks nice doesn't it? I bet that does wonders for local property values.
penncapital-star.com
Pennsylvania lured Shell with a $1.65 billion tax break. Now the company wants to sell its plant • Pennsylvania Capital-Star
For people in Beaver County who have watched the planning, construction and opening of the ethane cracker plant drag out over the past 13 years, that possibility—first suggested in a Wall Street Journ...
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Happy 100th birthday to Ivan Illich, the OG car hater: "[Cars] create remoteness which they alone can shrink. They create distances for all and shrink them for only a few....The new expressway expands Chicago, but it sucks those who are well-wheeled away from a downtown that decays into a ghetto.”
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I don't like to critique street designs, b/c I'm not an expert, but a *sidewalk-level* bi-directional "bike path" on one of the hillier streets in Boston feels like asking for trouble. Shifts the conflict from bike-car to bike-ped. www.dotnews.com/2026/09/04/b...
dotnews.com
Blue Hill Ave. overhaul gets fresh design pitch ahead of community meetings - Dorchester Reporter
City and MBTA officials have a substantially revised plan for the $163 million reconstruction of Blue Hill Avenue to show the public in a series of four meetings that start next week.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Helpful response to that "Landfills In Your Backyard" article making the rounds. Turns out much of the analysis of single-use plastics vs. reusables was based on outdated data. Life cycle analysis is hard! And, as Lloyd points out, no one wants a landfill near them anyway (for good reason).
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Wendell Berry's writing (e.g. "Out of Your Car, Off Your Horse", linked below) is *deeply* challenging to modern, climate-focused environmental advocacy in ways I've appreciated, and resisted, and increasingly come to see wisdom in. centerforneweconomics.org/publications...
centerforneweconomics.org
Two Excerpts from the Works of Wendell Berry - Schumacher Center for a New Economics
The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1977, pp. 7-10.) My purposes in beginning with this survey of history are (1) to show how deeply rooted in our pas...
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Well-reasoned call for a data center moratorium from colleague @andredelattre.bsky.social. There's a case to be made that a moratorium at this moment would be good for - and maybe even necessary for - the development of AI that does the positive things people dream it might pirg.org/articles/dat...
pirg.org
Data center moratorium now
The rush to build large data centers to meet demand for AI computing power is causing big problems. We need to hit the brakes on big data centers to make sure we can get this right.
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Peter Cheung @bostonaruban.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
THIS SUNDAY: Ride to celebrate Cummins Highway protected bike lanes! www.facebook.com/events/18489...
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Toula Drimonis @mtltoula.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
American poet, novelist and environmentalist Wendell Berry has passed away. “Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.”
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Peter Cheung @bostonaruban.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Tactical Urbanism: White Duct Tape creates a “protected” bike lane at the intersection where Louisa was killed.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This bike lane is a vital transportation connection and very well used. Also, riding over the Mass. Ave. bridge at night, with the city arrayed around you, is a sublime experience. Breathtaking. Thanks to everyone who made this happen.
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Jonathan Mingle @jmingle.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The scenes from Nepal and Tibet are unimaginable. Communities I visited 15 years ago, while reporting on vanishing glaciers for my first book, have been erased. In today's NYT I wrote about this terrifying new form of climate risk: warming is pulling down mountains. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/29/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Mountains Are Coming Undone
The burning of fossil fuels is pulling down the world’s highest peaks.
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Ben Goldfarb @bengoldfarb.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
"Yglesias & his ilk assume that the West is not only monolithic, but that we Westerners are a bunch of backwoods bumpkins who don’t understand the region’s problems." @landdesk.bsky.social teeing off on that "one neat trick to save the Colorado" post is satisfying. www.landdesk.org/p/on-simple-...
landdesk.org
On “simple solutions” to the Western water problem
Spoiler: There’s no such thing
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Just forward my mail because if this new business is what it says it is, I’m going to be spending a lot of time here.
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Glen Peters @glenpeters.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I have lots of thoughts and emotions, but I really wonder what the "climate is not that important" crowd think when they watch what is unfolding in Nepal. They will surely deny any climate link. If they admit any climate link, would that mean they need to change their world view too?
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Enlightening read from @chrisbriem.bsky.social. Takeaways (for me, anyway): 1) Pittsburgh had lost its competitive advantage in steel before WWII, but experts who warned about the region's lack of economic diversity were ignored or rebuked ...
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molly taft @mollytaft.com · 25/08/2026
NEW: gas power in development in the US explicitly for data centers have nearly doubled in less than a year, soaring from 97GW at the end of 2025 to more than 189GW mid-2026, according to shocking new figures from @globalenergymon.bsky.social that's up from just 4 GW in 2024:
wired.com
Data Centers Are Driving an Alarming Gas Power Expansion in the US
There’s no clearer sign of the data center boom than rampant gas projects that have been proposed or that are already under construction.
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Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This answers the question left unanswered by that "glass half full" paper: "Economy-wide, the GOP tax law eliminates between 67% and 85% of the emissions reductions projected under the IRA, bringing us back nearly to the No IRA world." heatmap.news/ideas/glass-...
heatmap.news
A ‘Glass Half Full’ Isn’t Enough to Fight Climate Change
We have run out of time for half measures, argues the Natural Resources Defense Council’s head of climate science and policy.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 24/08/2026
When you blurt out stuff like "we need to get good at building things" but you don't assign a moral and environmental valence to WHAT we need to build, this is where you end up: unlimited energy abundance and reformed permitting, exactly how we predicted. heatmap.news/energy/trump...
Scoop: Trump to Permit Largest-Ever Gas Project in Just 7 Months
The facility will power OpenAI’s 10-gigawatt data center in Pike County, Ohio.
Jael Holzman
•
August 21, 2026he Trump administration aims to complete its environmental review
of what would be the biggest fossil fuel power project in the country
injust a few months, Heatmap has learned.
This news follows Monday's announcement from OpenAI that it intends to
lease a new 10-gigawatt data center under development in Pike County,
Ohio, financed by a mixture of money from a SoftBank subsidiary and the
chip company Nvidia. This AI hyperscale facility — known as the PORTS-
Pike project — is expected to draw power from the largest gas power facility
ever built in the United States, a 9.2-gigawatt facility sited on federal lands
that would be built and owned bv the Energy Department.
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