Union of Concerned Scientists

Graphic promoting Stand Up For Science event, with the Take Back Our Science legend and invitation to participate on National Day of Action on March 7. With the link: standupforscience.net/march7

TOMORROW: We are joining scientists and science supporters across the US at the National Day of Action. #StandUpForScience

Find an event near you:

🔗 www.standupforscience.net/march7

Stand Up For Science announces Gretchen Goldman, President and CEO of Union of Concerned Scientists (@ucs.org) as a speaker at the Washington D.C. National Day of Action rally on Saturday, March 7th!

Visit standupforscience.net/march7 to find a rally near you!

#standupforscience
#March7DC
#rally

We thank the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin for requiring more transparency in an individual contract rate case with Wisconsin Power and Light. There is still time to submit a comment to the Commission here—submit a comment by Monday, March 9!
↘️ apps.psc.wi.gov/ERF/ERF/comm...

Data Centers Are Changing the Grid. Our Energy Sources Should Evolve Too. Conventional power plants are poorly matched to the fast, highly variable electronic loads inside hyperscale data centers.

Data centers for AI are driving huge increases in electrical load, and there’s currently not enough power on the grid to match the projected growth. The Trump admin is now trying to promote new fossil gas generation as the solution, and there is no shortage of reasons to be concerned about this:

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is Out Following Tumultuous and Deadly Tenure President Donald Trump ousted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem today following contentious congressional hearings this week about her leadership.

“Secretary Noem’s reckless undermining of FEMA has put people’s lives at risk and greatly diminished the agency’s disaster response and recovery efforts. Good riddance. We’re glad to finally see her fired, " writes @ucsshana.bsky.social.

Read UCS's statement:

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is Out Following Tumultuous and Deadly Tenure President Donald Trump ousted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem today following contentious congressional hearings this week about her leadership.

“Secretary Noem has overseen a reign of terror at DHS, harming communities across the country and resulting in the deaths of people who sought to hold the administration accountable," writes UCS's Dr. Jennifer Jones.

Data Center Power Play Unmitigated data center growth puts the public at risk of higher utility bills and public health costs.

Instead, we need robust, mandatory protections from states and the federal government to ensure communities aren't impacted by higher utility bills and environmental damage brought by data centers. Read more here:

There is little reason to believe that non-binding rules will result in a fundamental shift in the way these data centers and the associated power infrastructure are paid for.

To Understand Rising Energy Costs in Wisconsin, Follow the Data Center Bread Crumbs Across the state, Wisconsinites are seeing their electricity bills rise, adding to existing economic anxiety over how to meet basic needs. This year, rate increases were approved for three major utili...

Microsoft, OpenAI, and others would benefit from We Energies' rate proposal, which would force Wisconsin ratepayers to subsidize the transmission, fuel, and power plant capital costs incurred to meet those companies' data center load:

Consumer Groups Alarmed as LPSC Declines to Take Up Probe into Meta Risky Financing Deal Louisiana Public Service Commission Declines Investigating Meta Data Center Financing Scheme, Puts Ratepayers at Risk

And the tech giant recently further shielded itself by offloading 80% of its stake in the data center via a risky financing arrangement with private credit firm Blue Owl Capital:

Entergy Doesn’t Want Louisianans to Know How Expensive this Gas Project Could Be The state's largest utility company is trying to get approval for a project that could have major negative consequences for both grid reliability and affordability.

Meta's data center deal with Entergy Louisiana puts ratepayers at risk of paying hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars:

When it comes to data center development, we need policies, not pledges. Take a look at how some of the same tech companies who just signed Trump admin's non-binding “pledge” to protect ratepayers from data center costs are right now doing anything but. (🧵⬇️)

Contributor: In wildfire country, EVs aren’t a grid problem — they’re a power solution California needs a smarter, more flexible power grid — and EVs are actually one of the most powerful tools we have to strengthen it.

#EVs are a critical grid reliability and electricity affordability solution. New @latimes.com opinion piece calls for #EV investments to deliver benefits. #CALeg, @assemblydems.bsky.social, @casendems.bsky.social, use the budget to invest in EV car and truck incentives! #InvestInCleanAir

History We’ve spent 50 proud years tackling the world’s most pressing issues.

Since our founding, we have stood up to some of the most powerful forces in the country and we will not stop.

Learn more about UCS’s legacy and ongoing fight and join us!

Today marks UCS’s 57th anniversary, and our President @gretchentg.bsky.social’s message feels more resonant than ever, given our long history of challenging the misuse of science and technology for military and war purposes.

Trump’s First EPA Promised to Crack Down on Forever Chemicals. His Second EPA Is Pulling Back. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin claims to prioritize combatting long-lasting chemicals called PFAS. Despite this, the agency has delayed enforcement of standards and terminated over $15 million in fundin...

8/ It's yet another example of how dismantling EPA’s independent research paves the way for deregulation that harms our health. EPA has rolled back limits for PFAS in drinking water at the same time they're cancelling millions of dollars in grants for research on the health effects of PFAS exposure.

Scientists Completed a Toxicity Report on This Forever Chemical. The EPA Hasn’t Released It. Agency scientists found that PFNA could cause developmental, liver and reproductive harms. Their final report was ready in mid-April, according to an internal document reviewed by ProPublica, but the ...

7/ EPA claims that PFAS reporting to the TRI ensures people “have the right to know what chemicals are being […] released in their communities” but at the same time, EPA proposes to exempt some companies from reporting PFAS, and withholds the final IRIS assessment for PFNA, another PFAS chemical.

6/ Without IRIS, it’s not clear which office will complete these assessments. It also deprives state and fed agencies of info needed for PFAS safeguards and removes a critical mechanism for automatic expansion of TRI reporting of PFAS chemicals, limiting public access to info about PFAS pollution.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Perfluorohexanesulfonic Acid (Pfhxs) and Related Salts (Final Report, 2025) EPA has finalized the IRIS Toxicological Review of Perfluorohexanesulfonic Acid (PFHxS) and Related

5/ IRIS completed the toxicity assessment for PFHxS – the PFAS chemicals in question – in January 2025, just before President Trump took office.

Who Benefits from Dismantling EPA Science? A little-known EPA office whose research protects us from carcinogens and pollution is at risk of being silenced. Why?

4/ This matters because IRIS – the program that conducted toxicity assessments for EPA – no longer exists. It was one of the many programs eliminated when the Trump admin gutted EPA’s Office of Research and Development.

Addition of Certain PFAS to the TRI by the National Defense Authorization Act | US EPA An explanation of how PFAS are added to the TRI chemical list via the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

3/ Reporting PFAS chemicals to the TRI is mandated under the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Under the law, PFAS chemicals are automatically added to the TRI when EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System program (IRIS), conducts toxicity assessments for PFAS.

EPA Issues Final Rule to Close Loopholes in PFAS Reporting Companies and military bases must now disclose more PFAS pollution

2/ In 2022, UCS joined @earthjustice.org and other organizations to sue EPA for creating loopholes for PFAS reporting in the TRI. And we won.

EPA Expands Toxic Chemical Reporting, Strengthening Transparency on PFAS Pollution | US EPA EPA today finalized a rule adding sodium perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS-Na) to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

1/ Last month, EPA announced it would expand reporting of one type of PFAS chemical in the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), a public database of industry-reported chemical releases.

Science Advocacy 101 The Union of Concerned Scientists invites scientists and experts to a training webinar to discuss what science advocacy looks like today. Learn how you can advocate on key issues such as climate chang...

4/ Are you interested in becoming a science advocate? Join our webinar and learn how you can use your voice and expertise to advocate on key issues such as climate change or public health policies.

📅Thursday, March 12, 3pm ET.

📍RSVP↘️

3/ Yarrow Axford, PhD in Climate Change and Arctic Science, shared three examples of how the Trump administration is targeting scientists, especially LGBTQ+ people and people of color, slashing science jobs and gutting federal science agencies putting workers and communities at risk.

2/ Abigail Rivera Seda, a PhD student at Tufts University in molecular microbiology, shared how research on C. difficile, a pathogen that threatens our health care system, has been halted putting public health at risk and potentially endangering lives.

1/ Last week, Rep. Katherine Clark (@whipkclark.bsky.social) held her own state of the union with constituents, including Science Network members who shared the impacts of the Trump administration’s actions on science, public health, and democracy. (🧵👇)

As Seen in State of the Union—Utilities Bend Under Too Much Demand The rise from data centers is unprecedented.

The rising demand from data centers is greater than the utility industry has seen in anyone’s career. What is unraveling under this pressure, and what new opportunities are emerging from the crisis? UCS’s Mike Jacobs breaks it down in his blog:

Evidence Based Outrage T-shirt w/ "Pissed Off" Scientists Back Are you outraged by recent attacks on science? You're not alone. We're outraged too, and the evidence is on our side. Science and truth should transcend politics. And when they don’t— when special int...

Support science everywhere you go. UCS shirts just restocked!

Share your #EvidenceBasedOutrage and help #StandUpForScience with these free downloadable signs.

(Pro tip: For best results, print your sign on heavy paper at your local copy shop!)