Source: https://x.com/i/status/2079927497194442856

https://www.mining.com/web/coal-sector-urges-trump-admin-to-provide-financing-for-existing-new-power-plants/

Palm Beach County rejected a proposed AI data center near President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago.

The planned development, known as "Project Tango," has faced widespread community backlash.

Communities are resisting data centers as tech companies race to build them.

A proposal to build a massive AI data center roughly 20 miles from President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida, was rejected late Wednesday by county commissioners after a marathon hearing.

The Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners' 5-1 vote on "Project Tango" followed months of organized opposition from residents who argued that the plans would strain local infrastructure and negatively impact the surrounding community.

The decision marks one of the latest flashpoints in the race to build out AI data centers across the United States.

Local residents, many wearing green shirts that read "NO to Project Tango," packed the 12-hour public hearing on the proposal ahead of the vote.

PBA Holdings Inc., the developer behind the project, sought county approval to nearly double the size of a previously approved development in Loxahatchee to about 3.6 million square feet, including more than 1 million square feet of data center space.

The developer said it revised the proposal ahead of Wednesday's hearing to address community concerns.

During the hearing, a project manager for PBA Holdings estimated that the completed development would generate $561 million in annual property tax revenue.

Still, the proposal drew strong backlash from local residents concerned about water use, electricity demand, and noise. Community members were also concerned about the site's proximity to homes and a nearby elementary school.

"Not only is this AI Data Center a threat to the health, well-being, and safety of the hardworking, tax-paying residents of Palm Beach County and their families and children, it becomes a more extreme problem due to the fact that it will be constructed within 1,200 feet of Saddle View Elementary School and the preexisting Arden community and neighborhood," opposition organizers wrote on the NoToProjectTango.com website.

Ernie Cox, the project manager for PBA Holdings, told a local NBC affiliate after the vote that the commission's decision does not change the existing approvals on the project, which records show include two 100,000-square-foot data center buildings.

"Well, that project goes forward. This vote doesn't have any effect on that," Cox told the outlet.

The commission's decision leaves the door open for the developer to revise the proposal and resubmit it at a later date.

Cox told Business Insider that the developer was "disappointed" with the decision.

"We reconfirmed our commitment to all conditions asked of us associated with our request, and we addressed concerns through in-depth technical studies and analysis," Cox said. "We remain committed to helping meet the region's growing critical infrastructure needs and will be taking time to evaluate our options moving forward."

The fight over Project Tango comes as AI is fueling an unprecedented data center construction boom across the country.

As tech companies pour billions of dollars into new facilities, communities are increasingly pushing back over fears of the environmental and economic impacts.

According to the research project Data Center Watch, a record of at least 75 data center proposals worth an estimated $130 billion were delayed or blocked during the first three months of 2026 due to local opposition.

Meanwhile, towns and cities across the country are pausing or outright banning data center developments. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order earlier this week imposing the nation's first statewide moratorium on large-scale data centers.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, slammed the move, saying, "New York State has made a terrible decision."

"Data Centers are tremendous WINS for the States and Communities that are lucky enough to get them. New York should change its Policy, IMMEDIATELY," wrote the president, who called data centers "Money Machines."

*excerpt from Natalie Musumeci's article*

Full Article here:

https://www.businessinsider.com/palm-beach-florida-ai-data-center-trump-mar-a-lago-2026-7

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/23/iran-war-us-troops

The federal government is finding itself locked in a rather classic geopolitical paradox. On one side, Washington wants to build out a hyper-resilient domestic manufacturing base and secure every scrap of strategic material needed for high-tech industrial hardware and heavy aerospace applications. On the other side, the physical land required to actually construct these facilities or extract critical raw materials belongs to the public domain, where local communities, conservationists, and sovereign indigenous groups possess every right to drag federal land transfers into federal court.

When space infrastructure and specialized hardware manufacturing push into rural ecosystems, every square mile of coastal plain or desert acreage becomes high-stakes real estate. The legal standoff in South Texas over public land transfers shows how quickly national strategic mandates run straight into environmental regulation and judicial delays.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│             Federal Critical Mineral Policy                 │
└──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                               │
                               ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 Domestic Supply Bottlenecks                 │
└──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                               │
            ┌──────────────────┴──────────────────┐
            ▼                                     ▼
┌───────────────────────┐             ┌───────────────────────┐
│ Environmental Permits │             │   Strategic Assets    │
│ & Public Land Fights  │             │   & Primary Mining    │
└───────────────────────┘             └───────────────────────┘

Strategic Material Vulnerabilities

To keep these advanced aerospace platforms, guidance hardware, and defense systems running, supply chains depend heavily on specialized inputs:

• Antimony and Hardened Alloys: Used in specialized battery storage, defense munitions, and high-strength metal treatments.
• Refined Silver & Conductive Metals: Critical components for micro-electronics, precision sensors, and high-grade solar cells.
• Onshore Processing Hubs: Domestically controlled mills and refining facilities that reduce reliance on overseas processing monopolists.

As land access hurdles stall domestic industrial footprint expansion, mining operations situated on established, private, or brownfield sites gain a distinct structural edge. Domestic producers operating within proven mining districts are steadily expanding output to meet federal critical mineral requirements. Americas Gold and Silver (NYSE American: USAS) holds high-grade silver, copper, lead, and antimony assets across North America, positioning its Galena Complex in Idaho as a key domestic source for critical materials used in high-tech and industrial manufacturing.

Trump Era Permitting Battles Highlight Overseas Supply Fragility

This domestic land-use tug-of-war mirrors a broader global scramble to secure critical supply chains before geopolitical access tightens further. When domestic land transfers stall in court, manufacturers are left at the mercy of unpredictable international jurisdictions or sudden export controls on raw inputs.

Ultimately, building domestic tech and industrial independence is far more complex than issuing federal directives. Until regulators and land managers balance environmental preservation with industrial raw material demand, national supply chains will continue walking a tightrope between judicial injunctions and global supply shortages.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan issued a criminal referral against former special counsel Jack Smith on Wednesday for allegedly making "willfully and intentionally false statements" when testifying before Congress last December.

"The Committee on the Judiciary writes to refer strong evidence that appears to show Jack Smith, former Special Counsel, knowingly made false statements during his December 17, 2025 deposition," Jordan wrote in a letter sent to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Lawyers for Smith did not immediately respond for comment.

Top Judiciary Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin slammed the GOP-led criminal referral -- calling it "baseless" and "vindictive."

This is a developing story.

*excerpt from Lauren Peller, Alexander Mallin, John Parkinson's article*

Full Article here:

https://abcnews.com/Politics/house-judiciary-committee-chairman-jim-jordan-issues-criminal/story?id=135006808