2026-04-10T10:02:03.422Z / 路透社
4月10日 路透电 —— 芭芭拉·约翰逊作为大都会联合教会组织的活动家，半个多世纪来一直在圣路易斯北部这个以黑人为主的社区与煤炭污染作斗争。该组织是众多致力于清洁空气的维权团体之一，而圣路易斯拥有全美最严重的空气污染问题之一。
直到最近，约翰逊还有理由相信情况会好转：拜登政府于2024年通过的更严格的联邦烟尘标准原定于2027年生效，要求发电厂削减排放或关停。这原本将迫使该地区最大的污染源之一——美国能源公司（Ameren）的拉巴迪能源中心电厂——将烟尘排放量削减一半才能继续运营。
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然而，约翰逊的希望在今年2月破灭了。唐纳德·特朗普政府在这些标准生效前将其废除，作为确保国家电网能够满足数据中心激增需求的更广泛举措之一。如今她不确定自己能否亲眼看到自青年时代起就为之奋斗的变革。
“我们向前迈两步，却要向后退四步，”75岁的约翰逊说道。“我已经习惯了这种倒退趋势，但还要经过多少代人才能让这些积极变革真正落地？”
特朗普支持人工智能的相关政策逆转了美国的环境政策，也给美国的清洁空气维权人士带来了残酷的现实：在多年推动煤炭退出舞台后，对电力需求巨大的数据中心的崛起，让这个国家污染最严重的能源来源重新回到了台前。
特朗普去年签署了一项题为《重振美国美丽清洁煤炭工业》的行政令，新标签页，其中表示燃煤电力对于满足人工智能数据处理中心建设带来的美国电力需求增长至关重要。此后，他为维持老旧电厂运转提供了资金，下令推迟电厂退役，并放宽了汞和其他毒素的环境监管，让电厂无需承担代价高昂的升级改造。
“确保包括煤炭在内的负担得起的基荷电力，对于保障照明和美国民众家庭取暖至关重要，”美国环境保护署（EPA）在一封关于监管放宽的电子邮件声明中表示。“EPA致力于为所有美国人提供清洁空气，无论其种族、性别、信仰或背景如何。”
美国能源部估计，到2030年，人工智能和数据中心增长将带来50吉瓦的新电力需求——较2025年美国所有电厂1300吉瓦的总发电量增长近4%。
路透社为这篇报道采访了20名空气质量维权人士和健康倡导者，所有人都将人工智能热潮及其支持政策视为美国空气质量面临的最大潜在威胁，因为其电力需求包括煤炭等污染性能源带来的排放。
根据路透社审查的EPA数据，过去十年间，为电网和其他工业运营提供能源的美国燃煤电厂数量从2015年的近400座降至约200座。但这一下降速度正在迅速放缓。
根据美国能源信息署的数据，2025年仅四座总装机容量2.6吉瓦的电厂退役，而2015年这一数字为94座总装机容量15吉瓦，原因是能源部发布了紧急命令要求这些电厂继续运营。
图表展示了2015年以来退役的燃煤机组数量及其兆瓦装机容量。
由农民、环保主义者和房主组成的联盟联合起来抵制数据中心扩张，原因是担心其带来的各种影响，包括电费上涨和供水减少——这可能会成为11月中期选举中共和党面临的潜在责任问题。
此后，特朗普已与大型科技公司达成自愿协议，由这些公司承担其电力需求，保护美国消费者免受电费上涨影响，但他的政府并未宣布采取措施应对扩大发电规模带来的污染加剧对健康的影响。
采访和路透社审查的政府数据显示，圣路易斯将是受监管放宽政策影响最严重的美国城市之一，主要原因是其本就糟糕的空气质量，以及附近巨型拉巴迪电厂的 proximity。
根据美国环保署空气质量指数的标准，去年圣路易斯都会区居民一年中仅有三分之一的天数能呼吸到“良好”的空气。在全美501个大小都会区中，圣路易斯的空气质量排名第475位。
根据EPA数据和最新科学研究，新标签页，拉巴迪能源中心是主要污染源之一。
地图展示了美国10家二氧化硫和氮氧化物排放总量最大的燃煤电厂。数据为2024年的吨数。
根据EPA数据，这座位于圣路易斯以西约40英里的大型电厂，是美国燃煤电厂中二氧化硫和氮氧化物排放总和最高的电厂，其烟尘排放速率也几乎是其他所有美国燃煤电厂的两到三倍。
根据路透社对EPA的协同效益风险评估（COBRA）工具数据的分析，这种污染每年造成的经济负担估计高达55亿美元，其中约8.2亿美元的成本由圣路易斯地区居民承担。
COBRA评估了急诊就诊等医疗成本，并测算出民众整体愿意为清洁空气支付的金额，因为清洁空气能降低过早死亡的风险。
路透社将这份分析结果告知了两名外部专家——非营利研究机构未来资源研究所的高级研究员布莱恩·哈贝尔，以及环境研究组织清洁空气工作组的高级科学家约翰·格雷厄姆，两人均认可了这些数据。
拉巴迪电厂的所有者、总部位于圣路易斯的公用事业公司美国能源公司并未反驳路透社对EPA数据的分析。
美国能源公司表示，该电厂在现有联邦污染限值内运营。该公司称，由于人工智能驱动的数据中心需求超过了清洁能源的推广速度，拉巴迪电厂至少还将运营十年。
“我们的员工在这里生活、养家糊口，和邻居们使用着同样的能源，”美国能源公司环境服务总监克雷格·吉斯曼在一份声明中表示。“这也是我们始终专注于负责任运营、保护公众健康并提供可靠能源的众多原因之一，尤其是在最需要的时候。”
环保署拒绝就路透社对COBRA数据的分析置评，但指出该机构正寻求更新其成本效益建模工具。
由华盛顿大学研究人员主导、去年发表在《国际环境流行病学学会期刊》上的一项科学研究称，圣路易斯将是推迟对美国燃煤电厂实施更严格烟尘标准影响最严重的城市。
拜登政府的原规定将迫使拉巴迪电厂削减一半以上的烟尘排放才能继续运营。根据EPA2023年的成本效益分析，这些烟尘限制措施到2037年将在全国范围内带来高达30亿美元的公众健康收益，新标签页。
特朗普政府时期的EPA已经改变了立场。该机构告诉路透社，拜登政府的估计被夸大了，现有标准“为保护公众健康提供了充足的安全边际”。
圣路易斯的清洁空气维权人士对此看法不同。
“我们地区仍然是牺牲区，”另一个维权网络大都会东部联合教会的负责人达内尔·廷格尔表示。“我们正在努力为这些数据中心做准备，并抵消它们对社区的伤害。”
廉价电力
圣路易斯北部以黑人为主的社区已经是全市空气质量最差的区域之一。根据路透社对EPA跟踪数据的分析，由于工业污染源以及附近高速公路和铁路运营带来的污染，小到足以侵入大脑和肺部的细微烟尘颗粒经常超过联邦安全限值。
美国全国有色人种协进会的数据显示，约78%的非裔美国人居住在距离燃煤电厂30英里范围内，而非西班牙裔白人这一比例为56%。与此同时，根据2019年发表在《环境科学与技术》期刊上的一项研究，电厂产生的烟尘导致非裔美国人的死亡率比全国平均水平高出25%。
“其逻辑是美国需要廉价电力。但如果你看看圣路易斯地区居民的医疗成本上涨，这根本算不上廉价，”监测拉巴迪电厂和其他三座燃煤电厂的当地环保组织负责人帕特里夏·舒巴说道。
更严格的污染限制原本会迫使美国能源公司对拉巴迪电厂进行升级。大约十年前，为了遵守奥巴马时代的烟尘限值，美国能源公司为拉巴迪电厂四座燃煤锅炉中的两台安装了最先进的烟尘污染控制装置。
美国能源公司在2025年3月致EPA的一封寻求豁免的信中表示，至少剩余锅炉上的旧控制装置需要进行改造才能符合拜登时代的限值。该公司拒绝回答升级电厂需要多少成本的问题。
与此同时，数据中心开发商正在圣路易斯周边地区启动大型项目，推高了地区电力需求。
美国能源公司表示，已与数据中心签署了服务合同，可满足其新增2.3吉瓦的潜在峰值电力需求——大致相当于拉巴迪电厂的发电量——而且还有更多的需求申请。其中一个最大的在建数据中心项目是亚马逊网络服务计划在蒙哥马利县农村地区开发的1000英亩园区，该园区距离拉巴迪电厂约55英里，电力将由美国能源公司供应。
亚马逊拒绝置评。
数据中心行业的贸易组织——数据中心联盟表示，其成员公司是清洁能源的最大买家之一，但公用事业公司、监管机构和电网运营商最终应对消费者使用的发电类型负责。
“尽管数据中心行业正积极支持建设21世纪的电网，但重要的是要认识到，资源规划和发电采购决策是由公用事业公司、电网运营商和政策制定者做出的，而非数据中心这类大型用电客户，”该联盟能源政策和监管事务高级主任卢卡斯·法克斯说道。
How the AI boom derailed clean‑air efforts in one of America’s most polluted cities
2026-04-10T10:02:03.422Z / Reuters
April 10 (Reuters) – Barbara Johnson has been fighting coal pollution for decades in her mostly Black neighborhood of North St. Louis as an organizer with Metropolitan Congregations United – one of many activist groups campaigning for cleaner air in a city that has some of the country’s dirtiest.
Until recently, Johnson had reason to believe things would improve: tougher federal soot standards adopted in 2024 under the Biden administration were scheduled to go into effect in 2027, requiring plants to slash emissions or shut down. That would have forced one of the area’s biggest polluters – Ameren’s Labadie Energy Center power plant – to cut its soot emissions in half to stay in business.
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Johnson’s hopes vanished in February, however, when President Donald Trump’s administration scrapped the standards before they took effect as part of broader efforts to ensure the nation’s grid can meet surging demand from data centers. Now she wonders if she’ll ever get to see the changes she’s been fighting for since her youth.
“You take two steps forward and four steps back,” said Johnson, 75. “I am used to that backwards trend but how many generations will it take to make those positive changes stick?”
Trump’s rollbacks in support of AI mark a reversal in U.S. environmental policy and a painful truth for America’s clean air activists: After years pushing coal toward the exits, the rise of power-hungry data centers has nudged the country’s most polluting power source back to the stage.
Trump last year issued an executive order entitled
“Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry”, opens new tab
that said coal-fired power was crucial to meeting the rise in U.S. electricity demand driven by the construction of artificial intelligence data processing centers. He has since provided funding to keep old plants running, issued orders to delay plant retirements, and rolled back environmental regulations on mercury and other toxins to free plants from costly upgrades.
“Ensuring affordable baseload power, including coal, is essential for keeping the lights on and heating American homes,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in an emailed statement about the regulatory rollbacks. “EPA is committed to ensuring clean air for all Americans regardless of race, gender, creed, or background.”
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates artificial intelligence and data‑center growth will create 50 gigawatts of new electricity demand by 2030 – a nearly 4% increase over the 1,300 gigawatts produced by all U.S. power plants in 2025.
Reuters interviewed 20 air quality activists and health advocates for this story and found all had identified the AI boom – and the policies supporting it – as the biggest potential threat to U.S. air quality due to its need for power, including from dirty sources like coal.
Over the past decade, the number of U.S. coal plants providing energy to the grid and other industrial operations dropped to about 200 from nearly 400 in 2015, according to EPA data examined by Reuters. But that pace has slowed fast.
In 2025 only four plants producing 2.6 gigawatts were retired, compared with 94 producing 15 gigawatts in 2015, as the DOE issued emergency orders keeping them online, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Chart shows how many coal-fired units have been retired since 2015 and their megawatt capacity.
A coalition of farmers, environmentalists and homeowners have united to resist data-center expansion out of concern for its impacts, ranging from higher power bills to reduced water supplies – a potential liability for Republicans in the November midterm elections.
Trump has since secured voluntary agreements from big tech companies to pay up for their power needs and shield American consumers from higher bills, but his administration has not announced steps to address the health effects of higher pollution from expanded power generation.
St. Louis will be among the U.S. cities most impacted by the regulatory rollbacks, mainly because of its already poor air quality and the close proximity of the huge Labadie plant, according to the interviews, and government data reviewed by Reuters.
Last year, metro St. Louis residents had “good” air to breathe during only one-third of the days of the year, according to the standards used by the EPA’s Air Quality Index. That ranked St. Louis 475th in air quality out of 501 small and large U.S. metro areas.
The Labadie Energy Center is a significant contributor, according to EPA data and
recent scientific studies, opens new tab
.
A map shows the 10 US coal plants that produce the largest combination of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. 2024 data is in tons.
The plant, a sprawling facility that sits around 40 miles to the city’s west, produces the highest combined total of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides among U.S. coal plants, and also emits soot at a rate that is two to three times that of nearly every other U.S. coal plant, according to EPA data.
That pollution drives an estimated economic burden of up to $5.5 billion each year, with about $820 million of those costs borne by St. Louis area residents, according to a Reuters analysis of the EPA’s Co-Benefits Risk Assessment (COBRA) tool.
COBRA estimates health costs such as emergency room visits and measures how much people, collectively, are willing to pay for cleaner air because it lowers the risk of premature death.
Reuters showed the analysis to two outside experts – Bryan Hubbel, a senior fellow at non-profit research group Resources for the Future and John Graham, a senior scientist at the environmental research group Clean Air Task Force – who both agreed with the figures.
Labadie’s owner, St. Louis-based utility Ameren Corp , did not contest the Reuters analysis of the EPA data.
Ameren said the plant operates within the existing federal pollution limits. Labadie will keep running for at least another decade as demand from artificial intelligence-driven data centers outpaces the rollout of cleaner power, Ameren said.
“Our employees live here, raise families here and rely on the same energy as our neighbors,” Craig Giesman, Ameren’s director of environmental services, said in a statement. “That is just one of many reasons we remain focused on operating responsibly, protecting public health and providing reliable energy, especially when it’s needed most.”
The EPA declined to comment on Reuters’ analysis of the COBRA data, but pointed out the agency is seeking to update its cost-benefit modeling tools.
A scientific study led by researchers at the University of Washington and published in the Journal of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology last year said St. Louis would be the city most impacted by delaying tougher soot standards on U.S. coal plants.
Biden’s regulation would have forced Labadie to slash its soot emissions by more than half to continue to operate. Those soot limits would have yielded net
public health benefits of up to $3 billion, opens new tab
nationwide by 2037, according to the EPA’s 2023 cost-benefit analysis.
The EPA under Trump has since reversed course. The agency told Reuters the Biden administration’s estimates were overblown and that existing standards provide “an ample margin of safety to protect public health.”
St. Louis clean air activists see it differently.
“Our region continues to be a sacrifice zone,” said Darnell Tingle, director of United Congregations of Metro-East, another activist network. “We are trying to prepare for these data centers, and negate their harm to our communities.”
CHEAP POWER
The predominantly Black neighborhoods of North St. Louis already have some of the city’s worst air quality. Tiny particles of soot pollution small enough to penetrate the brain and lungs exceed federal safety limits there regularly, according to a Reuters analysis of data tracked by the EPA, thanks to industrial sources along with pollution from nearby highways and rail operations.
Some 78% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, according to the NAACP, compared to 56% of non-Hispanic whites. Soot pollution from power plants, meanwhile, kills African Americans at a rate that is 25% higher than the national average, according to a 2019 study in the Environmental Science & Technology journal.
“The logic is that we need cheap electricity in the U.S. But if you look at the rise in healthcare costs for residents in the St. Louis area, this isn’t cheap,” said Patricia Schuba, who runs a local environmental group that monitors Labadie and three other coal plants.
Tougher pollution limits had forced Ameren to upgrade Labadie. About a decade ago, Ameren installed state-of-the-art soot pollution controls for two of Labadie’s four coal-fired boilers in order to comply with Obama-era soot limits.
At a minimum, older controls on the remaining boilers would have needed retrofitting to meet Biden‑era limits, Ameren told the EPA in a March 2025 letter seeking an exemption. Ameren declined to answer questions about how much upgrading the plant would have cost.
Meanwhile, data‑center developers are breaking ground on major projects around St. Louis, pushing up regional electricity demand.
Ameren has said it has signed service contracts for an additional 2.3 gigawatts of potential peak demand from data centers – roughly the output of the Labadie plant – and that more requests are coming. One of the biggest upcoming data center projects is a 1,000-acre development by Amazon Web Services proposed for rural Montgomery County, about 55 miles from Labadie. The power would be supplied by Ameren.
Amazon declined to comment.
The data center industry’s trade group – the Data Center Coalition – said its member companies were among the top purchasers of clean energy but that utilities, regulators and grid operators are ultimately responsible for the kinds of power generation being used by consumers.
“While the data center industry is leaning in to support the development of the 21st-century electrical grid, it’s important to recognize that resource planning and generation procurement decisions are made by utilities, grid operators, and policymakers, not large load customers like data centers,” said Lucas Fykes, Senior Director of Energy Policy and Regulatory Counsel at the coalition.
