Today: Activists are using artificial intelligence to assist in their battle against technology hyperscalers; the Iran war is hitting California harder than any other state; orbital data center startup Aetherflux raises funds.

Welcome back: Activists are leveraging artificial intelligence to help them in their battle against the building of data centers that power the technology.

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Clara Hudson spoke to a group of campaigners in Ohio, including Jessica Sharp, a mother from Wilmington, who often logs onto Chat GPT and asks it to help her in her fight to stop a data center from being built next door to her home.

Despite their misgivings about the technology, activists like Sharp say it can speed up their volunteer work. They are using AI, which is powered by data centers, to work against its maker.

Ohio, now home to more than 200 data centers, is one of the top locations in the U.S. for the tech warehouses. But backlash from residents has been severe. They fear the data centers will drive up electricity prices and damage the local environment, much of which is farm country.

Congressman Greg Landsman, a Democrat from the state, said activists are right to be using AI in a way that benefits their community. He recently introduced a bill called the No Harm Data Centers Act that would require data center operators to pay the full cost of their energy demands and infrastructure needs, as well as ordering studies on environmental impacts.

• Maine is poised to become the first state to freeze large data-center construction until November 2027. (WSJ)

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The reverberations of the Iran war are poised to hit California harder than other states. It imports roughly 75% of its crude oil, almost one-third of which comes from the Middle East. It also gets jet fuel and gasoline from countries whose refineries depend on the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf.

The WSJ's Collin Eaton reports that the state’s crude output has fallen by more than 50% over the past two decades, partly because of aging oil fields and moves by Chevron, Occidental Petroleum and others to invest in regions with fewer regulations. After more than 140 years in California, Chevron packed up and moved its corporate headquarters to Houston in 2024.

A dozen refineries in the state have closed since 2000 because of the decline in oil production and the high costs of complying with California fuel standards and climate policies that have weakened the economics of making fuel. Those remaining have had to make up for dwindling production by buying more expensive imported crude.

A space startup developing orbital data centers is raising a new funding round at a $2 billion valuation, according to people familiar with the situation, the Journal's Emily Glazer and Yuliya Chernova write.

Aetherflux founded and led by Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of Robinhood Markets, aims to raise between $250 million and $300 million in its Series B round, some of the people said.

San Carlos, Calif.-based Aetherflux plans to launch its first orbital data center in the first quarter of 2027. The company has said solar energy will supply the data centers located on its satellites with the electricity needed to perform artificial-intelligence computations. It’s also developing ways to deliver solar energy from orbit to Earth using lasers.

• Analysts, investors and close Musk observers are debating the merits of what some see as the ultimate combination: SpaceX and Tesla. (WSJ)
   
• CATL, the world’s biggest battery maker, has vowed to “spare no effort” to electrify parts of the global shipping fleet. (FT)
   
• Rising gasoline prices in the U.S. are fueling efforts to weaken state climate laws. (Bloomberg)
   
• How Redwood pivoted from battery recycling to developing a grid storage system. (Latitude Media)
   
• Climate change is forcing insurers to shift from backward-looking models to forward-looking, science-based risk assessments. (Trellis)
   
• A fights over coastline erosion on Nantucket is raging amid rising sea-levels and storms that devour beaches and prime real estate. (WSJ)

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business gives you an inside look at how companies are tackling sustainability. Send your comments to editor Perry Cleveland-Peck at perry.cleveland-peck@wsj.com and reporters Clara Hudson at clara.hudson@wsj.com and Yusuf Khan at yusuf.khan@wsj.com. Follow us on LinkedIn at perrycp, clara-hudson and yusuf_khan.