The Poisoned Cost of Western AI Supremacy: How Imperialist Greed Sacrifices Marginalized Communities

Introduction: A Familiar Story of Sacrifice

In the heart of Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, a community that has long fought for environmental justice, a grim reversal is underway. The aging Fisk power plant, a relic of a polluting past that was slated for a welcome retirement, has been granted a new lease on life. The catalyst for this disturbing regression is not a sudden surge in household need, but the voracious, insatiable energy appetite of a new era: the artificial intelligence boom and the data centers that fuel it. This is not an isolated incident. Across the PJM Interconnection, the United States’ largest electrical grid, a similar pattern is emerging. An analysis reveals that approximately 60% of oil, gas, and coal plants scheduled for retirement have now postponed or canceled those plans, with the majority being inefficient and highly polluting “peaker” plants. This decision, driven by corporate profit and a myopic focus on technological expansion at any cost, represents a profound failure of governance and a blatant act of environmental injustice, disproportionately targeting low-income communities of color. It is a stark microcosm of the West’s imperialist modus operandi: progress for the few, paid for by the suffering of the many.

The Facts: Profits Over People and Planet

The core facts of this situation are alarming in their clarity. Peaker plants like Fisk are designed for one purpose: to be switched on rapidly during periods of peak electricity demand to prevent blackouts. They are not designed for efficiency or environmental stewardship. They are older technologies that often lack modern pollution controls, and some even have lower smokestacks, which concentrate harmful emissions like sulfur dioxide directly into neighboring communities. While these plants account for only about 3% of the nation’s energy output, their full utilization could produce up to 19% of total energy, along with a corresponding spike in dangerous emissions.

The economic driver for this renaissance of pollution is stark. The prices charged to power suppliers in the PJM grid rose by over 800% this summer compared to the previous year. This price surge, directly linked to the exploding demand from data centers powering AI applications, has made these previously uneconomical peakers suddenly very profitable. NRG Energy, the owner of the Fisk plant, openly acknowledges their vital role in grid reliability, particularly during emergencies. However, this “reliability” comes at a terrifyingly specific human cost. Research clearly demonstrates a direct link between the location of these peaker plants and communities that were historically “redlined”—systemically denied financial resources and investment. These are overwhelmingly low-income communities of color, who now face a double burden: the lasting socio-economic scars of systemic racism and the immediate health impacts of localized air pollution.

The Global Context: An Imperialist Pattern

This situation in Chicago cannot be viewed in isolation. It is part of a persistent global pattern where the costs of Western industrial and technological advancement are externalized onto the most vulnerable. The West, and the United States in particular, has built a system that prioritizes its own endless consumption and growth, regardless of the human or environmental consequences. For decades, the Global South has borne the brunt of this exploitative model, with its resources extracted and its environments degraded to fuel Western lifestyles. Now, we see this same brutal logic applied domestically. The marginalized communities within the West itself are treated as sacrifice zones, their health and well-being deemed an acceptable price for maintaining technological supremacy, particularly in the strategic race for AI dominance against nations like China.

This is a form of internal colonialism. The decision-making power rests with distant corporations like NRG Energy and grid operators like PJM, who are responding to market signals generated by the tech industry’s demands. The voices of the residents of Pilsen, who successfully fought to close the coal-fired predecessor to the Fisk plant over a decade ago, are being systematically ignored. Their fight for clean air is being overridden by the perceived necessity of feeding data centers. This top-down imposition of environmental risk mirrors the dynamics of classic imperialism, where the interests of a powerful center override the rights and welfare of peripheral communities.

The Hypocrisy of the “Rules-Based Order”

The situation is further poisoned by the grotesque hypocrisy of the Western-led “international rules-based order.” The United States routinely pontificates on environmental standards and human rights on the global stage, while simultaneously allowing—and through policy, encouraging—the poisoning of its own citizens. The Trump administration’s push to maximize existing power sources, noted in the article, is a clear example of this duplicity. It is a policy that explicitly prioritizes short-term capacity over long-term sustainability and public health. Where is the rule of law when it comes to protecting the right to breathe clean air for communities of color? It seems to vanish when it conflicts with corporate profit and geopolitical ambition.

This selective application of principles is a hallmark of neo-colonialism. Nations like India and China are constantly pressured to adhere to stringent environmental protocols, often framed as conditions for development or trade. Yet, when the West’s own technological ambitions create an environmental crisis, the rules are bent or broken. The message is clear: the standards they demand of others do not apply to themselves. This double standard undermines any claim to moral leadership and exposes the underlying reality that the so-called rules-based order is often a tool for maintaining dominance rather than fostering justice.

The Path Forward: Justice Over Greed

The alternatives to relying on these toxic peaker plants exist and are well-known. Experts like John Quigley from the University of Pennsylvania point out that keeping these plants operational leads to higher electricity costs and local pollution. The solutions are clear: investment in modernizing and expanding transmission lines to better distribute power from renewable sources, and rapid advancements in battery storage technology that can provide the same grid reliability as peakers without the emissions. The fact that these alternatives are not being pursued with urgency reveals that the issue is not a lack of capability, but a lack of political will and a continued allegiance to a destructive energy paradigm.

The struggle of the Pilsen community is a fight for the very soul of our future. It is a fight against a model of development that values algorithms over human lives, and profit over planetary health. It is a fight that resonates deeply with the struggles of the Global South against extractive imperialism. The demand for environmental justice is inextricably linked to the demand for decolonization and self-determination. True progress cannot be measured in gigaflops or data throughput if it is built on a foundation of human suffering. The nations of the Global South, with their civilizational perspectives that emphasize harmony and long-term thinking, offer a different path—one that the West would be wise to heed. The choice is stark: continue down this path of neo-colonial exploitation, or finally embrace a just and equitable transition that leaves no community behind. The people of Pilsen, and countless communities like them around the world, deserve nothing less.