By Jorge Lopez Morales
September 13, 2029
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is threatening economic consequences on the New Confederacy in a new letter documenting instances of excessive cross-border pollution.
“The Environmental Protection Agency and its state agency partners have measured harmful levels of particulate emissions in several states that exceed U.S. standards by up to 138%, and experts have confirmed that three coal-fired plants within 100 miles of the U.S.-New Confederate border are primarily responsible for those emissions,” read the letter from Ocasio-Cortez to New Confederate President Donald Trump Jr.
Following a series of executive orders in January and the U.S. Congress’s imposition of a phased-in carbon tax, the United States has begun to see declines in fossil fuel use over the past quarter. Large-scale wind and solar farms and investments in public transit have accounted for a majority of emissions reductions, while a boom in commercial and residential retrofitting has increased coverage for small-scale installations to roughly 10% of existing real estate stock.
At the same time, the New Confederacy has repealed national emissions standards and revoked all incentives for renewable energy. In the past nine months, it has restarted or expanded 13 coal power plants, with plans to construct five more through the end of 2030.
Trump has aggressively pushed to make the New Confederacy the “data center capital of the world.” Environmental advocates have warned that the rapid expansion of data centers will severely compromise air and water quality.
The letter from Ocasio-Cortez threatens to impose tariffs and explore civil legal action against U.S.-based divisions of New Confederate energy corporations.
The New Confederate ambassador to the United States, John Fetterman, responded to the letter by simply posting a laughing-crying emoji on X.
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