Socialists, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), want to halt data center construction nationwide. But a three-year-old Supreme Court decision narrowing the Environmental Protection Agency’s jurisdiction has made it harder for activists to block construction projects, helping clear the way for a data center building boom.

Passed by Congress in 1972, the Clean Water Act gives the EPA authority to regulate the discharge of “pollutants” into the “waters of the United States,” including not just “chemical wastes” but also “rock,” “sand,” and “dirt.” This means even a simple single-family home can trigger a costly federal permitting process if regulators determine that moving dirt, rocks, or fill material on a small parcel of land could affect the “waters of the United States.”