Trump is giving data centers a pass to pollute — SkimNews
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Environmental Protection Network released a report identifying 30 federal actions since January 2025 that exacerbate health risks from data center pollution, with 17 specifically mentioning AI or targeting data centers.
- Lee Zeldin proclaimed his goal of making America "the AI capital of the world" through deregulation at the start of his term, after which the EPA rolled back dozens of rules while cutting staff and funding.
- Trump's AI Action Plan, released in July 2025, recommends streamlining regulations under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Superfund law to expedite permitting for data centers and chip factories.
- A UC Riverside-led study cited in the report found AI-related air pollution could cause up to 1,300 premature deaths and more than $20 billion in public health costs by 2028, with EPN warning the toll could grow larger after factoring in the policy changes.
- Former EPA pediatrician Lynn Goldman said the agency is "thinking first about industry's needs and weakening or reconsidering limits on toxic chemicals and harmful pollutants," and stressed that pollution spreads far from the data centers themselves.
- Public Citizen's Tyson Slocum said the AI plan uses "unprecedented emergency powers to grant massive new exemptions for data centers and specifically fossil fuel infrastructure."
- EPA spokesperson Cora Mandy defended the rollbacks as returning regulations to "the best reading [of] the Clean Air Act after years of overreach by previous administrations," while reiterating the agency's commitment to protecting human health and the environment.
Why it matters: Tech companies gain faster permitting and exemptions from pollution rules for new data centers and the gas plants powering them; Americans outside data center footprints face the pollution, per former EPA officials — who cite up to 1,300 projected premature deaths and $20 billion in health costs by 2028.
Ask SkimNews
