From Mother Jones · Sophie Hurwitz · · 1m 30s
The data center boom has a health bill
Former EPA scientists say the rush to build AI data centers is outpacing the rules meant to keep the air breathable.
In brief
Former EPA scientists say the rush to build AI data centers is outpacing the rules meant to keep the air breathable. The AI build-out is arriving faster than the pollution safeguards that are supposed to govern it, and the cost shows up as heart attacks, premature births and cancer. Originally reported by Mother Jones.
The real AI risk is local
While tech founders warn about superintelligence, former EPA officials point to something already here: the pollution from the data centers running the models.
Thirty rollbacks since January
A new Environmental Protection Network report counts at least 30 Trump EPA actions since January 2025 that weaken pollution limits, permitting and inspections around the data center boom.
3,000 built, 1,500 coming
The US already has about 3,000 data centers, with more than 1,500 more in planning. The guardrails meant to keep that expansion safe are disappearing as it accelerates.
EPA's science arm, gutted
Dan Costa spent 35 years studying air pollution at EPA. The research office he describes, staffed by toxicologists, chemists and modelers, has been dismantled.
“Transforming the nation's energy system, while diminishing its scientific capacity to understand what the impacts are going to be, makes no sense.”
Old coal, new turbines
Deregulation has kept coal plants running past their retirement dates and eased rules on onsite gas turbines at hyperscale sites like xAI's Colossus. One proposed rule lets construction start before air permits are granted.
“Cutting heavy-handed regulations to ensure America can build and power the data centers essential to Making America the AI Capital of the World.”
1,300 deaths a year
One cited study ties AI-related pollution to 1,300 extra deaths annually. Heart attacks and premature births show up fast, former administrator Lynn Goldman says; cancers take years.
“Families shouldn't have to pay for the AI boom with their health.”
At a glance
The AI build-out is arriving faster than the pollution safeguards that are supposed to govern it, and the cost shows up as heart attacks, premature births and cancer.
