From The Verge · Justine Calma · · 2m
Trump is giving data centers a pass to pollute
Former EPA officials counted 30 federal actions since 2025 that make the AI buildout dirtier, and they say the health bill is already coming due.
In brief
Former EPA officials counted 30 federal actions since 2025 that make the AI buildout dirtier, and they say the health bill is already coming due. The pollution from the AI buildout mostly comes from the power plants and chip factories feeding data centers, so you don't have to live near one to breathe it. Originally…
Deregulation in the name of AI
Trump is loosening environmental rules to speed up AI data center construction. Former EPA officials say that trade is being paid for with Americans' health.
The AI capital pitch
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin opened his term promising to make America "the AI capital of the world" through deregulation. Dozens of rollbacks, staff cuts and funding cuts followed.
“the AI capital of the world”
The watchdog stopped watching
The agency was created to protect human health and the environment. The alumni group says it now thinks about industry's needs first as AI infrastructure reshapes the country.
“You would think that an industry buildout of this magnitude, billed as a revolution, would mean more vigilance from EPA.”
Thirty actions, counted
The Environmental Protection Network's new report lists 30 federal actions since January 2025 that raise health risks from data center pollution. Seventeen name AI or data centers outright.
What the AI Action Plan asks for
The July 2025 plan recommends streamlining rules under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Superfund to fast-track permits for data centers and chip plants.
“What the AI plan is really about [is] using unprecedented emergency powers to grant massive new exemptions for data centers and specifically fossil fuel infrastructure”
Gas turbines and forever chemicals
New policy clears the way for gas plants built to serve tech companies, some with turbines on site. Demand for AI chips is also reviving production of forever chemicals.
Distance is no protection
The emissions come from the power plants and factories upstream, not just the buildings themselves. Living far from a data center does not put you out of range.
“You do not need to be near a data center to be affected, because the pollution doesn't just come from the data centers themselves”
1,300 deaths by 2028
A study from UC Riverside, Caltech and RIT puts AI-linked air pollution at up to 1,300 premature deaths and over $20 billion in health costs by 2028, before these rollbacks are counted.
A choice, not a fate
EPN wants EPA to measure who is being exposed and publish it, and to restore clean air and water enforcement. EPA says it is simply reading the Clean Air Act correctly.
“A more polluting AI buildout is not inevitable. It depends on the choices government makes now.”
The takeaway
The pollution from the AI buildout mostly comes from the power plants and chip factories feeding data centers, so you don't have to live near one to breathe it.
