Trump’s EPA wants to let data centers hide their air pollution

Подробности

The Trump administration wants to scrap another federal air pollution rule. Advocates say it’ll help data center developers avoid public scrutiny.

Just as new data centers face growing backlash from neighboring communities, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is about to make it harder for people to weigh in on any pollution those centers create.

The EPA plans to toss out a federal rule requiring public notice and an opportunity to comment when certain industrial sites apply for an air permit. Advocates warn that the move would allow data center developers and other industries to break ground without giving nearby residents a say, or even a warning that construction is planned.

“You can see why that would be so interesting to an administration that wants to rush through the construction of data centers,” says Keri Powell, senior attorney and air program leader at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). “What EPA would be allowing would be all of those facilities to go through and just not have to deal with the public, issue the permits in secret behind closed doors. Nobody knows what’s happening until the bulldozers are out there.”

The EPA’s proposed changes apply to a permitting process that’s been in place since the 1970s called New Source Review that applies to a wide range of facilities, from landfills and paper mills to power plant expansions. More recently with the rise of generative AI, these permits have also become a flashpoint for opposition to new data centers, as well as to power plants built to provide electricity for all those servers.