Trump administration eases environmental rules to speed AI data center growth
Former EPA officials warn that the Trump administration's deregulation to accelerate AI data center construction is raising health risks for Americans and are urging a new health protection pledge.
A group of former US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials this week released a report and held a briefing warning that President Donald Trump's push to speed up AI data center construction is coming at the expense of environmental protections, raising health risks for the public.
The Environmental Protection Network, an organization of former EPA employees, identified 30 federal actions taken since January 2025 that it says worsen health risks linked to data center pollution. Of these, 17 specifically target AI or data centers.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin declared early in his tenure a goal of making the US the "AI capital of the world" through deregulation. Since then, the agency has rolled back dozens of rules while cutting staff and funding.
Former EPA assistant administrator and pediatrician Lynn Goldman said that an industrial buildout of this scale would normally call for greater EPA vigilance, but instead the agency is prioritizing industry needs and weakening limits on toxic chemicals and harmful pollutants.
The report notes that Trump's AI Action Plan, released in July, recommends streamlining or reducing regulations under clean air and water laws to speed up permitting for data centers and chip factories. At the same time, rising demand for advanced chips is reviving production of so-called forever chemicals, which persist in the environment and build up in the human body.
Goldman stressed that people don't need to live near a data center to be affected, since pollution from the broader supporting infrastructure can travel far beyond the facilities themselves.
The report cites a study projecting that AI-related air pollution could cause up to 1,300 premature deaths and more than $20 billion in public health costs by 2028. The group is calling on the administration to adopt a "Data Center Health Protection Pledge," which would include publicly tracking and disclosing pollution and health impacts from the AI buildout.
An EPA spokesperson responded that the agency's actions simply restore regulations to the correct reading of the Clean Air Act after what it called years of regulatory overreach by previous administrations, while reaffirming its commitment to protecting human health and the environment alongside AI growth.
