Former EPA officials warn AI data centre push could raise pollution risks
The Environmental Protection Network says 30 federal actions since January 2025 could worsen health risks linked to data centre pollution. The EPA says its approach reflects the best reading of the Clean Air Act.
Former US Environmental Protection Agency officials have warned that the Trump administration’s drive to expand artificial intelligence data centres could increase pollution and public health risks as environmental protections are weakened.
The Environmental Protection Network, an independent organisation involving former EPA employees, identified 30 federal actions since January 2025 that it says could exacerbate health risks linked to data centre pollution. Seventeen of those actions specifically mention AI or target data centres.
The group says policy changes could favour fossil-fuel power, ease pollution controls and constrain renewable-energy development. Potential pollution sources include power plants, gas turbines installed at data centres and semiconductor manufacturing linked to demand for advanced AI chips.
The administration’s July 2025 AI Action Plan recommended streamlining or reducing some environmental regulations, including under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Superfund law, to accelerate permitting for data centres and chip factories. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has also promoted making the US “the AI capital of the world” through deregulation.
The Environmental Protection Network has urged the administration to adopt a “Data Center Health Protection Pledge”. It cited research from UC Riverside, Caltech and the Rochester Institute of Technology estimating that AI-related air pollution could contribute to up to 1,300 premature deaths and more than US$20 billion in public health costs by 2028. Those figures are projections and were not independently established in the supplied material.
EPA spokesperson Cora Mandy said the agency had returned regulations to what it considers the best reading of the Clean Air Act after years of overreach by previous administrations. She also reaffirmed the EPA’s commitment to protecting human health and the environment while prioritising the goal of making the US the AI capital of the world.
