Trump administration proposes new rule to dismantle requirement for datacenters to publicly report air pollution
A new rule proposed by the Trump administration aims to kill public notification for datacenter air pollution, public health advocates warn, and allow emission permits to be issued behind closed doors.
The datacenters are often sources of nitrogen oxide, which helps form ozone, carbon monoxide and heavy metals, among other pollutants.
The Clean Air Act requires âminorâ air polluters to disclose to the public via state agencies how much pollution their proposed project will release, but the proposed new rule from Donald Trumpâs Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would dismantle that protection for datacenter proposals. Instead, it would make disclosure voluntary at state and some local officialsâ discretion.
Many state political establishments support datacenters, and observers say it is unlikely most would voluntarily require big tech to disclose the information. The move is likely intended to curb criticism and public oversight of datacenters, said Joe Goffman, a former assistant administrator for the EPAâs office of air and radiation.
Without this data, communities wonât know what theyâre breathing once a datacenter is built, and will have less ability to fight back in court or in public relations battles. Goffman said the Clean Air Act is supposed to offer âan ironclad promiseâ to give the entire US public a voice on these issues.
âThe administration is basically saying: âYou all may have thought this was an ironclad promise, but it no longer is,ââ Goffman added. He co-authored comments on the proposed rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Network. The EPA just closed the public comment period, and the rule could face a legal challenge if finalized.
The move comes amid a national surge in datacenters that are an essential part of the artificial intelligence boom. Many datacenter developers apply for minor pollution source permits for the up to dozens of diesel generators or gas turbines used to help power their facilities, or provide backup generation.
The EPA delegates monitoring of âminorâ pollution sources to state authorities, while it handles major polluters like gas plants. The âminorâ designation means that a company is proposing to put in enough pollution controls that it will not release a level of emissions that requires immediate federal oversight.
The minor pollution permits are meant to ensure facilities follow federal limits on six pollutants linked to asthma, heart disease and cancer.
Big tech often chops its datacenters pollution permit requests into individual pieces for each generator or turbine, so they fall under âminorâ reviews conducted by states, and avoid a larger review by the EPA that would be more costly, time consuming and difficult to legally defend.
This is already legally dubious, advocates say, and the Trump administration now appears to be trying to eliminate what little transparency exists. Though individual members of the public typically are not involved in the regulatory battles, environmental law clinics and public health advocacy groups that protect the public from exploitation by datacenter developers rely on this data, as do journalists.
The Guardian last year detailed how environmental law groups have sued the state of Michigan and some polluters who appeared to be violating federal limits. Goffman said data shows that air pollution laws are more closely followed in areas in which the public and watchdog groups are more involved.
Some of the largest polluting sources in the midwest, including datacenters, âemit harmful air pollutants under so-called âminor sourceâ permitsâ, said Jessica OâDonnell, senior attorney at the Environmental Law and Policy Center.
âThe public deserves to weigh in on such permits to ensure these industrial sources are given appropriate emissions limits and stick to them,â OâDonnell added.
