President Donald Trump is rolling back environmental rules to speed up artificial intelligence data center construction. Former EPA officials warned this week that these changes raise public health risks across the United States. The alumni group released a new report during a briefing to highlight these concerns.
Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, stated at the start of the term that his goal is making America the artificial intelligence capital of the world through deregulation. The administration has since cut agency staff and funding while rolling back dozens of rules. Attacks on renewable energy accompany this deregulation spree.
Data centers are increasingly powered by dirty energy as a result of these policies. Lynn Goldman, a pediatrician and former EPA assistant administrator, spoke at the briefing about the industry buildout. She noted that the agency is weakening limits on toxic chemicals instead of exercising vigilance.
An independent organization called the Environmental Protection Network published a report identifying thirty federal actions since January 2025. These actions heighten health risks from data center pollution. Seventeen of the thirty policy changes specifically target artificial intelligence or data centers.
Trump released an artificial intelligence action plan in July 2025. The plan recommends streamlining or reducing regulations under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Superfund law. The goal is expediting permits for data center projects and chip factories.
Tyson Slocum, energy program director at Public Citizen, spoke about the plan previously. He stated that the plan uses unprecedented emergency powers to grant massive new exemptions for data centers and fossil fuel infrastructure. Trump laid the groundwork for new gas projects powering energy-hungry tech facilities.
Advanced chip demand is simultaneously reviving production of forever chemicals. These chemicals accumulate in the environment and human bodies without breaking down easily. Goldman pointed out that citizens do not need to live near a data center to experience the impact of this pollution.
Hundreds of current EPA employees sent a public letter to Zeldin last year. They wrote that agency leadership would increase risks to public health and safety rather than protecting communities from hazardous chemicals. The new report also cites a university study predicting up to 1,300 premature deaths and over twenty billion dollars in public health costs by 2028 from artificial intelligence air pollution.
Marc Boom, senior director of public affairs at the Environmental Protection Network, stated that a more polluting artificial intelligence buildout is not inevitable. EPA spokesperson Cora Mandy responded by email. She stated that the agency has returned regulations to the best reading of the Clean Air Act while maintaining a commitment to protect human health and the environment alongside making America the artificial intelligence capital of the world.
Former Environmental Protection Agency officials are urging President Trump to adopt a Data Center Health Protection Pledge.
