Threat assessment: elevated. A group of former EPA officials says the Trump administration is trading public health for faster AI data center construction. The Verge AI reports that the Environmental Protection Network, an independent organization of EPA alumni, released a report this week cataloging 30 federal actions since January 2025 that they say worsen health risks tied to data center pollution. Of those 30, 17 explicitly mention AI or target data centers.
The group is pushing the White House to sign a “Data Center Health Protection Pledge.” The Verge AI notes they’re doing it “perhaps futilely.” I’d agree with that read. But the report itself is the most detailed map yet of how AI infrastructure policy and environmental deregulation have merged into one agenda.
Situation Report
- The stated goal. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin opened his term by declaring he wants to make America “the AI capital of the world” through deregulation. Since then, the agency has rolled back dozens of rules and cut staff and funding.
- The AI Action Plan. Released July 2025, it recommends “streamlining or reducing regulations” under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Superfund law to speed up permitting for data centers and chip fabs. Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen told The Verge at the time the plan is really about “using unprecedented emergency powers to grant massive new exemptions for data centers and specifically fossil fuel infrastructure.”
- The energy mix. Combine deregulation with the administration’s moves against renewable projects, and you get a data center wave increasingly powered by gas. That means on-site turbines and power plants built specifically to serve tech companies.
- The chip angle. Demand for advanced AI chips is reviving production of forever chemicals, the kind that don’t break down and accumulate in the environment and in human bodies.
The Health Math
The report leans on a study from UC Riverside, Caltech, and the Rochester Institute of Technology. It estimates AI-related air pollution could cause up to 1,300 premature deaths and more than $20 billion in public health costs by 2028. EPN argues the real toll could run higher once you factor in the 30 policy changes they identified.
Lynn Goldman, a pediatrician and former EPA assistant administrator, framed it bluntly at the briefing: “You would think that an industry buildout of this magnitude, billed as a revolution, would mean more vigilance from EPA. Instead, EPA is doing just the opposite, thinking first about industry’s needs and weakening or reconsidering limits on toxic chemicals and harmful pollutants.”
Her key point for readers outside data center country: “You do not need to be near a data center to be affected, because the pollution doesn’t just come from the data centers themselves.” The power plants, the gas lines, the chemical plants feeding chip production. That’s the exposure footprint.
What the EPA Says
EPA spokesperson Cora Mandy responded to The Verge by email. Her position: every action “returned regulations to the best reading of the Clean Air Act after years of overreach by previous administrations.” She reaffirmed the agency’s mission to “Protect Human Health and The Environment” alongside “Making America the AI Capital of the World.”
So the two sides aren’t disputing the facts. They’re disputing whether those facts are a problem.
Why This Matters for the AI Industry
What stands out here is the timing. The hyperscalers are committing hundreds of billions to compute buildout. Most of that spend gets locked in over the next 24 months. The energy sources chosen now become the baseline for a decade.
Three implications:
- Reputational exposure is growing. Last year hundreds of current EPA employees wrote publicly to Zeldin saying the agency “will increase risks to public health and safety.” Now the alumni network adds a quantified report. Expect this data to show up in shareholder questions and local zoning fights.
- Local resistance will harden. Community pushback against data centers already centers on water, noise, and power bills. A federal report tying them to premature deaths hands opponents a sharper tool.
- Policy whiplash risk. Rules relaxed by executive action can be restored by executive action. Companies building gas-dependent infrastructure on the assumption of permanent exemptions are making a bet on politics, not engineering.
Marc Boom, EPN’s senior director of public affairs, put the alternative simply: “A more polluting AI buildout is not inevitable. It depends on the choices government makes now.” His pledge proposal boils down to EPA measuring the pollution, tracking who’s exposed, and publishing it all.
That’s a modest ask. Whether anyone in the administration picks it up is another question. Justine Calma’s full report at The Verge has the complete list of the 30 actions and the briefing details.