EPA moves to end federal notice on data-center air permits

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to strike a decades-old federal requirement that state and local regulators publish notice and open a 30-day comment window before approving 'minor source' air permits, the category that covers the diesel generator fleets used by hyperscale data centers, per NYT reporting.

The current rule has been on the books for more than 50 years. Under the proposal, it would be entirely up to each state or local air agency to decide whether draft minor New Source Review permits get a public airing at all, or whether they issue behind closed doors. The comment window on the rule change itself closed August 21, 2026.

Administrator Lee Zeldin has cast the change as reducing 'unnecessary and burdensome red tape.' A Sierra Club investigation counted 10,500 diesel generators at data centers concentrated in Northern Virginia, totaling nearly 27 gigawatts, enough, the group says, to power 7 million homes. Its Georgia tally reached more than 2,600 generators approved under minor source permits.

The Environmental Protection Network, a group of former EPA staff, argues the proposal directly contradicts Zeldin's own March 2026 transparency memo, which pledged 'the fullest possible public participation in our decision making.' EPN also notes the change would limit Tribal governments' ability to evaluate air permits for facilities whose pollution affects Tribal lands.

A coalition of nearly 200 environmental, health and community groups has asked EPA to withdraw the proposal. Local pushback has been building on the same infrastructure, with data-center bans passing 500 earlier this month. The record is now with the agency.