Ex-EPA Officials Cite 30 Federal Rollbacks Tied to AI Data Centers

The Environmental Protection Network, a nonprofit made up of former EPA staff and leadership, has counted at least 30 federal actions taken since January 2025 that it says raise the health risks from the AI data center buildout. Seventeen of those actions explicitly cite AI or data centers; the other 13 concern how the sites are powered, pollution safeguards, project approvals, or federal enforcement, The Verge reported.

The report, "The Hidden Health Costs of AI Data Centers," leans on modeling from researchers at UC Riverside, Caltech, and Rochester Institute of Technology, who project data-center-related air pollution could impose $11.7 billion to $20.9 billion in annual public-health costs by 2028. Under a high-growth scenario, they estimate roughly 600,000 asthma symptom cases and 1,300 premature deaths a year. More than 90% of that modeled impact comes from the power plants supplying electricity to data centers, not from equipment on the campuses themselves.

"You do not have to live near a data center to be affected by it," Lynn Goldman, a pediatrician and former EPA Assistant Administrator, said. "Air pollution comes from diesel generators and gas turbines at or near a data-center campus. But much of it can come from power plants many miles away that produce the electricity data centers use. And when you are talking about pollution that makes people sick, scale matters."

The cited rollbacks include narrowing environmental reviews for approved projects, changing minimum public participation requirements for pollution permits, and moves to end citizen-led pollution lawsuits. Walter Mugdan, a former EPA Deputy Regional Administrator who spent 48 years at the agency, said "public involvement in decision making is not just red tape."

Dr. Dan Costa, who led EPA's national air quality, climate and energy research program over a 35-year career at the agency, cautioned that the 1,300-deaths figure reflects baseline growth and does not measure the additional risks from the 30 recent regulatory rollbacks. The report proposes a Data Center Health Protection Pledge, mirroring the White House's Ratepayer Protection Pledge for utility bills, so that nearby families do not carry the health costs of the AI infrastructure expansion.