EPA Moves to Scrap Public Notice Requirement for Data Center Air Pollution Permits

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed killing a decades-old federal requirement that states notify the public and take comment before issuing air pollution permits for data centers and other industrial facilities, according to the Associated Press, as reported by PBS. The rule change would apply to what the Clean Air Act classifies as "minor" pollution sources, a category that includes data center backup generators and gas turbines alongside laundromats, car repair shops, landfills and steel mills.

Under current law, states must give the public a chance to learn about and weigh in on these permits before they're issued. Under the EPA's proposal, that notice-and-comment step becomes optional. States could still choose to hold public comment periods, but the federal government would no longer require it.

What critics say

Mike Koerber, a former deputy director of EPA's air quality office, told the AP the move continues what he calls the Trump administration's pattern of abandoning "the fundamental EPA principle of transparency." He warned it could produce "an unlevel playing field where citizens in one state are kept completely in the dark about new data centers and heavy industrial emissions in their backyards, while neighboring states maintain oversight."

Keri Powell, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which led a coalition of roughly 200 environmental, health and community groups filing comments against the plan, said permits for pollution sources "should not" be issued in secret and that "communities deserve a chance to weigh in," according to PBS.

Joe Goffman, a former EPA assistant administrator for the office of air and radiation, told The Guardian the practical effect is that most state political establishments already support data centers and are unlikely to voluntarily require the disclosures on their own. He co-authored formal comments on the proposal for the Environmental Protection Network, a group representing more than 800 former EPA employees. Goffman called the existing notice requirement an "ironclad promise" to the public that the administration is now walking back.

A separate Environmental Protection Network report, cited by Business Report, projects that pollution tied to data center electricity demand could contribute to roughly 600,000 asthma symptom cases, 1,300 premature deaths and more than $20 billion in annual public health costs nationwide by 2028. The group says those estimates likely understate the real impact because they don't account for other recent rollbacks, including policies making it easier to run diesel generators and restart idled fossil-fuel plants, plus a separate proposed rule that would let construction begin before air permits are even approved.

What the EPA says

EPA spokesperson Carolyn Holran pushed back on the framing that this targets data centers specifically. "In our proposal we are saying that states get to pick how they want their permitting process to go for minor sources," Holran told PBS, noting the rule applies broadly to laundromats, car repair shops, landfills and steel mills, not just server farms.

The rule as written is a general permitting change, not a data-center carve-out, and states retain the legal authority to require public comment if they choose to. Whether state legislatures actually will require it, given that many have courted data center investment with tax breaks and incentives, remains uncertain and may only become clear after states act.

The bigger political picture

Data centers have become a genuine bipartisan flashpoint. Fox News reported a Fox poll showing 70% of Americans now oppose new data centers being built in their communities, and cited a separate finding that 40% of planned data centers were delayed or canceled in 2026. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas and Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in New York have both moved to pause or slow construction, an unusual alignment across party lines.

More than 1,300 data centers already operate in the U.S., with over 2,000 more planned, according to Business Report's reporting on the Environmental Protection Network findings. Fox News argued the backlash echoes the fracking fights of a decade ago, noting Chinese-linked accounts on X have amplified data center opposition, though it did not cite independent verification of the scale or effect of that activity. The claim should be treated as unproven rather than established fact.

MS NOW's opinion piece framed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin's broader deregulatory agenda, including a separate proposal to exempt self-generating data centers from Acid Rain Program accountability, as part of a pattern of "tone-deafness." That's an opinion judgment, not a reported fact, and readers should treat it as commentary rather than news.

The EPA's public comment period on the notice rule has closed, according to The Guardian, and the proposal could face a legal challenge if finalized. No timeline for a final rule has been announced.