The artificial intelligence boom presents significant health risks as the Trump administration dismantles key safeguards meant to protect the public, former federal environmental protection officials warn.
A report by the Environmental Protection Network, led by ex-Environmental Protection Agency staffers, outlines dangers from the rapid growth of data centers. Increased power demand from these centers is linked to pollution causing asthma, cancer, neurological damage, and heart and lung diseases.
While the EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment, under President Donald Trump and EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, the federal government has targeted pollution limits, weakened rules, expanded fossil fuel power generation, and provided dangerous exemptions to the AI industry, experts say.
“Our government and especially EPA should be making choices that protect people’s health, not choices that leave families carrying more pollution and risk,” said Marc Boom, senior director of public affairs at EPN and a former EPA senior advisor.
As data center electricity demand grows, the Trump administration favors fossil fuel energy over cleaner options. The EPN report details 30 federal actions increasing pollution-related health risks, including extending fossil fuel plant operations, expanding coal while loosening cleanup requirements, and fast-tracking data-center permitting.
“Clean Air Act requirements don’t bend for industry, but they should not be weaponized,” EPA spokesperson Cora Mandy said in an emailed statement, noting the administration aims to make America “the AI Capital of the World.”
Americans broadly oppose rapid data center expansion, often citing increased utility bills, water demand, low job creation, and pollution. A YouGov survey in April found 84% of registered voters believe Trump should be tougher on polluting corporations, with over two-thirds concerned about fast-tracking data center projects.
“Data centers and their lack of regulation threaten to push us back 200 years by building polluting infrastructure where people live,” said Saul Levin, program director at the Center for Nonviolent Conflict Research.
Levin, speaking with those opposing data centers nationwide, said they often share health concerns.
“More pollution means more missed days of school and work, higher medical bills, and more illness and death,” former federal workers wrote in the EPN report, urging the EPA to prioritize public health over AI expansion and enforce pollution safeguards.
“If America is to undertake an industrial and energy buildout of this magnitude, we should not restrict the EPA’s ability to act—we should strengthen its ability to hold polluting facilities accountable,” said Larry Starfield, a former EPA official.
“We still do not know the full health toll, and that should argue for more vigilance, not less.”
— Dr. Lynn Goldman, former EPA assistant administrator
A study by California and New York universities found that under a high-growth scenario, the data center industry could contribute to 600,000 asthma cases, 1,300 premature deaths, and over $20 billion in public health costs by 2028.
These figures do not account for recent federal rollbacks, noted Dr. Lynn Goldman, a pediatrician and former EPA assistant administrator.
“These alarming numbers may capture only part of the picture,” Goldman said. “We still do not know the full health toll, and that should argue for more vigilance, not less.”
Goldman noted that while much of the health fallout will emerge over decades, some impacts are immediate, such as on pregnant people and heart attack risks from particulate matter.
“Some health impacts from air pollution are immediate,” Goldman said. “It does not take years to see an increase in death from such pollution.”
Original Story at insideclimatenews.org