Tell the EPA: Data Centers Shouldn’t Skip Air Permits

The EPA is supposed to protect our air and climate — not give polluters a head start.

But the EPA’s dangerous new proposal would let polluters break ground before receiving required Clean Air Act air permits, fast-tracking data centers, gas plants, and massive fossil fuel infrastructure while communities are denied a full chance to review and challenge the pollution risks.

This is a dangerous giveaway to the booming AI and data center industry, whose skyrocketing electricity demand is already fueling a rush to build new gas-fired power plants across the country. These facilities threaten to pump millions of tons of climate pollution into the atmosphere for decades — right when scientists warn we must rapidly slash emissions to avoid climate catastrophe.

The Clean Air Act permitting process exists for one simple reason: communities deserve a chance to review, challenge, and stop dangerous pollution before construction begins. Once developers have invested millions of dollars and broken ground, regulators face enormous pressure to rubber-stamp permits no matter the environmental damage.

That is exactly what this EPA proposal would do — rush polluting projects forward and make them far harder for communities to stop once construction is already underway.

Families living near these projects could be forced to endure more smog, soot, toxic emissions, and climate pollution without meaningful oversight. Environmental groups warn the Trump EPA is systematically dismantling safeguards that protect people from mercury, particulate pollution, and greenhouse gases.

At a time when climate change is driving deadly heat waves, floods, fires, and storms, weakening clean air protections to fast-track fossil fuel-powered data centers is reckless and indefensible. The EPA should be accelerating the transition to clean energy — not helping corporations evade environmental review.

Please sign the petition to demand that the EPA immediately withdraw this dangerous proposal and fully uphold Clean Air Act protections. Communities deserve clean air, transparency, and a real voice before polluting construction begins — not after the damage is already underway.

The petition to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin reads: We strongly oppose the EPA’s proposal to allow data centers, gas plants, and other industrial facilities to begin construction before receiving Clean Air Act permits. This reckless policy would weaken public oversight, lock communities into decades of additional fossil fuel pollution, and worsen the climate crisis at a time when the world must urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We urge the EPA to immediately withdraw this proposal and fully uphold the nation’s clean air protections.
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Sources:

POLITICO E&E News | EPA plan would let work start on data centers, power plants before air permits | https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2026/05/12/epa-plan-work-start-data-centers-power-plants-before-air-permits-00914707

VegOut Magazine | The EPA Just Redefined When Construction Legally Begins on a Gas Plant — and the Part That Actually Matters Is What It Means for Every Community Living Downwind of an AI Data Center | https://vegoutmag.com/current-affairs/vo-dd-the-epa-just-redefined-when-construction-legally-begins-on-a-gas-plant-and-the-part-that-actually-matters-is-what-it-means-for-every-community-living-downwind-of-an-ai-data-center/

Inside Climate News | EPA Proposes Looser Construction Rules for Gas Plants, Data Centers | https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11052026/epa-proposes-looser-construction-rules-for-gas-plants-data-centers/

Sierra Club | EPA to Allow Power Plants to Bulldoze Through Pollution Protections | https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2026/05/epa-allow-power-plants-bulldoze-through-pollution-protections