EPA Seeks to Loosen Air Permitting to Speed Up Data Centers (1)

The EPA is trying to change a key regulatory definition to let companies more quickly build AI data centers under a proposed rule it plans to issue.

The proposal—a preview of which was published Monday—is consistent with the White House’s effort to force agencies to make faster decisions on environmental permits. It also aligns with the Trump administration’s support for the AI sector.

If finalized, the change would affect the Environmental Protection Agency’s New Source Review rule, which requires companies to get air permits before they can build new facilities or make major changes to existing ones.

The current rule sets out definitions for the phrases “begin actual construction” and “begin construction” that ban certain types of permanent construction on an emissions unit, such as installing building supports and foundations, laying underground pipework, and constructing permanent storage structures.

That language has resulted in “uncertainties, delays, and regulatory burdens that are not intended and do not represent the best reading or further the purposes of the Clean Air Act,” the EPA said in the preamble to its proposal.

The proposed changes would remove some of those restrictions to allow the construction of components that don’t emit air pollutants—such as utility service infrastructure, concrete pads, and some types of buildings and building components—before a New Source Review air permit is issued.

The EPA said those changes would spur economic growth by giving owners and operators more flexibility, while still ensuring public health and welfare protections.

“Today’s proposal works to provide solutions to issues that have held up critical American infrastructure and advance the next great technological forefront,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.

“Through commonsense permitting reform, the Trump EPA is fixing the broken system of government interference, while continuing to uphold our core mission to protect human health and the environment,” Zeldin said.

Patrick Drupp, climate policy director at the Sierra Club, said in a statement Monday the rush to break new ground on projects before they can secure their air permits represents “just the latest example of Donald Trump, Big Tech, and Big Fossil Fuel holding hands and recklessly bulldozing through processes that exist to keep our families and our communities healthy and safe.”

Once the proposal is published, the EPA will open a 45-day comment period.

Also on Monday, the EPA published new guidance encouraging state, local, and Tribal permitting authorities to submit Title V permit applications to the agency before opening their public comment periods. The agencies can then conduct public comments concurrently with the EPA’s review, rather than waiting for other agencies to finish before they can begin.

The concept of parallel rather than sequential reviews has been embraced by both Republicans and Democrats as a basic principle of good government. But parallel reviews can create problems if one agency rejects the application or the project changes significantly in midstream.

“This guidance provides commonsense clarifications that will help get title V permits out the door quickly, speeding up economic development all while maintaining the same level of transparency, accountability, and public participation,” Aaron Szabo, head of the EPA’s air division, said in a statement.

“For too long the Clean Air Act has been used as an excuse to slow walk projects beneficial to our communities, the Trump EPA is changing this through the plain reading of the law,” Szabo said. “We can protect human health and the environment and have an efficient permitting process.”

The Sierra Club has received funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization founded by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg Law is operated by entities controlled by Michael Bloomberg.