EPA Wants States to Decide Whether the Public Gets a Say on Data Center Pollution Permits

The federal guarantee that residents get a chance to weigh in on certain air pollution permits could disappear under an EPA proposal giving state and local agencies greater control over when the public is notified.

For more than 50 years, Clean Air Act rules have required public notice and at least 30 days for comments before states issue minor New Source Review permits. Those permits can cover data centers, landfills, asphalt plants, waste facilities and expansions at other industrial sites.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wants those minimum federal requirements removed. State and local air agencies would instead determine how residents can participate before regulators decide whether a facility receives a permit.

Data centers have put the proposed change under a brighter spotlight as developers build power-hungry facilities across the country. Generators and other equipment used to supply electricity can release nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and other pollutants near surrounding neighborhoods.

Nearly 200 environmental, health and community organizations have asked the EPA to withdraw the plan. Keri Powell, an attorney who leads the Southern Environmental Law Center's Air Program, said residents deserve a chance to weigh in before industrial facilities receive permission to increase pollution where people live.

Memphis offers a glimpse of what public participation can look like when residents learn about a data center's pollution permits. More than 200 people attended an April 2025 hearing over gas turbines used to power xAI's Colossus supercomputer, with opposition dominating the room.

Colossus sits near historically Black neighborhoods in South Memphis, where residents and environmental groups have fought xAI over pollution from gas turbines supplying electricity to the facility. Their response has stretched from street protests and packed regulatory hearings to a federal lawsuit against xAI.

The EPA rejects claims that its proposal would automatically shut residents out of permitting decisions. Agency spokesperson Carolyn Holran said states would choose how public participation works for minor-source permits, while federal emission standards and other air-quality requirements would stay intact.

Zeldin describes the change as a way to cut federal red tape, speed permitting and give agencies closer to affected areas greater authority. The administration has also pushed for faster development of artificial intelligence and the facilities needed to power it.

Opponents say residents could have vastly different access depending on where they live. States preserving their own notification and comment rules could keep people involved, while residents elsewhere might not learn what is being proposed until plans are much further along.

Public comments on the proposal closed Aug. 21. The EPA must now decide whether the 50-year-old federal participation requirement survives.