GoKawiilThe Trump administration just announced that it is exempting data centers from certain pollution limits that were originally mandated to prevent acid rain, according to a report by Reuters. Simply put, power plants that primarily serve data centers will not have to be part of the Clean Air Act's Acid Rain Program (ARP).
These "islanded" power plants that serve data centers instead of human communities will no longer have to reduce emissions of acid rain precursors like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. There are nearly 60 of these power plants being built or currently operating throughout the country, which were typically fast-tracked by the government.
"Ensuring that the United States maintains our artificial intelligence dominance is essential to national security and economic prosperity," EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Aaron Szabo said in a statement published by The Hill. "The EPA is proud to further the President's agenda through commonsense approaches to regulating."
Bloomberg has projected that data centers will account for 20 percent of the nation's energy usage within the next eight years or so. That's a whole lot of potential acid rain.
Acid rain is particularly destructive to the environment. It strips nutrients from the soil, pollutes lakes and rivers to lethal levels, damages plants and erodes limestone, for starters. That information was taken directly from the EPA's website, so it's odd it would be okay with introducing more of the stuff.
Of course, there are dangers to human life as well. Exposure to the precursor gasses can worsen respiratory and cardiac issues in people. It also causes coughing, respiratory irritation, difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, itchy eyes and other symptoms. These gasses and related pollutant particles are present in the air both before and during an acid rain episode. Again, this information comes directly from the EPA.
The EPA says this new guidance is in place because the ARP policies are only for electric utilities. Power plants that serve data centers are not considered utilities, as they don't offer any kind of service to the public. At least they're being honest, as the public is well aware of how little utility the modern data center offers. People hate them, largely due to environmental, economic and community-based factors.
This is also being framed as a cost-saving move. If these data centers draw their own power exclusively from their own electric grids, it could mean that our energy bills are minimally impacted. However, research is mixed on that. Some studies indicate it could actually make things worse for us.
This is just the latest time in which the Trump administration has chosen AI data centers over the environment. It backed Elon Musk's xAI in court after the NAACP accused the company of air pollution. President Trump himself also recently told communities that they should give up fighting against data centers "You can't fight it," he said. "You have to go with it."