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EPA moves to scrap public comment on data center air permits

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EPA moves to scrap public comment on data center air permits

The US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed eliminating the federal rule that requires public notice and a comment opportunity when industrial sites apply for a New Source Review air permit, a process in place since the 1970s that covers landfills, paper mills, power plant expansions and, increasingly, data centers and the power plants built to supply them. Under the plan, announced by the EPA in July, the decision on whether to notify the public about a new pollution source would shift entirely to state and local air agencies. Advocates warn many of those agencies would simply skip the process, letting data center developers and other industrial operators break ground with no public hearing and, in some cases, no advance warning at all. The EPA frames the change as applying only to so-called minor sources, which the agency's announcement describes as having relatively low emissions and limited environmental impact. Keri Powell, senior attorney and air program leader at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), disputes that framing, arguing the minor label is a misnomer and that permits in this category routinely cover projects with significant consequences for neighboring communities. She points to Colossus 1, xAI's data center in Tennessee that the company billed as the most powerful AI training system yet: its 2025 application for a minor source permit drew a public hearing and thousands of comments after the local health department posted a notice, and the SELC and NAACP separately threatened to sue xAI over unpermitted gas turbines installed at the site the same year. Nearly 200 health and environmental groups, including the SELC, filed comments last Friday asking the EPA to withdraw the New Source Review proposal, arguing that public comment gives agencies lived-experience information from residents that is otherwise unavailable for judging a facility's cumulative impact. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has defended the change as cutting unnecessary and burdensome red tape and moving permitting decisions to the state and local authorities closest to the public. The public comment period on the EPA's own proposal closed last week, and EPA spokesperson Carolyn Holran told The Verge the agency is still reviewing the more than 4,900 comments submitted before it can finalize the rule.

Key facts

  • The EPA proposed scrapping the federal requirement for public notice and comment on New Source Review air permits, a process in place since the 1970s, and shifting that decision to state and local agencies.
  • The rule change targets so-called minor pollution sources, a category the EPA says has low emissions but which SELC attorney Keri Powell calls a misnomer covering projects with significant impact.
  • xAI's Colossus 1 data center in Tennessee applied for a minor source permit in 2025, drawing a public hearing, thousands of comments, and a threatened SELC/NAACP lawsuit over unpermitted gas turbines.
  • Nearly 200 health and environmental groups filed comments last Friday asking the EPA to withdraw the proposal.
  • The EPA's own comment period on the proposal closed last week with more than 4,900 submissions still under review before the rule can be finalized.

Why it matters

New Source Review permitting has become a flashpoint as data center construction accelerates, since it is often the only point where residents can formally weigh in before a facility is built. Removing the federal notice-and-comment requirement would let states decide case by case whether the public gets any say at all, at a moment when the Trump administration is pushing to speed up data center buildouts.

Who it affects

Communities near planned data centers and the power plants that supply them stand to lose their main formal channel for objecting to a project before construction starts. Data center developers, including companies like xAI, would face less procedural friction and fewer public hearings when seeking air permits for minor sources. State and local air agencies would inherit the responsibility for deciding whether to notify residents at all.

How to use it

The rule is not final. The EPA's own comment period on the proposal closed last week, and the agency says it is still reviewing more than 4,900 submissions before deciding whether and how to finalize the change; residents, local officials and advocacy groups can track the docket and any state-level responses as the process continues.

How solid is it

The account draws on the EPA's own July announcement, a public statement from administrator Lee Zeldin, on-record comments from an SELC attorney and a Kentucky Resources Council attorney, and confirmation from an EPA spokesperson that comments are still under review. The specific case of xAI's Colossus 1 permit is sourced to earlier reporting by Inside Climate News.

Risks and caveats

The source does not say which states or local agencies would take over notification decisions or what any state has committed to doing instead. It also does not specify how many of the more than 4,900 comments concern data centers as opposed to other industrial sources, nor whether the SELC and NAACP's threatened lawsuit over xAI's unpermitted gas turbines was ever filed. The proposal remains under EPA review and has not been adopted.

“What EPA would be allowing would be all of those facilities to go through and just not have to deal with the public, issue the permits in secret behind closed doors. Nobody knows what's happening until the bulldozers are out there.”

— Keri Powell, senior attorney and air program leader at the Southern Environmental Law Center