The EPA is moving to eliminate a federal rule that requires public notice and a chance to comment when certain industrial facilities apply for an air permit, a change that could make it easier for data centers to be built without input from neighboring communities. The proposal arrives as new data centers face mounting opposition from residents concerned about the pollution these facilities generate.
Under the plan, developers of data centers and other industrial projects could break ground without notifying nearby residents or giving them an opportunity to raise concerns. Advocates warn that the shift would allow permits to be issued with little transparency, leaving communities unaware until construction is already underway.
What the New Source Review changes would do
The proposal targets a permitting process known as New Source Review, which has been in place since the 1970s. The program applies to a broad range of facilities, including landfills, paper mills, and power plant expansions. With the rapid growth of generative AI, these permits have become a focal point for opposition to new data centers and to the power plants built to supply electricity for their servers.
In July 2025, the EPA announced it would remove the federal public participation requirement for a large group of polluters and shift that responsibility to states. The plan would let state and local air agencies decide whether to notify the public about certain new sources of pollution. Critics fear many agencies would skip the process entirely. Air pollution is frequently regulated federally because emissions can travel across state lines, affecting residents far from the source.
“The state and local authorities closest to the issues and the public should be making the decisions on the permitting process as much as possible, not Washington,” EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. “We are cutting unnecessary and burdensome red tape.”
The debate over “minor” pollution sources
The change applies to what the EPA calls “minor” sources of pollution, which the agency 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 characterization, arguing the label is misleading and that the permitting process routinely covers projects with significant consequences for surrounding communities.
“You can see why that would be so interesting to an administration that wants to rush through the construction of data centers,” Powell said. “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.”
The concern is not hypothetical. Colossus 1, xAI’s data center in Tennessee that the company promoted as the “most powerful AI training system yet,” applied for a minor source permit in 2025. The application prompted a hearing and drew thousands of comments after a public notice from the local health department. That same year, the SELC and NAACP threatened to sue xAI over unpermitted gas turbines installed at the site.
SELC was among nearly 200 health and environmental groups that filed comments asking the EPA to withdraw its New Source Review proposal, arguing that mandatory public comment allows residents to supply agencies with important local information during the permitting process.
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Image: theverge.com
