Trump’s EPA Seeks Looser Construction Rules for Gas Plants, Data Centers and Factories

Republish. The construction site of a data center developed by Related Digital for Oracle and Open AI is seen on May 6 in Saline, Mich. Credit: Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Related A Massive, Trump-Backed Power Plant May Be Too Big to Succeed Wyoming’s Largest Utility Joins a New Western Day Ahead Market for Electricity As Tech Groups Predict Huge Pennsylvania Data-Center Growth, Critics Say Some Bills Would Reduce Local Control Share This Article Republish Most Popular Plugging Away at the Millions of Derelict Oil and Gas Wells in the US $370 Million Payout California’s Battery Array Is as Powerful as 12 Nuclear Power Plants. Here’s What’s on the Horizon. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced proposed changes Monday that would allow gas power plants, data centers and factories to begin construction on non-polluting components such as piping, wiring, cement pads and other support structures before obtaining air-emission permits.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a news release that the “proposal works to provide solutions to issues that have held up critical American infrastructure and advance the next great technological forefront.” The changes will undergo a 45-day public comment period.The action comes as the Trump administration moves to reduce an array of environmental protections to speed construction and win a global AI race with China and other adversaries. Big Tech companies like Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Google are furiously working across the nation to build the data centers—massive facilities with networked computer servers—to power the energy-intensive new technology.

In pursuit of winning the AI race, President Donald Trump last year issued an executive order to revoke many guardrails that could slow down AI development.